Obligations and Liabilities of a Responsible Manager under an AFSL or ACL

What is a Responsible Manager?

Responsible Managers are key people in relation to an Australian Financial Services Licence or Australian Credit Licence ("Licensees"), however the term is not defined in the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) ("the Act"). Whilst the Act sets out the obligation of licensees to maintain the competence to provide the services authorised by the licence, it is ASIC's Regulatory Guide 105 and 206 which make clear that it is the Responsible Manager's skills and knowledge which demonstrate this competence for the AFSL or ACL holder.

A Responsible Manager ("RM") is more than just an person of good fame and character. RMs must be:

• responsible for the significant day-to-day decisions about the ongoing provision of financial or credit services;