Appointing and ceasing an AFS authorised representative
An AFS licensee may appoint ‘authorised representatives’ to provide specified financial services on its behalf. These authorised representatives may be:
- individuals
- bodies corporate
- partnerships, or
- a group of individuals and/or bodies corporate that are the trustees of a trust.
While individuals or bodies corporate who act as trustees of a trust may be authorised representatives, a trust itself cannot be an authorised representative.
Any authorised representative of an AFS licensee may appoint or ‘sub-authorise’ individuals to provide financial services on behalf of the licensee, as long as the licensee consents to the appointment. For example, a body corporate that is an authorised representative will generally need to sub-authorise its directors and employees in order to provide financial services on behalf of the AFS licensee.
An authorised representative that sub-authorises an individual is referred to as an ‘authoriser’.
Notification of appointment
AFS licensees and authorisers that appoint authorised representatives must notify us of the appointments they make. There are limitations to this requirement explained in s916F(1AA) of the Corporations Act 2001.
For more information, see:
- Appointing and ceasing an AFS authorised representative
- Information Sheet 91 Who can be an authorised representative of an AFS licensee (INFO 91)
- Information Sheet 88 Notifying ASIC of the appointment of an AFS authorised representative (INFO 88).
