Requests for due diligence (probity) information for licensing or registration outside Australia
As an overseas financial services regulator you may seek information from ASIC as part of your licensing or registration processes. ASIC supports this regulator-to-regulator practice as part of our functions of monitoring and promoting market integrity and consumer protection in relation to the Australian financial system.
What checks can an overseas regulator undertake on the ASIC website?
ASIC's website can provide you with useful information that will assist you with your licensing or registration processes. You can access information contained in the public registers through our website. For example, you can confirm that a person or company holds an Australian financial services licence or is a banned and/or disqualified person.
You may also find useful information by searching ASIC media releases, Enforceable Undertakings Register and the Summary prosecutions of companies & directors.
Note that ASIC does not register or license individual participants in the financial services industry unless they are carrying on a financial services business as a sole trader. Individuals who are (or have been) 'authorised representatives' of financial services licensees are publicly listed on the AFS authorised representatives register.
More about our public registers, including what they contain, the differences between free and paid searches, and help on how to conduct free searches, is available on a central page, Search ASIC registers.
The information publicly available on our website may be sufficient for your purposes, particularly where you are seeking to confirm information provided to you by an applicant for a licence or registration.
What information ASIC can/cannot provide to an overseas regulator
If you haven't found the information you need on our website or public registers you can make a probity request for confidential information. We release confidential information in accordance with our statutory obligations, which are outlined in Regulatory Guide 103 Confidentiality and release of information (RG 103).
There are certain categories of non-public information that as a general rule ASIC does not release in response to a probity check response. These include:
- complaints made to ASIC where we have assessed the complaint and determined that no regulatory action is required
- minor technical matters such as a single instance of failure to lodge an annual report on time
- concluded surveillances which did not raise any material concerns or which resulted in no further action being taken by ASIC
- highly confidential and/or commercially or market sensitive information (for example, prior knowledge of a takeover bid).
We, generally, will not conduct searches for confidential or non-public information beyond a period of five years.
We may contact individuals and companies when considering the release of confidential information but will not disclose to them any of our regulator-to-regulator correspondence. Nor will we provide letters of support to individuals or companies in relation to their dealings with foreign regulators.
We will ordinarily respond to a standard probity request within 28 days of receipt of all necessary information. For more complex matters we may require additional time to respond.
When will ASIC respond to a probity check request?
ASIC applies certain thresholds, to determine whether it is appropriate for us to respond to a probity check request. These thresholds are:
- jurisdictional nexus with Australia, and
- reason for the request (for example, the information is required to assist with assessing a licence application).
In addition, ASIC also requires probity requests to include details about the entity or individual (that is, the individual's name and date of birth) to assist us with carrying out the relevant searches of our confidential database.
Additional information
For more information about our probity check process and an introductory guide to searching ASIC's online registers, please read Probity request procedures for overseas regulators.
Contact us
Please send requests for due diligence (probity) information to:
Email: international@asic.gov.au
Mail to:
Senior Manager – International Cooperation Requests
Assessment & Intelligence
Australian Securities & Investments Commission
GPO Box 9827
Melbourne VIC 3001
Fax: 61+1300 729 000
Email contact is preferred.
Note that due diligence inquires are confidential and made on a regulator-to-regulator basis. ASIC does not provide information about these requests to applicants who are the subject of these inquiries.