Cancelling your AFS licence

Getting your security bond back if you have satisfied current compensation requirements

Cancelling your licence

If you no longer need your Australian financial services (AFS) licence, you can apply to ASIC to cancel it. You must maintain professional indemnity (PI) insurance and membership of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) if you provided financial services to retail clients, at least until you receive notification that we have cancelled your licence (subject to any conditions imposed).

If your company holds an AFS licence and is placed into external administration, you should request a licence cancellation.

Before you request cancellation, you should first:

revoke any authorisations you have given to representatives and notify ASIC of the revocations within 10 business days through ASIC Connect: see section 916F(3) of the Corporations Act 2001. You should also notify all representatives of the revocation
arrange for de-registration of registered managed investment schemes or transfer of the scheme(s) to a new responsible entity
confirm the status of any complaints with AFCA. We will also make our own inquiries with AFCA
take immediate steps to lodge the Submit Australian financial services licence annual financial statements transaction for any financial year that ends before the date the licence is cancelled. For further information, see Outstanding financial statements and auditor’s report below
take steps to discharge any amounts owed to ASIC. You can confirm your account balance by telephoning the Customer Contact Centre on 1300 300 630 (within Australia) or +61 3 5177 5407 (outside Australia).

To cancel your licence, you must make an application to “Cancel an Australian financial services licence” in the Regulatory Portal including:

that you have ceased or will cease to carry out any financial services business that requires an AFS licence
the date you cease or will cease to carry out the financial services business
your reason(s) for ceasing your financial services business
whether you will continue to operate your financial services business under an exemption from the requirement to hold an AFS licence
whether you are regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)
any related bodies corporate that are APRA regulated (including their Australian Company Number (ACN) and/or Australian Business Number (ABN)) and provide details of their APRA status (i.e. whether or not they are an authorised deposit-taking institution (ADI)), and whether any activities they undertake will be prevented by the licence cancellation
whether you have revoked all authorisations given to all authorised representatives and financial advisers and notified ASIC
details of any dispute(s) lodged with AFCA that have not been fully resolved
whether you have returned all client money or property and details if not
whether you are a participant in a licensed market and/or licensed clearing and settlement facility, and if yes, details of informing relevant parties of the proposed cancellation.

For details of the fee, see Information Sheet 30 Fees for commonly lodged documents (INFO 30). The fee is listed under ‘Lodge a document under Ch 7 which does not have a fee specified elsewhere’ in the ‘Other financial services matters’ table under 'Financial services'.

What happens after we receive your cancellation request?

We assess your request to ensure that there are no outstanding matters that preclude cancellation of your licence.

Please complete all relevant areas of transaction in the Regulatory Portal.

Outstanding financial statements and auditor’s reports

Even though you have asked for the licence to be cancelled, you must still lodge financial statements and an auditor’s report for any financial year that ends before the date the licence is cancelled. Therefore, if your cancellation request is received towards the end of a financial year, the request may not be finalised until the next financial year, and you will need to lodge financial statements and an auditor’s report for a further financial year.

We will not generally process the cancellation until all outstanding lodgements are up to date.

What happens after we approve your cancellation request?

We will send you a letter when we have cancelled your licence and publish a notice of the cancellation in the ASIC Gazette.

Getting your security bond back when you cancel a licence

If you have satisfied current compensation requirements

Regulatory Guide 126 Compensation and insurance requirements for AFS licensees (RG 126) details the current arrangements for satisfying compensation requirements. Under previous arrangements, some licensees were required to lodge and maintain a security bond with ASIC.

If you have not satisfied current compensation requirements

If you do not have compensation arrangements that meet the requirements of RG 126, to arrange release of your security bond you must:

publish a notice containing the details set out in Form 702 Application for discharge of security (other than the information set out in 'Lodgement details' and 'Company details') in a daily newspaper of general circulation in Australia. Please note that:
- at the end of the paragraph numbered one in the notice, you will need to replace the words 'dealers/investment advisers licence' with the words 'Australian financial services licence'
- the reason shown in the paragraph numbered two in the notice must include a statement indicating that the security bond is no longer required because the AFS licence is being cancelled
- if the financial services business was carried out solely in one state or territory, you may publish the notice in a daily local newspaper. However, if any of the financial services business was conducted in more than one state or territory, you should place the notice in either The Australian or The Australian Financial Review
after you have published the notice, apply for the security to be discharged by email to AFSlicensing@asic.gov.au. The application should consist of the following:
- an original or photocopy of the newspaper advertisement, clearly showing the date and newspaper in which the notice was published
- a statement that to the best of your knowledge no person has, or is likely to have, a claim against the licensee for pecuniary loss due to the failure of the licensee, or an agent or employee of the licensee, to carry on business under the licence adequately or properly
- if you have this information, the name of a contact person at the issuer of the security bond and their address details.

We will release the security bond at least three months after publication of the notice, if there have not been any claims made against it.

Read about how to make a claim against the security bond of an AFS licensee

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