Bill Breakthrough: Foreign financial services provider bill split amid legislative rush

On Thursday 28 November, on one of the last sitting days of the Australian Federal Parliament in 2024, the Senate passed a motion to split the Treasury Laws Amendment (Better Target Superannuation Concessions and Other Measures) Bill 2024 (the Initial Bill) into two bills: 

• the Treasury Laws Amendment (Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions) Bill 2023 containing Schedules 1 to 3; and 
• the Treasury Laws Amendment (Miscellaneous Measures) Bill 2024 containing Schedules 4 to 8 (for the purposes of this article, the FFSP Bill).

Schedule 7 in the FFSP Bill contains the proposed exemptions for foreign financial service providers (FFSPs) from the requirement to hold an Australian financial services licence. The Initial Bill was first introduced in November 2023 and was previously set to introduce the FFSP exemptions together with reforms to superannuation concessions.

The Initial Bill had already passed the House of Representatives, and passed the second reading in the Senate on 10 October. In light of the splitting of the Initial Bill, the Senate has now indicated that it will give “further consideration” to each Bill starting from its next sitting day. However, it is understood that the Senate is not scheduled to reconvene until February 2025, meaning any “further consideration” of the FFSP Bill may not occur until well into the new year.

With a federal election scheduled in 2025, the timing therefore remains uncertain as to when the FFSP Bill may be passed. That said, we understand that carving out the FFSP Bill from the Initial Bill is intended to allow for a more streamlined passage through Parliament. In the meantime, if you have any questions about the FFSP Bill, or the current financial services regulatory framework, please reach out to our team.