The Australian financial services license
(AFSL) landscape has just shifted under your feet.
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission
(ASIC) now requires all new and current applicants
for the grant or variation of an AFSL to satisfy a 'fit and
proper person test' in relation to the applicant's
officers, all 'controllers' of the applicant, their
officers and in some cases their senior management.
ASIC has also been armed with new powers, including the power
to:
- cancel a new applicant's AFSL if
it is not used within the first 6 months of it being granted,
and
- ban specific persons from carrying
out their functions within a financial services business.
What has changed?
