{"id":"F2026L00201","name":"ASIC Corporations (Division 3 Securities and Division 4 Financial Products) Instrument 2026/32","slug":"asic-corporations-division-3-securities-and-division-4-financial-products-instrument-2026-32","collection":"legislative_instrument","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":107756,"registerId":"commonwealth-F2026L00201-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-04-03","status":"InForce","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[{"sectionNumber":"1","sectionType":"section","heading":"ASIC Corporations (Division 3 Securities and Division 4 Financial Products) Instrument 2026/32","content":"---\nmeta-content-style-type: text/css\nmeta-content-type: application/xhtml+xml; charset=utf-8\n---\n\n\n\nASIC Corporations (Division 3 Securities and Division 4 Financial Products) Instrument 2026/32\n\nI, Andrew Templer, delegate of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, make the following legislative instrument.\n\n \n\nDate 4 March 2026\n\n \n\nAndrew Templer\n\n \n\nContents\n\nPart 1—Preliminary 3\n\n1 Name of legislative instrument....................................3\n\n2 Commencement...............................................3\n\n3 Authority....................................................3\n\n4 Schedules....................................................3\n\n5 Simplified outline of this instrument...............................3\n\n6 Definitions...................................................4\n\nPart 2—Declaration 6\n\n7 Application of Division 4 of Part 7.11 of the Act.....................6\n\n8 Application of Part 7.11 of the Act to interests in a registered scheme.....9\n\nPart 4—Repeal 10\n\n9 Repeal......................................................10\n\nSchedule 1—Repeals 11\n\nASIC Corporations (Division 3 Securities and Division 4 Financial Products) Instrument 2015/1030 11\n\nPart 1—Preliminary\n\n1 Name of legislative instrument\n\nThis is the ASIC Corporations (Division 3 Securities and Division 4 Financial Products) Instrument 2026/32.\n\n2 Commencement\n\nThis instrument commences on the day after it is registered on the Federal Register of Legislation.\n\nNote: The register may be accessed at www.legislation.gov.au.\n\n3 Authority\n\nThis instrument is made under subsection 1075A(1) of the Corporations Act 2001.\n\n4 Schedules\n\nEach instrument that is specified in a Schedule to this instrument is amended or repealed as set out in the applicable items in the Schedule concerned, and any other item in a Schedule to this instrument has effect according to its terms.\n\n5 Simplified outline of this instrument \n\n| This instrument:
(a) declares certain classes of financial products for the purposes of regulations that regulate and facilitates transfers of financial products through ASX Settlement Pty Limited; and
(b) disapplies the application to certain warrants of certain subregulations that deal with circumstances under which such warrants would be taken to have ceased quotation on a financial market; and
(c) clarifies the operation of the regulations which deal with the effect on a transferee of a transfer through ASX Settlement Pty Limited of financial products that are rights; and
(d) expands the operation of the transfer provisions in Division 3 and 4 of Part 7.11 of the Act to cover interests in registered schemes that are quoted on the financial market operated by Cboe Australia Pty Ltd. |\n| --- |\n\n\n6 Definitions\n\nIn this instrument:\n\nAct means the Corporations Act 2001.\n\nAQUA Quote Display Board has the meaning given by the operating rules of ASX.\n\nASX means ASX Limited.\n\nCboe means Cboe Australia Pty Ltd.\n\nCDN means CHESS Depositary Nominees Pty Limited.\n\ndepositary interests means units of beneficial ownership in financial products that are securities issued by a foreign company or foreign scheme products where:\n\n(a) the securities or foreign scheme products are held by CDN; and\n\n(b) the operating rules of ASX Settlement Pty Limited apply to:\n\n(i) the holding of the securities or foreign scheme products by CDN; and\n\n(ii) the recording and transfer of the units of beneficial ownership.\n\nDivision 4 financial product has the meaning given by subregulation 7.11.03(1) of the Regulations.\n\neligible products means each of the following:\n\n(a) warrants that are:\n\n(i) able to be traded on the financial market operated by ASX or Cboe; or\n\n(ii) admitted to the AQUA Quote Display Board;\n\n(b) interests in a managed investment scheme that is not required to be registered under Chapter 5C of the Act because of an instrument made under section 601QA of the Act and that are:\n\n(i) able to be traded on the financial market operated by ASX or Cboe; or\n\n(ii) admitted to the AQUA Quote Display Board;\n\n(c) shares in, or debentures of, a foreign company that are quoted on the financial market operated by ASX or Cboe;\n\n(d) shares and debentures quoted on the financial market operated by ASX that are issued by a body referred to in section 1073C of the Act;\n\n(e) transferable custody receipts;\n\n(f) depository interests.\n\nforeign quoted shares, in relation to transferable custody receipts, means shares in a foreign company that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ Global Market or NASDAQ Global Select Market, where the shares are in a class of shares that are able to be traded on at least one of those financial markets.\n\nforeign scheme product means a financial product that:\n\n(a) is referred to in paragraph 764A(1)(ba) of the Act; and\n\n(b) relates to a managed investment scheme which is:\n\n(i) operated by a foreign company; and\n\n(ii) included in the official list of the financial market operated by ASX.\n\nRegulations means the Corporations Regulations 2001.\n\ntransferable custody receipts means units of beneficial ownership in foreign quoted shares where the units:\n\n(a) arise from a custodial and sub-custodial arrangement under which:\n\n(i) a custodian holds, directly or indirectly, the foreign quoted shares on behalf of, or in trust for, a financial services licensee that holds an Australian financial services licence that covers the provision of a custodial or depository service; and\n\n(ii) the financial services licensee holds its equitable rights or interests in the shares arising from the custodial arrangement mentioned in subparagraph (i) on behalf of, or in trust for, a person; and\n\n(b) are issued without the involvement of the issuer of the foreign quoted shares; and\n\n(c) are able to be traded on the financial market operated by Cboe.\n\nwarrant has the meaning given by subregulation 1.0.02(1) of the Regulations.\n\nPart 2—Declaration\n\n7 Application of Division 4 of Part 7.11 of the Act\n\nDivision 4 financial products\n\n(1) Part 7.11 of the Act applies to eligible products as if Division 4 of that Part were modified or varied by, after section 1074A, inserting:\n\n“1074AA Transfers effected through ASX Settlement\n\n(1) The following financial products are financial products the transfer of which will be effected through ASX Settlement Pty Limited under the regulations:\n\n(a) warrants that are:\n\n(i) able to be traded on the financial market operated by ASX Limited or Cboe Australia Pty Ltd; or\n\n(ii) admitted to the AQUA Quote Display Board;\n\n(b) interests in a managed investment scheme that is not required to be registered under Chapter 5C because of an instrument made under section 601QA and that are:\n\n(i) able to be traded on the financial market operated by ASX Limited or Cboe Australia Pty Ltd; or\n\n(ii) admitted to the AQUA Quote Display Board;\n\n(c) shares in, or debentures of, a foreign company that are quoted on the financial market operated by ASX Limited or Cboe Australia Pty Ltd;\n\n(d) shares and debentures quoted on the financial market operated by ASX Limited that are issued by a body referred to in section 1073C;\n\n(e) transferable custody receipts;\n\n(f) depository interests.\n\n(2) In this section:\n\nCDN means CHESS Depositary Nominees Pty Limited.\n\ndepositary interests means units of beneficial ownership in financial products that are securities issued by a foreign company or foreign scheme products where:\n\n(a) the securities or foreign scheme products are held by CDN; and\n\n(b) the operating rules of ASX Settlement Pty Limited apply to:\n\n(i) the holding of the securities or foreign scheme products by CDN; and\n\n(ii) the recording and transfer of the units of beneficial ownership.\n\nforeign quoted shares, in relation to transferable custody receipts, means shares in a foreign company that is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, NASDAQ Global Market or NASDAQ Global Select Market, where the shares are in a class of shares that are able to be traded on at least one of those financial markets.\n\nforeign scheme product means a financial product that:\n\n(a) is referred to in paragraph 764A(1)(ba); and\n\n(b) relates to a managed investment scheme which is:\n\n(i) operated by a foreign company; and\n\n(ii) included in the official list of the financial market operated by ASX Limited.\n\ntransferable custody receipts means units of beneficial ownership in foreign quoted shares where the units:\n\n(a) arise from a custodial and sub-custodial arrangement under which:\n\n(i) a custodian holds, directly or indirectly, the foreign quoted shares on behalf of, or in trust for, a financial services licensee that holds an Australian financial services licence that covers the provision of a custodial or depository service; and\n\n(ii) the financial services licensee holds its equitable rights or interests in the shares arising from the custodial arrangement mentioned in subparagraph (i) on behalf of, or in trust for, a person; and\n\n(b) are issued without the involvement of the issuer of the foreign quoted shares; and\n\n(c) are able to be traded on the financial market operated by Cboe Australia Pty Ltd.\n\nwarrant has the meaning given by subregulation 1.0.02(1) of the regulations.”.\n\nNote 1: Paragraph 7.11.03(1)(b) of the Regulations provides that a financial product is a Division 4 financial product if the financial product is declared by ASIC, under section 1075A of the Act, to be a financial product the transfer of which will be effected through ASTC under the Regulations.\n\nNote 2: ASX Settlement Pty Limited was previously known as ASX Settlement and Transfer Corporation Pty Limited (ASTC).\n\nTransferable custody receipts and warrants\n\n(2) Part 7.11 of the Act applies to:\n\n(a) transferable custody receipts; and\n\n(b) warrants that are able to be traded on the financial market operated by ASX or Cboe; and\n\n(c) warrants that are admitted to the AQUA Quote Display Board;\n\nas if subregulations 7.11.03(4) and (5) of the Regulations were omitted.\n\nRights\n\n(3) Part 7.11 of the Act applies to Division 4 financial products that are rights (within the meaning of subregulation 7.11.28(4) of the Regulations) as if regulation 7.11.28 of the Regulations were modified or varied as follows:\n\n(a) before subregulation (1) insert:\n\n“(1A) If a proper ASTC transfer of a Division 4 financial product that is a right takes effect at a particular time, the transferee is taken to have agreed at that time to accept the right subject to the terms and conditions on which the transferor held the right immediately before that time, being the terms and conditions that are applicable as between the issuer in relation to, and the holder for the time being of, the right.”;\n\n(b) in subregulation (1) omit “takes effect at a particular time”, substitute “has taken effect, and at that time (the payment time) or at a later time (the payment time) the transferee makes payment to the issuer in relation to the rights of the application money or, in the case of company options, the exercise price”;\n\n(c) in subregulations (1), (2) and (3) omit “at that time” (wherever occurring), substitute “at the payment time”;\n\n(d) in subregulation (4) before the definition of right, insert:\n\n“company option means a right that is an assignable option to acquire by way of issue shares or debentures in a company on payment of an exercise price.”.\n\n8 Application of Part 7.11 of the Act to interests in a registered scheme\n\nPart 7.11 of the Act applies to interests in a registered scheme as if paragraph 7.11.08(b) of the Regulations were modified or varied by omitting “the Australian Stock Exchange Limited” and substituting “ASX Limited or Cboe Australia Pty Ltd”.\n\n \n\n\n\n\nPart 4—Repeal\n\n9 Repeal\n\nThis instrument is repealed at the start of 1 April 2031.\n\n\n\n\nSchedule 1—Repeals\n\nASIC Corporations (Division 3 Securities and Division 4 Financial Products) Instrument 2015/1030\n\n1 The whole of the instrument\n\nRepeal the instrument.\n\n \n\n \n","sortOrder":0}],"analysis":{"flash_summary_failed":{"failed":true,"reason":"A positive credit balance is required for all requests, including BYOK, so fallback providers remain available. Add credits at https://vercel.com/d?to=%2F%5Bteam%5D%2F%7E%2Fai%3Fmodal%3Dtop-up to continue.","source":"analysis-cron"},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"This instrument broadens the scope of Division 4 transfer rules beyond the earlier 2015 instrument by expressly adding transferable custody receipts, depository interests and certain foreign-quoted products, and by extending transfer-treatment to products quoted on Cboe as well as ASX (see cl.6 definitions; cl.7(1); cl.8). It also disapplies particular subregulations for warrants and TCRs and clarifies the legal effect and payment timing for rights (cl.7(2)–(3)). The 2015 instrument is repealed (Schedule 1) and the new instrument expires 1 April 2031 (cl.9)."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple cross-references to the Corporations Act 2001 and Corporations Regulations 2001 (made under s.1075A of the Act; see cl.3 and cl.7).","Insertion of a new mirrored provision (s.1074AA) modifying Division 4 operation and definitions (cl.7(1) and inserted text).","Wide range of product categories with distinct legal and operational features (warrants, transferable custody receipts, depository interests, foreign quoted shares, scheme interests) (definitions in cl.6 and application in cl.7).","Omission of specific subregulations for warrants and transferable custody receipts (cl.7(2)), changing default regulatory treatment.","Modification of rules governing rights transfers and payment timing (amendments to reg.7.11.28 operation in cl.7(3)).","Extension of transfer provisions to instruments quoted on Cboe as well as ASX (cl.7 and cl.8), requiring coordination between different market operators.","Dependence on CHESS/CHESS Depositary Nominees (CDN) and custodial arrangements for transferable custody receipts and depositary interests (definitions in cl.6 and inserted text in cl.7).","Repeal of earlier instrument and built‑in sunset (Schedule 1 and cl.9) which may require future transitional arrangements."],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument tells markets and participants which classes of products (including certain warrants, foreign shares, custody receipts, depository interests and some scheme interests) are to be transferred through ASX Settlement and clarifies how those transfers legally take effect — including the timing and terms that bind transferees. It also extends equivalent transfer rules to products quoted on Cboe and temporarily repeals a prior 2015 instrument. The changes affect issuers, investors, custodians, ASX Settlement, Cboe and licensed custodial service providers because they alter legal effects, payment timing and operational responsibilities for transfers."},"kimi_summary":{"content_quality":"ok","complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"The original 2015 instrument focused primarily on ASX-quoted products. This 2026 version significantly expands scope to include Cboe Australia Pty Ltd as an equivalent market operator, adds new product classes (transferable custody receipts, depositary interests), and addresses technical gaps in rights transfers that weren't part of the original regulatory intent. The instrument has evolved from a simple declaration of ASX settlement products to a comprehensive framework accommodating market competition and complex custody arrangements for foreign securities."},"complexity_factors":["Multiple nested definitions (e.g., 'transferable custody receipts' depends on 'foreign quoted shares' which depends on specific US exchange listings)","Extensive cross-referencing to the Corporations Act 2001, Corporations Regulations 2001, and ASX operating rules","Conditional logic requiring simultaneous satisfaction of multiple criteria (e.g., custodial arrangements + trading venue + issuer non-involvement)","Modification of existing legislation through 'as if' provisions rather than direct amendment, requiring readers to mentally reconstruct the modified text","Technical financial market terminology (AQUA Quote Display Board, CHESS Depositary Nominees, ASTC transfers)","Sunset clause with automatic repeal date (1 April 2031)","Dual application to two different financial markets (ASX and Cboe) creating parallel regulatory tracks"],"plain_english_summary":"This instrument updates Australia’s settlement rules to extend coverage beyond ASX to Cboe, clarify that buyers of rights automatically accept the seller’s terms, remove provisions that could halt warrant trading, and expressly include transferable custody receipts and depositary interests. It affects investors in warrants and foreign-share products, custodial service providers, market operators and issuers, providing legal certainty and ensuring the settlement framework keeps pace with market developments."}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/asic-corporations-division-3-securities-and-division-4-financial-products-instrument-2026-32","history":"/api/acts/asic-corporations-division-3-securities-and-division-4-financial-products-instrument-2026-32/history","analysis":"/api/acts/asic-corporations-division-3-securities-and-division-4-financial-products-instrument-2026-32/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/asic-corporations-division-3-securities-and-division-4-financial-products-instrument-2026-32/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/asic-corporations-division-3-securities-and-division-4-financial-products-instrument-2026-32/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/asic-corporations-division-3-securities-and-division-4-financial-products-instrument-2026-32/documents"}}