LicenseCompare

Australian Securities and Investments Commission

Australia asset management licensing requirements

Discretionary portfolio, fund, managed account, and investment management models where the firm makes or controls investment decisions. This page maps the issue to Australia application evidence, individual roles, corporate controls, public registers, and official sources.

Who this page is for

  • - Startup fund managers
  • - Private fund advisers
  • - Managed account platforms
  • - Family office spin-outs
  • - Investment managers and managed account providers
  • - Financial product advisers

Likely route questions

  • - AFSL authorisations for managed investment, dealing, advice, or managed discretionary accounts

Activity trigger map

  • - Who has discretion over portfolio decisions?
  • - Are investors in a fund, separate account, managed account, or platform product?
  • - Does the manager also market funds, give advice, or place trades?
  • - Which entity will manage investment portfolios or funds?
  • - How will professional, accredited, institutional, or wholesale client status be evidenced and monitored?
  • - Which domestic permissions, representative approvals, and ongoing obligations apply before launch?

Individual requirements

  • - Responsible managers with appropriate competence and organisational capacity
  • - Authorised representatives where services are provided under another licensee
  • - Relevant provider registration on the Financial Advisers Register for personal advice to retail clients
  • - Training, competence, fit and proper, conflicts, and supervision controls

Corporate requirements

  • - AFSL authorisation by service and financial product type
  • - Financial resources, compliance arrangements, dispute resolution, insurance, training, and risk management
  • - Responsible manager proofs and business description matched to requested authorisations
  • - Retail or wholesale client controls and disclosure arrangements

People and key-person expectations

  • - Responsible managers with appropriate competence and organisational capacity
  • - Authorised representatives where services are provided under another licensee
  • - Relevant provider registration on the Financial Advisers Register for personal advice to retail clients
  • - Named owners should be able to explain the activity workflow, client type, controls, and evidence pack.

Documents and evidence checklist

  • - People and competence
  • - Governance and accountability
  • - Capital and financial resources
  • - Compliance framework
  • - Custody and client assets
  • - Financial forecasts
  • - Official-source route memo
  • - Public register verification plan
  • - Questions log for qualified advisers

Capital, timeline and bottlenecks

Financial resource expectations depend on authorisations, financial products, client money/custody, and licensee obligations.

Timeline estimate: Often 4 to 8+ months depending on authorisations and proof quality.

  • - Requested authorisations are broader than the actual operating plan can support
  • - Responsible manager evidence is thin or not matched to all authorisations
  • - Retail client disclosure, dispute resolution, and advice controls are incomplete
  • - The firm treats wholesale-only plans as low risk without documenting client classification and distribution controls

Common mistakes

  • - Treating asset management as a single global licence label.
  • - Ignoring dealing, advice, marketing, and custody steps around the mandate.
  • - Authorised representative status is not the same as holding your own AFSL.
  • - Retail advice introduces additional adviser registration and conduct questions.

Disclaimer

Information on LicenseCompare is for general educational purposes only and does not constitute legal, regulatory, financial, tax, investment, or professional advice. Licensing requirements depend on facts and change over time. Always consult official regulator materials and qualified professional advisers.