Australian regulator ASIC has just announce that it has suspended the Australian financial services (AFS) license held by the Australian liquidity provider Halifax Investment Services Pty Ltd until 10 January 2020.
The official announcement reads as follows:
Halifax was a financial services licensee headquartered in Sydney with a partially-owned subsidiary in Auckland, New Zealand.
The suspension follows the appointment of Morgan Kelly, Stewart McCallum and Phil Quinlan, of Ferrier Hodgson, as joint voluntary administrators of Halifax, appointed on 23 November 2018.
The terms of the AFS licence suspension allow the Halifax AFS license to continue in effect for the following purposes only:
- to ensure that clients of Halifax continue to have access to an external dispute resolution scheme;
- to ensure that Halifax continues to be required to have arrangements for compensating retail clients, including the holding of professional indemnity insurance cover; and
- to allow for the termination of existing arrangements with clients of Halifax.
Background
Under the Corporations Act, ASIC has the power to suspend or cancel an AFS license, without holding a hearing, where the AFS License is held by a body corporate which is placed under external administration.
The company has a right to seek a review of ASIC’s decision at the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
LeapRate reminds that the CFTC was claiming that the Australian broker has solicited U.S. retail FX clients, and has taken on U.S. clients back in 2013.