IMAP's role is to provide information, education and representation to regulatory bodies and the new  Design & Distribution obligations (DDO) laws that took effect on 5th October 2021 have provided plenty to work on,

IMAP's Regulatory Working Group has worked with the Financial Services Council (FSC)  during 2021 to facilitate compliance with the new Design & Distribution obligations (DDO) laws

This has taken the form of:

a) Education and information through webinar resources and articles view IMAP webinar

b) A template document to help product issuers and distributors comply with the new regulatory regime. Find out about the DDO Template here

c) Representation to ASIC

The current status as at November 2021 is that the DDO or TMD laws are in now effect and reporting is required to be provided on compliance starting in January 2022.

ASIC have a specific advice on MDA's (managed discretionary accounts) which can be found on this ASIC webpage https://asic.gov.au/regulatory-resources/managed-investment-schemes/managed-discretionary-accounts/

Current Status in 2022

The current status as of 4th April 2022, is that it is clear that ASIC's firm position is that all managed account structures are required to comply

(There was previously a question mark raised by IMAP about situations where managed structures  were possibly not required to comply).

Communications received from ASIC made it clear that ASICs view is that the Design & Distribution obligations (DDO) do apply to managed discretionary accounts.

Disclaimer IMAP recommends that organisations seek their own legal advice on compliance and specifics relating to their own circumstances.