AUSTRALIA: ASIC Gives Financial Firms Disclosure Relief during Transition to AFCA

Thursday May 31 2018

The Australian Securities Investment Commission (ASIC) has announced that it will give financial firms, including superannuation trustees, transitional relief until 1^st  July 2019.  This will allow them time to update mandatory disclosure documents and periodic statements with the contact details of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA).

Under the disclosure relief provided by ASIC:

• Financial firms will have until 1^st  July 2019 to update EDR details to refer to AFCA in mandatory disclosure documents, periodic statements and exit statements; and
• Financial firms will not have to issue significant event notifications under s1017B of the Corporations Act associated with the transition to AFCA.
• Regulatory Guide 165 Licensing: Internal and external dispute resolution (RG 165) has also been amended to require information about predecessor schemes and AFCA to be provided to complainants from 21^st  September 2018.

AFCA is the new single external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme for consumer and small business complaints. A range of measures has been put in place to ensure that consumers are kept informed of how and where to pursue a complaint during the transition to AFCA, which will start dealing with complaints about all financial firms from 1^st  November 2018.

For additional information please click the link above.