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Global rules on foreign direct investment (FDI)
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
Australia | Publication | August 2023
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has published a media release to confirm that the current transitional licensing relief for foreign financial services providers (FFSPs) providing financial services to Australian wholesale clients has been extended for a further 12 months to 31 March 2025.
FFSPs who held the benefit of “sufficient equivalence relief” under certain ASIC class order instruments on 31 March 2020 (see ASIC page for further details) as well as “limited connection relief” will continue to be able to benefit from these transitional arrangements.
The extension of the transitional relief, which was due to expire on 31 March 2024, was brought into effect by ASIC Corporations (Amendment) Instrument 2023/588.
Consistent with this extension, ASIC has also delayed the commencement of the funds management relief until 1 April 2025, (ASIC Corporations (Foreign Financial Services Providers—Funds Management Financial Services) Instrument 2020/199) which is intended to grant licensing relief to certain FFSPs that provide funds management financial services to specified categories of Australian professional investors.
ASIC has indicated that it will continue to consider new individual licensing relief applications, as well as new standard and foreign Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence applications, from entities that cannot rely on the transitional relief.
Foreign licensees who wish to enter the Australia financial services wholesale market can consider exploring these licensing applications with ASIC (whether it be the individual temporary relief pathway, or the AFS licensing route). If you would like further details on how we can assist you with these applications here at Norton Rose Fulbright, feel free to reach out to us below.
Publication
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
Publication
On February 2, 2024, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union confirmed that the Committee of Permanent Representatives had signed the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Regulation, referred to as the AI Act. Approval by the EU Parliament followed on 13 March 2024, and the AI Act is likely to appear in the EU’s Official Journal around May 2024. The AI Act aims to establish a stringent legal framework governing the development, marketing, and utilisation of artificial intelligence within the region, thereby marking a significant advancement in the regulation of this burgeoning domain.
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The private credit market and direct lending have grown and diversified immensely in the past decade, offering alternative sources and terms of debt compared to those historically provided by the syndicated leveraged loan and public issuance markets. Consequently, they are fast becoming pivotal components in the capital ecosystem, so much so that the Bank of England consider that the private credit market is currently responsible for approximately $1.8 trillion of debt issuance, which is four times its size in 2015. This growth has been particularly pronounced in Europe and the US but there has also been significant activity in Asia.
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