ASIC has issued a class order to ease current requirements on foreign licensees regarding their financial reporting and record keeping obligations.
Class Order [CO 06/68] relieves foreign licensees, (with the exception of foreign authorised deposit-taking institutions (foreign ADIs), from the requirement under Division 6 of Part 7.8 of the Corporations Act 2001 to prepare and lodge audited financial statements and keep certain financial records in relation to their financial services businesses. This relief is available to foreign licensees irrespective of whether the foreign licensee is regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
ASIC Director of Applications, Advice and Licensing, Mr John Price, said the relief has been provided in response to concerns that the financial reporting obligations under Division 6 of Part 7.8 are disproportionately burdensome for foreign entities who are already subject to a requirement to lodge their foreign financial statements under subsection 601CK(1) of the Act.
‘This relief will remove the regulatory burden on a foreign licensee to lodge different sets of accounts with ASIC under separate Parts of the Corporations Act,’ Mr Price said.
Class Order [CO 06/68] does not apply to foreign ADIs because these entities are already granted relief under existing Class Order [CO 03/823].
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