What does this option mean
An Australian credit licence (ACL) authorises you and your representatives to engage in the credit activities that are specified on the licence.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) requires the "responsible managers" of the business to met specific education and experience requirements in order to comply with the organisation competence requirements to hold a credit licence. If you cannot met these requirements it is unlikely that applying for your own licence will be something that you could consider in the first instance, however this may be something that you wish to pursue in the future.
General requirements you must met to be approved for an ACL
There are a number of requirements that you must meet to be approved for a credit licence. Broadly, they cover the following areas:
- general conduct obligations
- your broad compliance obligations
- your internal systems
- your people
- your resources
- dispute resolution
- compensation arrangements
Next steps
To make registration easier, there are a few steps you can commence now.
- Become a member of an ASIC-approved external dispute resolution (EDR) scheme.
- Complete background checks on your people.
- Update your details on other ASIC registers, as your details will be pre-filled in the online application form from these registers.
- Make sure all of the people who will need to make a declaration will be able to authorise the person submitting the application to make those declarations on their behalf.
Registering with ASIC will allow you to continue to engage in credit activities from 1 July 2010. You must register with ASIC between 1 April 2010 and 30 June 2010.
Questions the registration application will ask include:
- applicant, contact details and entity type
- any identifying numbers, e.g. AFSL ABN, ACN or ARBN
- current licences or registrations
- principal address
- details of EDR scheme membership
- details of business activities
- carried over instruments
- business names
- details of persons – statement about past conduct
ASIC have also released User guide form CS01 – Application for registration to engage in credit activities (PDF 6.26 MB) to assist people through the registration process.
ASIC will not accept registration applications after 30 June 2010.
They have also advised that they will be processing a large number of registration applications in May and June 2010. For this reason they are encouraging you to apply early for registration to ensure they can decide on your application by 30 June 2010.
Should you wait until after 18 June 2010 to apply you will face the risk that a decision will not be made on your application by the end of the registration period.
If you are not registered with ASIC by 1 July 2010, you must stop engaging in credit activities until you either become registered or have an Australian credit licence.