Foreign collective schemes gain some relief
SOME operators of or investors in foreign collective investment schemes have been given some conditional registration and licensing relief.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission’s new policy on FCISs provides relief to:
p Operators of collective investment schemes that are authorised in other jurisdictions that want to operate in Australia; and
p Responsible entities of Australian-registered schemes that want to invest in FCISs overseas.
ASIC director regulatory policy Mark Adams said the policy was designed to ease access to cross-border financial services while ensuring protection for Australian investors was not compromised.
The relief applies to countries that have a regulatory regime that is "sufficiently equivalent" to Australia’s.
The commission has already determined that the US and New Zealand satisfy the criteria.
For an Australian managed investment scheme investing in an FCIS that is not a registered scheme, ASIC will provide relief if it has effective cooperation agreements with the home regulator of the scheme and the regulation of managed investment schemes in the foreign jurisdiction substantially meets the IOSCO Principles for the regulation of collective investment schemes.
Jurisdictions already assessed to be meeting that criteria are the US, UK, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.