AxiCorp seeks review of ASIC’s decision for license suspension
The Tribunal has granted a stay of the suspension pending final review, meaning that AxiCorp can continue to provide financial services until a final decision by the Tribunal is made.
The Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) today announces that online trading company AxiCorp operating as AxiForex, AxiPrime and AxiTrader, is seeking a review of ASIC’s decision to suspend its license.
On January 2, 2020, ASIC suspended the Australian financial services (AFS) licence of AxiCorp for four months. On the same day, AxiCorp applied to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal for review of ASIC’s suspension decision, as well as for a stay of the suspension decision and for confidentiality orders.
The Tribunal has granted a stay of the suspension pending final review, meaning that AxiCorp can still provide financial services until a final decision by the Tribunal is made. The Tribunal denied AxiCorp’s request for confidentiality orders.
AxiCorp’s licence was suspended after ASIC found that AxiCorp failed to comply with financial services laws, namely the requirements to:
- pay client money into an account with an Australian authorised deposit-taking institution
- lodge product disclosure statement (PDS) in-use notices with ASIC
- comply with the ASIC derivative transaction rules
- comply with client money reporting rules; and
- lodge financial statements with ASIC by the due date.
AxiCorp was also found by ASIC to have breached Condition 3 of its licence which requires AxiCorp to establish and maintain compliance measures that ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, that the licensee complies with the provisions of the financial services laws.
According to the regulator, AxiCorp is likely to contravene its obligations under s912A of the Corporations Act as a result of deficiencies and systemic failures in AxiCorp’s compliance regime.
