AFSL Advisory is a specialist advisory practice providing regulatory guidance and compliance consulting in connection with Australian Financial Services Licences. The practice was established to address a gap in the market for focused, technically rigorous AFSL advisory services that are delivered efficiently and at a standard consistent with the expectations of sophisticated financial services participants.

We advise on every stage of the AFSL lifecycle: from initial scoping and pathway selection, through the application or acquisition process, to the design and ongoing maintenance of compliance frameworks for operating licensees. Our clients include Australian and international businesses across the financial services sector, with particular depth in broker-dealer operations including market-making operations, financial advice, fintech and managed account services.

Approach

Our approach is structured, transparent and orientated toward practical outcomes. We do not provide generic templates or high-level guidance. Each engagement is scoped to the client’s specific circumstances, with clearly defined deliverables, timeframes and accountability.

We work collaboratively with our clients’ legal, compliance and operational teams, and we are accustomed to coordinating with external lawyers, auditors and technology providers where an engagement requires multi-party input. Our documentation is produced to the standard expected by ASIC and by the legal and compliance professionals who review it.

We are direct in our advice. Where a proposed approach carries regulatory risk, we identify that risk clearly and provide a reasoned recommendation. Our objective is to assist our clients to make wellinformed decisions, not to provide advice that merely confirms an existing view.

Experience

The AFSL Advisory team has experience across the breadth of AFSL authorisation categories, including financial product advice, dealing in financial products (including derivatives, foreign exchange contracts and securities), managed discretionary account services, managed investment scheme operations, and
corporate authorised representative arrangements.

We have advised on matters involving retail and wholesale client classifications, responsible manager appointments and evidence requirements, compliance framework design for complex operating models, regulatory strategy for novel fintech business models, and AFSL acquisition due diligence and
post-completion transition programs.

Our experience includes matters involving ASIC engagement across applications, variations, notifications and compliance reviews.