ASIC said in a report released yesterday that it refused relief in relation to 32 applications during the four-month period, with the remaining 121 applications either undecided or withdrawn.
The report said the regulator granted relief to a number of applications regarding AFS licences and issued a class order providing relief for phase 2 reporting entities from complying with certain provisions of the ASIC Derivative Transaction Rules.
ASIC said the class order recognised a “number of phase 2 reporting entities were experiencing practical limitations in their efforts to achieve compliance with the original timeframes set out in the derivative transaction rules”.
During the period, relief was granted for a mutual discretionary fund from the requirement to hold an AFS licence.
ASIC said this was done as the cost of compliance represented a significant proportion of the mutual discretionary fund’s income and could be considered “disproportionately burdensome” while the mutual risk product “did not involve risks to the broader community”.
Relief was also granted from certain requirements of the Corporations Act to enable an intermediary with an AFS licence to appoint another AFS licensee to provide general financial product advice about general insurance products.
The relief was granted as this was only a minor extension to existing policy of granting relief to an intermediary appointing another AFS licence to offer advice on life risk products, said ASIC.
The corporate regulator also issued a no-action letter for a non-cash payment facility provider in relation to the adjusted surplus liquid funds requirement and relief in relation to a non-cash payment facility for the distribution of royalty payments.
