The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) recently published proposals setting out a limited licensing regime for foreign financial service providers carrying on a financial services business in Australia with wholesale clients.  

The proposals will see the repeal of the conditional Australian financial services licence (AFSL) class order relief currently relied upon by many foreign financial services providers (FFSPs) providing financial services to wholesale clients in Australia and introduce a new 'foreign AFSL' regime, to be used by FFSPs instead of the existing AFSL relief after a transitional period.  The deadline for responses to the consultation is 31 July 2018. 

If you have any questions, comments or would like to contribute to an AIMA response, please contact Kher Sheng Lee (copying Gennifer Goh).