The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has pushed back the end date for existing relief arrangements for foreign financial services providers (FFSPs), extending the current settings by one year before new licensing requirements take effect for services to wholesale clients in Australia.
Under the change, FFSPs can continue to rely on ASIC’s sufficient equivalence and limited connection relief until March 31, 2027, instead of March 31, 2026. During this period, eligible FFSPs may provide specified financial services to Australian wholesale clients without holding an Australian financial services licence. The transitional arrangements will remain in place until a new FFSP exemption framework is introduced as part of broader legislative reforms before Parliament.
The federal government on Nov. 26 introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance and Other Measures) Bill 2025. Among its measures, the bill proposes a new licensing exemption regime for FFSPs. That regime is scheduled to commence 12 months after the bill receives royal assent.
During the second reading of the bill, Dr. Daniel Mulino, Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services, said: “Schedule 2 to the bill provides licensing relief to facilitate access by Australian professional and wholesale investors to global investment opportunities so that they can diversify their financial holdings. This improves outcomes for millions of Australians as these services are commonly used by superannuation funds and institutional investors, among other financial firms. This relief has generally been provided by way of an ASIC instrument. The legislation and this schedule in the bill will elevate the relief to primary law and improve oversight for the regulator. This gives certainty to the industry that financial institutions and eligible investors can access the financial products and services offered by foreign financial service providers.”
The bill also contains provisions affecting how life insurers may use health-related data. It would prevent life insurance companies from using adverse outcomes from genetic tests in their underwriting processes. The proposal responds to concerns raised by medical professionals and patient groups that fear of genetic discrimination has discouraged some people from undertaking genetic testing and associated preventive screening.
Under the proposed framework, life insurance underwriters would be prohibited from accessing or considering genetic test results that indicate disease predisposition or inherited health risks. In clinical practice, such tests are used to identify individuals at higher risk of hereditary cancers and other conditions, allowing earlier management and surveillance.
FFSPs that have already obtained a foreign AFS licence from ASIC are not dependent on the transitional arrangements and will be able to continue operating their Australian financial services business under those licences.
The extension primarily affects foreign entities that currently rely on existing class relief or individual relief instruments and are assessing whether to transition into the foreign AFS licensing framework or rely on the forthcoming exemption regime once it commences.
ASIC Corporations (Foreign Financial Services Providers) Instrument 2025/798 remakes the relief that was previously provided under ASIC Corporations (Repeal and Transitional) Instrument 2016/396. FFSPs that hold individual relief instruments whose expiry dates are tied to the 2016 transitional instrument will be able to continue relying on those instruments until March 31, 2027.
In parallel, ASIC Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2025/799 extends the relief in:
ASIC has also set the commencement date for ASIC Corporations (Foreign Financial Services Providers – Funds Management Financial Services) Instrument 2020/199 on April 1, 2027, subject to the passage of the Treasury laws amendment bill.
