GRC Report Staff

ASIC Instrument 2025/509 exempts deposit product issuers from disclosing specific interest rates in Product Disclosure Statements and termination values in periodic statements, provided alternative access methods are offered. The relief, effective the day after registration and repealed on 1 October 2030, reduces disclosure burden but requires issuers to implement compliant alternative disclosure mechanisms.

The FCA has issued a consumer warning identifying Velomarkets as an unauthorized firm operating in the UK without regulatory permission. Financial institutions and compliance teams should ensure this entity is screened against onboarding, payments, and third-party due diligence systems to prevent exposure to fraudulent or unauthorized activity.

ASIC's Regulatory Guide 146 sets out minimum training standards for AFS licensees and representatives who provide financial product advice to retail clients, outlining Tier 1 and Tier 2 education requirements based on advice type and product category. Compliance teams must ensure adviser training, assessment, and continuing education policies align with these standards, as licensees bear ultimate responsibility for adviser competency.

The FCA has added Legacy Trading Global to its Warning List for providing or promoting financial services in the UK without authorization. Compliance teams should treat this as a consumer protection alert, ensure internal watchlists are updated, and reinforce due diligence procedures around unauthorized entities and potential scam activity.

ASIC has released Consultation Paper 391 proposing a new framework for accessing company and officeholder information on the companies register, balancing transparency with privacy and security concerns. Compliance teams at firms that rely on register data for due diligence, KYC, or AML purposes should review the proposed access tiers, as changes to residential address and date-of-birth availability could materially affect verification processes from mid-2027 onward.

The FCA has added Hale Wealthwick (www.hale-wealthwick.com) to its Warning List for providing or promoting financial services without authorization in the UK. Compliance teams at regulated firms should ensure this entity is screened against onboarding, counterparty, and marketing-affiliation checks, and that customer-facing staff are aware of the heightened scam risk associated with unauthorized clone/boiler-room firms.

Christopher Woolcott pleaded guilty to fraud and forgery charges after fabricating a takeover approach for Touchstone Exploration Inc. to manipulate its share price for personal gain. The case underscores the FCA's continued enforcement focus on market abuse involving false information, forged documents, and identity fraud, and signals heightened scrutiny of market-moving announcements and corporate action rumors.