ASIC Corporations (Financial Services Guides) Instrument 2022/910

The ASIC Corporations (Financial Services Guides) Instrument 2022/910 is a Commonwealth legislative instrument made under section 951B of the Corporations Act 2001. It deals with one specific issue: when an authorised representative of a financial services licensee does not have to give a Financial Services Guide, or FSG, to a retail client.

The instrument does not remove FSG obligations across the board. Instead, it creates a limited exemption for a narrow class of authorised representatives operating in a narrow class of insurance transactions. If your business wants to rely on it, the starting point is to check the representative’s authorisation and the exact service being provided to the client.

The practical effect is that some insurance representatives can avoid giving an FSG for covered retail dealings, but only if every condition in the instrument is met at the time the service is provided.

The exemption applies to an authorised representative of a financial services licensee where all of the required conditions are satisfied. The representative must be authorised by the licensee to provide both of the following financial services on behalf of the licensee:

• dealing in a financial product
• providing a claims handling and settling service

This is an important threshold point. The instrument is aimed at representatives whose role covers both product dealing and claims handling and settling services for the relevant insurance activity.

The representative must also not be authorised by the licensee to provide financial services other than those two categories. That means the exemption is unavailable if the representative has a broader authorisation, even if in practice they only use the broader authority occasionally. Businesses should read this carefully. The question is not just what the representative usually does, but what they are authorised to do.

In practical terms, this means the instrument is most relevant to tightly scoped insurance distribution arrangements where the representative’s authority has been deliberately limited.

Even if the representative’s authorisation is narrow enough, the exemption only applies when the financial service being provided is dealing in one of the products listed in the instrument. Those products are:

• a general insurance product
• a bundled consumer credit insurance product

So there are two separate checks. First, is the representative’s authorisation limited in the way the instrument requires? Second, is the actual service being provided a dealing in one of the covered products?

The reference to a bundled consumer credit insurance product is tied to the meaning used in ASIC Corporations (Basic Deposit and General Insurance Product Distribution) Instrument 2015/682. For business readers, the key point is that this is a defined category, not a loose description. You should not assume that any credit-related insurance product is covered just because it is sold with finance or another product.

If the service falls outside general insurance or the defined bundled consumer credit insurance category, the exemption does not apply. Likewise, if the representative is authorised for other financial services beyond the two listed in the instrument, the exemption does not apply.

This instrument does not create a no-disclosure regime. It only removes the need to give an FSG in the covered circumstances. The licensee must still take reasonable steps to ensure that, when the authorised representative provides the financial service to the retail client, certain things happen.

First, the authorised representative must draw the client’s attention to the availability of the licensee’s dispute resolution system that covers complaints by the client in relation to the financial service, and how that system may be accessed.

Second, the client must be given information in writing about:

• who the authorised representative acts for when providing the financial service
• any remuneration, including commission, or other benefits that the authorised representative or an associate of the authorised representative may receive in respect of, or that is attributable to, the provision of the financial service

The timing matters. The instrument says the licensee must take reasonable steps to ensure these things occur when the authorised representative provides the financial service to the client. Businesses relying on the exemption should build this into the sales or distribution process rather than treating it as an afterthought.

The most common compliance mistake with exemptions like this is assuming they apply because the business model seems simple. This instrument should be read more strictly than that. It is only available where all listed conditions are satisfied.

That means businesses should actively verify each element before relying on it:

• the representative is authorised for both dealing and claims handling and settling services
• the representative is not authorised for any other financial services
• the actual service being provided is dealing in a covered insurance product
• the licensee has taken reasonable steps to ensure the required dispute resolution and written disclosure steps occur at the right time

If any one of those elements is missing, the exemption is not available. In that case, the ordinary FSG requirement under the Corporations Act continues to apply to the extent relevant.

This is especially important for businesses that have grown over time. A representative who originally had a narrow authority may later receive broader permissions. Once that happens, the exemption may no longer be available, even if the representative is still mostly involved in general insurance transactions.

Before using this exemption in practice, businesses should review the documents and operational steps that support it. The instrument places responsibility on the licensee to take reasonable steps, so this is not just a front-line staff issue.

Useful checks include reviewing the authorised representative agreement or appointment terms, the internal authorisation matrix, product lists, client disclosure templates and complaint handling wording. The business should also check whether the written information given to clients clearly identifies who the representative acts for and whether remuneration and benefits are described in a way that matches the actual arrangement.

Because the instrument refers to remuneration received by the authorised representative or an associate, businesses should not limit their review to direct commissions only. They should make sure the written disclosure process captures the benefits that fall within the arrangement being relied on.

Where a business uses standard scripts, online journeys or point-of-sale documents, those materials should also be checked to confirm the client’s attention is drawn to the licensee’s dispute resolution system and how it may be accessed.

The instrument is named the ASIC Corporations (Financial Services Guides) Instrument 2022/910. It was made on 24 November 2022 and registered on 28 November 2022. Under the commencement clause, it starts on the day after registration, which means it commenced on 29 November 2022.

The instrument also contains its own repeal provision. It is repealed five years after the day it commences. On that basis, the scheduled repeal date is 29 November 2027, unless there is an earlier change, replacement or other legislative development.

Businesses should always confirm they are using the current version of the instrument and should not rely on an old internal summary if the representative authorisation model or the law has changed.

This page is based on the text of the ASIC Corporations (Financial Services Guides) Instrument 2022/910 as published on the Federal Register of Legislation. The instrument is made under section 951B of the Corporations Act 2001 and sets out the exemption conditions directly.

Because this page is a practical overview, businesses should still check the current legislative text before relying on it in a live compliance setting, especially where there is any uncertainty about the scope of a representative’s authorisation or whether a product falls within the defined bundled consumer credit insurance category.