ASIC issues DDO stop orders

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has broken new ground placing interim stop orders related to the Design and Distribution Obligations (DDO).

The regulator announced today it had placed interim stop orders on three financial firms related to deficiencies in their target market determinations.

The interim stop orders prevent Responsible Entity Services Limited (RES) and two companies in the UGC Global Group (UGC) from issuing the relevant managed investment scheme interests or shares to retail investors.

Commenting on the move, ASIC deputy chair, Karen Chester said ASIC’s focus with respect to DDO had shifted to compliance.

“We have targeted surveillances underway to check whether product issuers and distributors are complying with their design and distribution obligations.  We will continue to look at defective TMDs, as well as issuers who have not made TMDs or not made them publicly available.”