AUSTRALIA: Arrangements for an Asia Region Funds Passport

Wednesday April 16 2014

Regulators in the Asia-Pacific region are seeking to create a regulatory arrangement allowing for cross-border collective investment schemes in participating economies.

The Asia Region Funds Passport (also known as ‘the passport’) is an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) initiative which aims to create a regulatory arrangement offering cross-border collective investment schemes in participating economies.

Through a streamlined process, the passport will enable fund operators in passport member economies to offer eligible schemes to retail investors in other member economies.

The passport working group (Australia, Korea, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand) has prepared a consultation paper seeking views from the public on details of the proposed arrangement. Following this consultation, economies who decide that they want to be passport member economies will work to finalise the arrangements by early 2015 with a view to the passport commencing in 2016.

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