The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has told licensees to factor in the time it may take to assess applications to cancel or vary their licences as part of any measures taken to reduce levies.

The regulator aims to assess 70% of all complete applications within 150 days of lodgement and have 90% completed with 240 days.

“We expect licensees to have considered ASIC’s service charter timeframes, particularly when applying to cancel or vary the conditions of their licence in light of ASIC industry funding,” Commissioner Danielle Press said.

“How many we can ultimately assess is subject to the number of applications we may receive, the completeness of the application, and whether or not ASIC has any regulatory concerns related to the application.”

Licensees with authorisations current on July 1 have to pay funding levies for next financial year under new arrangements that make sectors requiring the greatest regulation pay higher fees.

Invoices to recover ASIC regulatory costs for next financial year will be issued in January 2021.