ASIC issues industry funding notice to credit licensees

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has issued a notice to Australian Financial Services licence and Australian credit licence holders who have industry funding obligations.

The regulator has reminded licensees to factor in the time it may take ASIC to assess applications to cancel or vary their licensing conditions, as part of any measures by licensees to reduce the industry levy they are charged for the 2019-20 financial year.

ASIC commissioner Danielle Press noted that the watchdog has a licensing service charter that aims to assess 70 per cent of all complete applications within 150 days of lodgement and 90 per cent within 240 days and added that applications must include all mandatory supporting documentation and information.

“We expect licensees to have considered ASIC’s service charter time frames – particularly when applying to cancel or vary the conditions of their licence in light of ASIC industry funding,” Ms Press said.

“How many we can ultimately assess is subject to the number of applications we may receive, the completeness of the application, and whether or not ASIC has any regulatory concerns related to the application.”

ASIC also stated that licensees with authorisations that are current as at 1 July 2019 are liable to pay industry funding levies related to the 2019-20 financial year, depending on the authorisations and conditions of the licence.

ASIC will issue invoices to recover regulatory costs for 2019-20 in January 2021.

The federal government’s industry funding arrangements for ASIC became law in 2017, with 2019 the first year of its implementation, which involves the recovery of regulatory costs from regulated industries.

Industry funding was a key recommendation in the 2014 Murray Financial System Inquiry, with the development of the model involving engagement from industry sectors throughout the government’s consultation process.

[Related: Financial firms pressed to prepare for LIBOR transition]