ASIC revealed that it has cancelled the Australian financial services (AFS) licence of BBY Limited
The cancellation took effect on 24 June 2021 but according to the terms the licence will continue in effect until 31 March 2022. These terms will allow BBY clients to continue to have access to an external dispute resolution scheme and to the National Guarantee Fund.
The Australian regulator also noted that the continuation of BBY’s licence will:
ensure that the receivers and liquidators have the legal authority to transfer a client’s “holder identification number” to another market participant with instructions from the client or to convert a licensee sponsored holding to an issuer sponsored holding in accordance with the ASX Settlement Operating Rules.
It will also:
ensure BBY continues to be required to have arrangements for compensating retail clients for loss or damages suffered as a result of breaches of the Corporations Act by the companies or their representatives.
ASIC had suspended BBY’s licence for three years on 28 May 2015 following the appointment of Stephen Vaughan and Ian Hall as joint administrators to the company. In 2018, the regulator extended BBY’s suspension for a 12 more months until 28 May 2019 and two more extensions followed until 30 June 2021.
ASIC recently alerted investors that there are website displaying or linking to false registration certificates. The regulator gave a few examples of such companies including Global Capital Swiss Corp, COIN POBIT and A Glance Group LLC.
