Services

Licencing

We can prepare, or assist you in the preparation of your application for an Australian Financial Services Licence or to apply to vary your Licence. We explain the licensing process (including the pitfalls and anomalies) and prepare/review supporting documentation to ensure that you are adequately prepared with respect to all the necessary documentation.

» read more about the documents required

Ongoing Compliance i.e. establishment of compliance infrastructure

It is a requirement that licensees demonstrate the adequacy of their compliance arrangements and systems to ensure they continue to meet their legislative obligations. The supervisory (monitoring) procedures must include processes for identifying and rectifying compliance issues including breaches of Licence conditions and the Corporations Act and such procedures should be documented. We assist our clients in establishing this compliance regime and framework i.e. preparing a Compliance Monitoring Program and supporting checklists to demonstrate the monitoring procedures undertaken.

» read more about our supervisory procedures

Compliance Committee meetings

We assist our clients in creating a good governance (and reporting) structure by way of a formal Compliance Committee.

The establishment of an internal Compliance Committee provides an effective way of ensuring your compliance procedures regularly occur, that they are monitored, reported on and considered by the Compliance Committee and senior management. In short, a Compliance Committee creates a formal structure to provide regulators (and the Board) with additional comfort that licensees are committed to meeting their ongoing compliance obligations.

A benefit of holding internal Compliance Committee meetings is that it provides you with an effective means for staff to raise any specific compliance related matters or concerns which they may have in a timely manner and in an appropriate forum.

A representative of Compliance Consulting will:

• use their best efforts to ensure that the Compliance Committee functions in a way that enables the Compliance Committee to properly perform its role;
• familiarise themselves with and develop a clear understanding of the nature of the business and how it operates;
• familiarise themselves with and have a clear understanding of the terms of the governing documents, as amended from time to time; and
• attend all Compliance Committee meetings (ordinarily held on a quarterly basis).

We note that representatives of Lazorne Group are also appropriately qualified compliance professionals with the level of skills and experience to fulfil the role and functions required to act as external members of Compliance Committee (as described in section 601JB(2) of the Corporations Act) i.e. participate on External Compliance Committees.

Compliance Advice

We offer ongoing practical advice and interpretation of regulatory and compliance issues. This provides additional support to your compliance staff.

Documentation of Policies, Procedures and Programs

We can prepare, or assist you in the preparation of documented policies, procedures and compliance plans and programs. These must be practical and written in clear and concise language to ensure that relevant requirements and obligations are easily understood. Such documents are the foundation of your internal controls.

» read more about compliance procedures

Training

It is not only good practice, but often a requirement to provide ongoing training to your representatives. This enables you to demonstrate staff competency in the services you provide to your clients. We offer ongoing compliance training to ensure that your representatives continue to be adequately trained and competent to provide financial services.

The Licensee is ultimately responsible for all the financial services provided under its Australian Financial Services Licence. Hence, you need to ensure that representatives who provide financial services meet the required training standards on an ongoing basis. To assist in this process, Lazorne Group publishes a monthly Regulatory Update newsletter, which provides its clients with timely information about developments and topical issues concerning the financial markets in Australia. Our aim is to keep clients informed of recent events, developments and/or upcoming changes in legislation that may impact upon their business.

Lazorne Group also provides face-to-face training (for example training internal staff in compliance requirements and ongoing monitoring methods and/or group sessions).

» read more about Compliance Training with Lazorne

Compliance "Health Checks"

We conduct a review of your existing procedures, internal controls and practices and seek to identify weaknesses and provide recommendations for enhancements. This helps you to identify weaknesses in your compliance practices, and in so doing, enables you to implement changes to strengthen your ongoing programs.

We also review the basic compliance structure and culture of your organisation. We examine how you ensure that your organisation and its employees are complying with the applicable laws and exchange regulations (where applicable).

On an ongoing basis, we can assist you with the monitoring of your compliance obligations.

From a general perspective, we;

• conduct a review of existing procedures, internal controls and practices to evaluate the appropriateness and effectiveness of such compliance measures;
• seek to identify any weaknesses and provide recommendations for enhancements; and
• offer practical advice and interpretation of regulatory and compliance issues.

A detailed report is issued to you which describes our findings and any recommended enhancements to enable you to rectify the matters identified. Then together, as a united force, we can quickly resolve any issues. After all, highlighting and helping you to fix any deficiency is our primary goal.

We are not the regulators; rather we are here to save you from attracting the unwanted attention.