Author Archives: ETE

ASIC has suspended the Australian financial services (AFS) licence of HLK Group Pty Ltd (HLK Group) for a period of six months until 27 December 2024. The AFS licence was suspended because HLK Group has currently ceased carrying on a financial services business. The AFS licence authorised HLK Group to provide financial product advice to, […]

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) and the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) are calling on superannuation trustees to boost efforts to track and measure the impact of their strategies to improve retirement outcomes for members. A recent pulse check has shown that while trustees have made good progress, some significant gaps remain a […]

ASIC is calling on AFS licensees to assess the accuracy of records about their financial advisers on the Financial Advisers Register after a spot check identified errors and inconsistencies in some of the information provided. Issues identified relate to qualifications and training courses being marked as ‘approved’ on the Financial Advisers Register, when in many […]

It’s now 3 months to go until the 1-, 3- and 6-month synthetic US dollar LIBOR settings are expected to cease after publication on Monday 30 September 2024.  These are the last remaining synthetic LIBOR settings and the last remaining LIBOR settings overall. Their cessation will mark the final milestone in the transition away from LIBOR. […]

Ferratum Australia Pty Ltd (in liquidation) has been ordered to pay a total of $16 million in penalties by the Federal Court for numerous contraventions of the National Consumer Protection Act and the National Credit Code. The Court had earlier found that Ferratum had: entered into contracts which imposed prohibited fees and charged those fees […]

Thank you for the opportunity to appear today on behalf of ASIC. ASIC administers and enforces a broad range of legislation relating to the provision of financial products and services including credit. Our regulatory activities include law enforcement and other regulatory activities such as undertaking targeted reviews on financial products and services. The laws that […]

ASIC has suspended the Australian financial services (AFS) licence of Airrails Pty Ltd (Airrails) for three months. Airrails licence suspension means it cannot provide financial services during the suspension period of 21 June 2024 to 21 September 2024. Following an administrative hearing, ASIC found that Airrails failed to lodge its annual financial statement, auditor’s report […]

ASIC has cancelled the Australian financial services (AFS) licence of Guildfords Funds Management Pty Ltd (Guildfords) after ASIC found significant and systemic failures of oversight and compliance in Guildfords’ provision of financial services. ASIC has also banned for four years Dr Robert Payne—Guildford’s Responsible Manager, Key Person and sole director—from providing financial services, performing any […]

ASIC has banned managing director of the Guildford group of companies, Dr Robert Payne of Brighton, Victoria, from providing financial services, performing any function involved in the carrying on of a financial services business and controlling an entity that carries on a financial services business for four years. ASIC has also cancelled the Australian Financial […]

The European Banking Authority (EBA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) today published joint guidelines on the suitability of members of the management body, and on the assessment of shareholders and members with qualifying holdings for issuers of asset reference tokens (ARTs) and crypto-asset service providers (CASPs), under the Markets in Crypto Assets […]