
Publication
Australia’s new mandatory merger control regime
Mergers or acquisitions that meet certain turnover thresholds will shortly be required to be notified to the ACCC.
Australia | Publication | March 2023
Today’s announcement of a review into managed investment schemes signals a potentially significant overhaul of the laws governing Australia’s main investment vehicle. In arguably the broadest review since that undertaken by the former Corporations and Markets Advisory Committee in 2012, the Assistant Treasurer announced that the Federal Government will undertake a review of “the regulatory framework for managed investment schemes”, with Treasury to release a public consultation paper by mid-year. The Assistant Treasurer foreshadowed that the findings of the review will be presented to Government in early 2024. The announcement can be found here.
On the back of recent initiatives in superannuation, this review is further evidence of the commitment of the Government to applying its new broom across the invested funds landscape. A number of the measures, such as those around responsible entity governance and risk management arrangements, will build on measures taken by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission in recent years.
The Assistant Treasurer’s announcement gives us clear pointers on the focus of the review. Front and centre is whether there are adequate investor protections in place in the current Chapter 5C regime, and “what enhancements can be made to reduce undue financial risk for investors”.
Under that umbrella, the focus will be on:
And if that isn’t already enough to chew through, Treasury will also consider:
To help keep expectations of the review in check, the Assistant Treasurer flagged topics that are not on the table:
The Government’s review could potentially lead to the biggest shake-up that Chapter 5C has had, perhaps since its inception back in 1998. It is an ambitious agenda. Through the course of the next twelve months we have the opportunity to shape the debate, influencing this Government’s agenda and vision for encouraging consumer confidence across the funds landscape.
Publication
Mergers or acquisitions that meet certain turnover thresholds will shortly be required to be notified to the ACCC.
Publication
March 2025 was a busy month in the financial services space with the release of the draft bill on the second tranche of the ‘Delivering Better Financial Outcomes’ reform concerning advice provided through superannuation and client advice records.
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