Financial Markets Conduct (Recognised Exchanges) Exemption Amendment Notice 2020

The Financial Markets Conduct (Recognised Exchanges) Exemption Amendment Notice 2020 amends the Financial Markets Conduct (Recognised Exchanges) Exemption Notice 2016 (principal notice). 

• View the amendment notice (2020)

The principal notice exempts issuers from the disclosure and governance requirements in Parts 3 and 4 of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 in relation to offers of financial products that are or will be approved for trading on the principal official list of certain recognised overseas exchanges (overseas listed products). The overseas exchanges are the London Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq Stock Market, and the New York Stock Exchange. 

The principal notice also provides that the offers exempted are not regulated offers under the Act. This means that other requirements of the Act, or other Acts, that apply in connection with regulated offers (such as the financial reporting requirements) will not apply. Any other financial market conduct obligations the exempted entity may have, including obligations under Part 2 of the Act, are not affected.

The relief offered under the principal notice did not apply to IPO’s where the issuing company was not the ‘offeror’ (on-sold IPO’s).  Relief to issuers and offerors was available under the preceding Securities Act exemption.  This notice amends the principal notice to broaden the scope of the exemption to apply to ‘issuers’ and ‘offerors’.  Amendments have also been made to ensure relevant conditions and notifications apply to the ‘offeror’ or ‘issuer’ as required.