The financial market regulator in Australia announced today (Thursday) that it has approved 332 new Australian Financial Services (AFS) licenses in the last fiscal year, from July 2022 to June 2023. Additionally, it approved the 509 variations of the AFS license, 149 credit licenses, and 114 variations of it.

New AFS Licenses

On top of the approved ones, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) finalized 360 applications for AFS and credit licenses but is yet to approve them. The regulator received 1,272 license applications last year.

In the previous financial year, ASIC granted 578 new licenses while receiving a total of 1,469 applications for the two licenses.

ASIC is the apex financial markets regulatory body in Australia, responsible for licensing and overseeing all activities in the industry. Financial services firms, including the margin FX and contracts for differences (CFDs) providers, must obtain an AFS license to offer services in the country.

“Our report highlights the important gatekeeping role served by ASIC’s Licensing function. It ensures applicants seeking an Australian financial services license, credit license, or professional registration meet the high standards required to provide these regulated services,” said Warren Day, ASIC’s Chief Executive Officer.

“We are continuing to make a number of improvements to ASIC’s Licensing processes and systems. These include increased engagement with stakeholders during the application process, ongoing work to develop a new licensing portal, and streamlining our workflow systems to make it easier for stakeholders to interact with ASIC.”

Apart from the new licenses, ASIC withdrew or rejected 401 license applications for lodgement and canceled another 515 licenses. Further, it suspended 26 licenses.

Actions of ASIC

The canceled licenses last year by ASIC include the one held by FTX Australia, which was the local entity of the now-bankrupt FTX empire of Sam Bankman-Fried. The regulatory action came months after the bankruptcy filing of FTX, its sister Alameda Research, and about 130 other global affiliates.

Meanwhile, ASIC is taking strict action against the violators of its design and distribution obligations. Recently, it sued the local operator of the Kraken crypto exchange for its failure in these obligations with its margin products. A similar lawsuit was also brought against eToro for failure to identify its CFDs clients.