ASIC’s Licensing and professional registration activities: 2020 update (Report 671) highlights new requirements for licensees, prospective applicants and service providers, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between July 2019 and June 2020, ASIC received 1,500 licensing and professional registration applications (a slight decrease from 1,504 the previous year). This includes 1,346 Australian financial services (AFS) and credit licence applications. ASIC approved 394 new AFS and credit licences and 580 variation applications by AFS and credit licensees.
In assessing the majority of the applications, ASIC achieved other regulatory outcomes including by imposing additional conditions on the licence to ensure applicants were only granted authorisations appropriate to their business activities and competence.
In addition, 361 AFS and credit licence applications were withdrawn or rejected for lodgement, four were refused, and 683 AFS and credit licences were cancelled and 40 suspended.
ASIC also approved the registration of 58 company auditors, 40 SMSF auditors and registered 12 liquidators approved by the liquidator registration committee. In the same period, 41 professional registration applications were withdrawn and two were refused.
Our performance against our service charter timeframes remains strong, finalising a total of 2,062 applications during the relevant period.
ASIC Commissioner Danielle Press said the update outlines our work in maintaining the standards of financial services and credit activities, and recent reforms to ASIC’s licensing processes. ‘These reforms broaden the scope of who ASIC will consider as “fit and proper people” for licence applications.’
‘We have new powers to refuse a licence application where we have been provided false or misleading information or there is an omission of a material matter in an application, report or statement from an applicant’, Ms Press said.
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Background
ASIC’s licensing report is released annually to increase transparency and to provide guidance to licensees, registrants and prospective applicants about ASIC’s licensing and professional registration decision making, what ASIC considers when receiving an application, why certain information is required, and what may increase the time taken to assess the application.
ASIC’s service charter sets out the standards you can expect when you deal with ASIC in the course of performing our regulatory functions.