ASIC Industry Funding – New changes you need to be aware of

The Government has introduced legislation that changes the way ASIC is funded. This funding change will impact the way ASIC charges its fees to you, as ASIC moves towards becoming a “user-pays” system. If your work is regulated by ASIC, there are some themes you need to know about the move to industry funding.

The industry funding model aims to allow ASIC to better focus their resources on the sectors that are creating the need for most regulation.

What are the changes?

ASIC’s new fee for service model will change the way ASIC charges its fees to you. This new fee for service model aims to reflect the real costs of regulating the subsectors in which your business operates. The pricing will be either flat, graduated, or even a combination of the two. You can view the estimated fees here.

Who is impacted by the changes?

This change will affect large proprietary companies, public companies (both listed and unlisted), credit unions, entities holding and AFSL, financial advisers and other professional services regulated by ASIC such as Liquidators and Registered Company Auditors. Most large proprietary companies will be subject to a flat levy.

Some key themes to be aware of

• ASIC fees are payable within 30 days of issuing of the invoice;
• A 20% penalty applies for late payment;
• ASIC can deregister a company if the levy is unpaid after 12 months;
• In July – September each year, all organisations that ASIC regulate must log on to the ASIC portal and submit activity metrics; and
• In January 2019, ASIC will issue an invoice based on business metrics lodged or confirmation of metrics.

What do you need to do?

ASIC will send a letter with instructions to register on the ASIC Regulatory Portal shortly. If you receive a letter from ASIC by 27 September 2018, submit your business metrics to ASIC on the ASIC Regulatory Portal. If you do not receive a letter from ASIC, there is no required action from you at this stage.

There will be some exemptions for small proprietary companies. However, however their ASIC Annual Review fees will increase by $4 from 1 July 2018.

We are here to help

Where Altus Financial acts as your registered office for ASIC purposes, we will receive the relevant correspondence on your behalf from ASIC which we will forward to you. You can access more information about the changes here.

If you have any questions, please get in touch with your Altus Adviser or our Corporate Compliance Specialist, about what these changes mean to you.