Final reminder for unregistered financial advisers – Europe trading entities

ETE
Europe Trading Entities

Final reminder for unregistered financial advisers

From 16 February 2024, all relevant providers, including time-share advisers, must be registered with ASIC. Provisional relevant providers cannot be registered.

Between 1 February 2024 and 5 February 2024, ASIC individually emailed relevant providers who were not registered as at 1 February 2024, reminding them of the requirement to be registered by their AFS licensee.

ASIC records show that, as at 9.00am on 6 February 2024, 757 (4.9%) individual relevant providers (including time-share advisers) are still not registered with ASIC.

ASIC encourages relevant providers to check their registration status on the Financial Advisers Register today to ensure that they are recorded as ‘registered’. If they are not recorded as ‘registered’, they will need to cease providing personal advice from midnight 15 February 2024, until such time as they are registered and noted as such on the Financial Adviser Register. This includes all personal advice as well as ongoing advice services.

From 16 February 2024, if a relevant provider provides personal advice while not registered, they will be in breach of a restricted civil penalty provision and the relevant provider’s authorising AFS licensee(s) will have committed an offence of strict liability and contravened a civil penalty provision.

AFS licensees can apply to register their relevant providers now using ASIC Connect by lodging a ‘Registering a Relevant Provider’ transaction.

The requirement for relevant providers to be registered is an ongoing obligation, commencing on 16 February 2024. Relevant providers and their AFS licensees should have robust processes in place to ensure that a relevant provider is registered prior to the provision of personal advice to retail clients in relation to relevant financial products. AFS licensees should also ensure they understand the circumstances in which a relevant provider’s registration will cease. See ASIC’s guidance in information sheets INFO 276 and INFO 277.

ASIC will commence a program to ensure compliance with this new obligation shortly.

Latest News

FCA bans director following grievous bodily harm conviction

The FCA has banned Mr Ari Harris from working in financial services. In July 2020, Mr Harris was convicted of inflicting grievous bodily harm without

ASIC sues NAB for failing customers facing financial hardship

National Australia Bank (NAB) failed 345 of its customers at their most vulnerable when they applied for hardship support from the bank, according to documents

The ESAs announce timeline to collect information for the designation of critical ICT third-party service providers under the Digital Operational Resilience Act

The European Supervisory Authorities (EBA, EIOPA and ESMA – the ESAs) published today a Decision on the information that competent authorities must report to them

FCA fines and bans Craig Buchan and Martin Cooke for recklessly breaching requirements

Craig Buchan and Martin Cooke, former partners of MedDen Financial Services LLP (MedDen), have been fined £6,037 and £6,020 (respectively) and banned by the FCA

FCA statement on the Chancellor’s Mansion House speech

The FCA is committed to supporting growth. The financial services sector is the engine of the country’s economy. A successful sector drives prosperity for companies,

Modernising the redress system

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Financial Ombudsman Service have published a joint call for input to seek views on how to modernise the redress

For Firms

For Consumers