December 19, 2019, | AtoZ Markets – The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced this Thursday that it has canceled the Australian financial services (AFS) licence of KP International Group Australia Pty Ltd.
All relevant officers of KP International Group had resigned
The cancellation of the licence follows ASIC initially suspending the licence of KP International Group Australia. This suspension was in effect until the 23rd of September 2020.
“After the suspension commenced, KP International Group Australia Pty Ltd advised ASIC that all relevant officers of the company had resigned and that the company had ceased to carry on a financial services business. In light of this, ASIC has canceled the company’s AFS licence,” the regulator said.
The Australian financial services (AFS) licence of KP International Group Australia Pty Ltd, a provider of trading technology.
The cancellation of the AFS licence of the Sydney-based financial services provider was effective from the 22nd of November, 2019.
“Since the suspension of KP International Group Australia Pty Ltd’s AFS licence, the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) has notified ASIC that it has received multiple complaints from people located offshore regarding a company purporting to be KP International Group Australia Pty Ltd (refer: AFCA information).”
However, ASIC has highlighted that it is not clear if there is a link between the entity which is causing the complaints and the formerly licensed Australian entity. The watchdog is currently looking into the issue.
Nonetheless, the Aussie regulator has advised consumers to exercise caution. This necessary when dealing with any company purporting to offer financial services under the name KP International Group Australia Pty Ltd.
AFS approved limited licenses in 2019
As AtoZMarkets reported, the total number of approved licences has decreased (from 6,170 in June 2018 to 6,159 in June 2019). Given the generally constant number of new AFS licences approved each year, ASIC also explains that the decrease reflects an increasing number of cancellations. But, the total number of AFS licences is still significantly higher than at the start of the regime.
The total number of AFS and credit licence applications was 1,504 from July 2018 to June 2019. It is shorter than the 1,819 applications submitted in the previous year period by 17.3%.
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