Fintech and Financial Services
You’re offering a financial service in Australia. The licence question comes before the product roadmap, not after it.
Information, not advice
This page is information, not legal advice about your matter. A retainer begins only when a lawyer confirms it.
Start here
Find out whether you need your own licence
Holding an AFSL gives you control and takes months. Working under someone else's is faster and gives some of that control away. Your launch date usually decides.
What to work through, in order
The licence question
Whether you need an AFSL or an Australian credit licence, or can operate as an authorised representative of an existing licensee. The answer usually turns on the launch timetable as much as on preference.
Client money and safeguarding
Client money obligations require segregation, reconciliation and specific record keeping. Breaches are treated as serious because they go to solvency rather than disclosure.
Conduct, complaints and vulnerable customers
Internal dispute resolution requirements, AFCA membership, and the design and distribution obligations governing who a product is aimed at. Breach reporting obligations run alongside.
Next steps
What happens if you go ahead
Scoping call
Written scope and fixed-fee quote
Engagement, once a lawyer confirms
Who would handle it
Related reading
The AFSL Imperative - A Compliance Guide for Digital Asset Businesses Operating in Australia
Read the explainer
Offices
Melbourne
Level 17, 31 Queen Street, Melbourne VIC 3000
Sydney
Unit 3, 55 Pyrmont Bridge Road, Pyrmont NSW 2009
Gold Coast
Level 5, 33 Elkhorn Avenue, Surfers Paradise QLD 4217