Author Archives: ETE

The FCA has set out good practice and areas for improvement to help principal firms effectively monitor their Appointed Representatives (ARs). The findings follow a review of how principals are meeting its enhanced AR rules, introduced in December 2022. The analysis involved a telephone survey with 251 principals and in-depth assessments of documentation from 23 […]

On 27 August 2024, the Federal Court made orders appointing Jason Tracy and Lucica Palaghia of Deloitte as receivers and managers of the property of Keystone Asset Management Ltd (Keystone), the responsible entity for the Shield Master Fund (Shield). The receivers are required to: secure the property held by Keystone in its capacity as responsible […]

ASIC today released the exam results from the 26th Financial Advisers Exam cycle, held in August 2024. The exam, conducted by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) since inception, follows a rigorous process to ensure all candidates in each cycle are tested to the same standards. In the August exam cycle: 231 people sat […]

Former Melbourne financial planner Bradley Grimm has been convicted by the County Court of Victoria of three counts of engaging in dishonest conduct while running a financial services business. Mr Grimm was sentenced to 18 months’ imprisonment, with nine months to serve, and to be of good behaviour for a period of 18 months upon […]

ASIC has today released its updated regulatory guidance for external administrators and controllers when reporting and lodging statutory reports about alleged misconduct. The updates to Regulatory Guide 16 External administrators and controllers: Reporting of possible offences and misconduct (RG 16) follow an extensive consultation process that included targeted industry roundtables to seek input into our […]

Recognising the vital role that the regulator plays in enabling new financial services firms’ ability to meet regulatory standards to get off the ground, the FCA has improved its authorisation process. Now 98% of cases, including applications by wholesale market firms, are assessed within statutory deadlines, up from 89% in Q1 of 2022/23. Overseas wholesale […]

Highlights Fighting financial crime is a priority for the FCA and a key commitment in our 3-year strategy. Consistent with the national economic crime plan and fraud strategy, our work is based on a partnership approach. Financial crime is not just an issue for the financial sector, but for other sectors too, sharing data and […]

Final announcement about the forthcoming end of LIBOR. It is now less than 1 month to go until the 1-, 3- and 6-month synthetic US dollar LIBOR settings cease permanently after their final publication on Monday 30 September 2024. Further to our June 2024 decision (PDF), we have required ICE Benchmark Administration Limited (IBA) to […]

On 23 August 2024, the director of Facet Investment Management Limited (Facet) placed the firm into administration. Ian Lawrence Goodhew and Abigail Shearing from Voscap Ltd were appointed as the Joint Administrators. Background to the firm Facet is a wealth management and independent financial planning firm that provides discretionary investment management services. Customers may have […]

In a new report, the FCA encourages account providers to do more to support those who want a bank account but don’t have one. The FCA has recognised that banks, building societies and payment firms are trying to support customers to access accounts and is encouraging them to build on examples of existing good practice, […]