MinterEllison has lodged a submission with Treasury in response to the Consultation Paper on Relief to Foreign Financial Service Providers (FFSPs) released in July 2021.  You can find our summary of the reform options under consideration.  

Key Points from our submission 

• We support the proposal to provide relief to FFSPs in a form similar to that which was in place before 31 March 2020 in order to reduce duplication of regulation and barriers for FFSPs entering the Australian market.
• We believe there is considerable opportunity to improve the previous regime, such as 
  – expand the jurisdictions for which sufficient equivalence exemptions are available to include at a minimum those listed and consideration given to a broader list of regulators;
  – expand the financial services and products.
• We strongly support the continuation of the limited connection relief and do not believe the funds management relief is a suitable alternative.
• We have identified some alternate approaches in our submission including: 
  – an expansion of exemptions available for FFSPs who wish to provide financial services from offshore to professional investors only;
  – providing a safe harbour based on the number of Australian clients and/or visits to Australia.
• We also support the fast-tracking options discussed in the Consultation Paper but believe that the obligations of FFSP licences should be limited, having regard to their overseas regulated status.

Please contact us if you have any queries about any aspect of our submission.