International Law

Retail Investor Protection on Partly Paid Securities

Senator Nick Sherry, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law, has allowed changes to the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) market rules to boost retail investor disclosure and protection in relation to "partly paid securities".

Partly paid securities, or instalment receipts, are securities that require that on a future date or dates to be specified by the issuer, that the holder may have a legal obligation to pay the balance of the previously uncalled issue price.

The ASX, the market supervisor, and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), the market regulator, put forward a market rule change to insert a new definition of a partly paid security and impose a new requirement for market participants and retail investors to enter into a Partly Paid Security Client Agreement before the retail client buys partly paid securities for the first time.

This issue has been the subject of the Re Australian Style Investments Pty Ltd [2009] VSC 128 involving partly paid units in the BrisConnections Investment Trust and the BrisConnections Holding Trust.

Full post as published by Australian Regulatory Compliance Review on April 06, 2009 (boomark / email).