Financial Services and Funds Management

Our highly experienced Financial Services and Funds Management team is led by John Malon. With over 35 years’ top-tier specialist legal skills across funds management and financial services, John brings enthusiasm to his work – a spirit echoed across Hive’s Financial Services and Funds Management team.

We work with domestic and international financial services institutions, public, private or listed, with a wholesale and/or retail client focus. Our team is pleased to advise across a broad range of issues including Corporations Act matters (fundraising, disclosure, licensing, registered scheme/trust establishment and wind down), ASIC, APRA, ASX and AUSTRAC policy and regulation, outsourcing contracts (e.g. custody, sub-custody, investment management, administration, registry, liquidity, prime brokerage), trust law, securities law, general corporate advisory and M&A in the financial services/funds management space, exchange traded funds and exchange traded managed funds, AQUA market quotation, ASX-listed trusts, AML/CTF law and superannuation law.

Services

Legal and regulatory advisory work

Our team has significant experience supporting public, private and listed financial services institutions, both domestic and internationally.

• Wholesale and retail trusts/schemes (single or multi-class) – establishment, operation, restructure or wind down including trust deed/constitution preparation, review and amendment
• Fundraising, disclosure (including product disclosure statements, information memoranda, investor communications, periodic disclosure), licensing (including AFSL variation) and compliance (including breach reporting, regulatory investigations)
• Corporations Act, Corporations Regulations and related legislative instruments
• ASIC, APRA and AUSTRAC policy
• Governance matters (board, compliance committee, trustee/responsible entity)
• Exchange traded funds and exchange traded managed funds
• Listed trusts
• AQUA market quotation
• IDPS and IDPS-like platforms
• Responsible entity/trustee appointment or removal
• Schemes of arrangement involving registered schemes
• Superannuation law
• AML/CTF law

Relevant services include legal and regulatory advice, strategic and structuring advice and assistance/negotiation with regulatory bodies such as ASIC, ASX, AUSTRAC and APRA.

Financial services contracts

We have broad experience in preparing, advising on and negotiating financial services contracts including:

• Outsourcing contracts (including custody, sub-custody, investment management, administration, liquidity, registry prime brokerage)
• General corporate advisory and M&A activity related to the financial services sector including acquisitions, disposals, product development and distribution.

We can assist with contracting ranging from stand-alone commercial agreements governing ongoing service provision to suites of contractual documentation covering trust, registered scheme (including listed scheme) or platform set-up or restructure.