Consultation Paper 385—Proposed update to RG 181 Licensing: Managing Conflicts of Interest
Submission Date: 12 September 2025
This submission has been prepared by members of the Superannuation Committee within the Legal Practice Section and the Financial Services Committee (with input from the Corporations Committee) within the Business Law Section of the Law Council of Australia (the Committees).
This submission provides feedback on the terms of draft RG 181, attached to Consultation Paper 385 Proposed update to RG 181 Licensing: Managing Conflicts of Interest, released by ASIC on 30 July 2025.
As a general observation, the Committees agree that, in the year of the 21st birthday of RG 181, it is an opportune time for ASIC to review and revise the document to reflect developments in case law and financial markets that have occurred since it was prepared by ASIC. The Committees consider that, for the most part and subject to comments which follow, the draft RG 181 is clearly expressed in a way that relevant stakeholders should readily understand and could prove to be useful to assist licensees in better understanding the conflicts management obligation as it applies to their particular business and circumstances.
The Committees agree that it is helpful for the guidance to provide examples of different kinds of conflicts as they may arise for different kinds of financial services businesses. However, the Committees believe that the examples could be improved upon in a number of respects.
This submission is focused on ensuring that statements about the law are reasonably clear and accurate. This submission does not comment on ASIC’s suggestions or expectations about what might be ‘best practice’ or ‘prudent practice’ by AFS licensees, except to the extent that ASIC’s guidance and expectations on those matters might be based on implied or express statements about what the law requires.
The Law Council's comments on the terms of draft RG 181 are set out in the submission.
Last Updated on 24/09/2025
Share
Tags
Most recent items
Law Council
Review of Surrogacy Laws: Discussion Paper
Law Council
Principles of judicial appointment
Trending Items
Law Council
National Public Register of Child Sex Offenders
Business Law Section