A business that provides financial services in Australia generally needs an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL), or needs to act as an authorised representative of someone who holds one. If you rely on a licensee, an adviser group or a corporate authorised representative, the licence behind them is part of what you are relying on.
This guide covers where to check a licence, what the register shows, how to check an authorised representative, and what to do when a status changes. It is general information, not legal advice.
Where to check a licence
ASIC publishes its registers, including the AFS licensee register, through its online registers search. The same register data is also published as a file on data.gov.au, refreshed about weekly.
Search by the licence number if you have it. A name search can return several similar businesses, so confirm the match using the ABN or ACN rather than the name alone.
What a licence entry shows
An entry typically shows the licence number, the licensee's name, its ABN or ACN, the date the licence started, a principal business location and the conditions on the licence. The conditions matter most. They set out what the licence authorises, for example the kinds of financial products the licensee can advise on or deal in.
A licence is not general permission to do anything in financial services. Read the conditions and check that they cover the service you are relying on.
Authorised representatives and corporate authorised representatives
An authorised representative acts on behalf of a licensee, under that licensee's licence. A corporate authorised representative (CAR) is the same arrangement where the representative is a company. ASIC publishes a separate register of these appointments, which lists the representative, the licensee that appointed them, the start date and whether the appointment is current or has ceased.
Two points follow from this:
- A representative has no licence of its own to check. The authority comes from the appointing licensee, so check both the appointment and the licensee.
- An appointment can end while the representative keeps trading. The register records the end, and your file will not unless you look.
How to run the check
- Get the licence number, or the ABN or ACN, from the entity. Do not rely on a number printed in marketing material alone.
- Find the entry on the register and confirm the ABN or ACN matches the entity you are dealing with.
- Read the conditions and confirm they cover the service.
- For a representative, find the appointment, confirm it is current and note which licensee appointed them.
- Record what you checked, the date you checked it and a reference to the register entry.
What a suspension or a missing entry can mean
A suspended licence is still on the register, with its status shown as such. Treat it as a prompt to stop and find out why, not as a final answer, and check ASIC's own information before you act.
An entity that is no longer listed has left the register. That can mean the licence was cancelled or surrendered, but a missing entry on its own does not tell you why, so confirm with ASIC or the entity. The same applies to an appointment marked as ceased.
Remember that the register shows what is listed. It does not tell you about conduct, complaints or enforcement action, so it is one input among several.
Keeping the check current
A licence checked once is correct on the day you checked it. Licences are suspended, conditions are varied, and appointments end, and none of it is announced to the people who rely on them. If you deal with many licensees or representatives, set a regular re-check and keep a dated record.
A short checklist
- Confirm the ABN or ACN on the register entry, not just the name.
- Read the conditions, not only the licence number.
- For a representative, check the appointment and the appointing licensee.
- Note the date you checked.
- Re-check on a schedule.
- Investigate any suspension, ended appointment or missing entry promptly.
Licences sit alongside other registrations that change quietly. See how to check an Australian credit licence, how to check an ABN and how to monitor a company for changes.
How MonitorHQ helps
MonitorHQ checks ASIC's AFS licensee and authorised representative registers for each monitored entity's ABN or ACN, and alerts you quickly to a licence being added, suspended, reinstated or ending, an appointment starting or ending, and changes to licence conditions. The registers are published as files refreshed about weekly, so an alert can lag a change by days. An entry recorded without an ABN or ACN, or under a different entity, will not be matched, so treat it as a second check next to your own process. See AFSL monitoring, or the financial advisers page for how practices use it.