ASIC cancels AFSL due to audit non-compliance
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has cancelled four Australian Financial Services Licences (AFSL) and suspended one other due to a failure to lodge audited annual statements.
The AFSLs - two insurance brokers, two investment management groups and one corporate finance provider — were cancelled or suspended following a review of 14 AFSLs in the financial service sector that had failed to lodge their audited annual statements.
Of the remaining nine AFSLs in the most recent review ASIC prompted two businesses to voluntarily cancel their AFSL as they were no longer operating a financial services business with seven voluntarily complying with requests to lodge documents.
The cancellations follow an earlier round of action by ASIC after it first announced a review of AFSLs in July last year which resulted in the cancellation of eight licenses and the suspension two licences for failing to lodge an annual profit and loss statement, balance sheet and auditor's report with ASIC and failing to advise ASIC of becoming aware of this significant breach.
ASIC stated that licensees were required to lodge annual audited accounts to indicate it had adequate financial resources to be able to provide the services covered by its AFSL.
The cancelled licensees are:
- Ken Hart Insurance Brokers Pty Ltd Pty Ltd - AFS Licence 253565
- Marshall Lawrence Pty Ltd - AFS Licence 275471
- McDouall Stuart Corporate Finance Pty Limited - AFS Licence 282131
- Green Stride Investment Management Pty Ltd - AFS Licence 408153
The suspended licensees are:
- Navigate Funds Management Pty Ltd - suspended 23 December 2014 to 27 February 2015 - AFS Licence 299940.
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