The Australian Securities and Investments Commission has extended its suspension of the Australian financial services licence held by Halifax Investment Services until 8 January 2021.

The terms of the suspension allow the licence to continue in effect for the following purposes only:

• to ensure that clients of Halifax continue to have access to an external dispute resolution scheme;
• to ensure that Halifax still has to have arrangements for compensating retail clients, including the holding of professional indemnity insurance cover; and
• to allow for the termination of existing arrangements with clients of Halifax.

Halifax was a financial services licensee headquartered in Sydney with a partially-owned subsidiary in Auckland in New Zealand. On 8 January 2019 ASIC suspended its licence until 10 January 2020, having called in the administrators in 23 November 2018. In March last year Halifax was placed into liquidation and the administrators were appointed as liquidators.

Under the Corporations Act, ASIC has the power to suspend or cancel a licence without holding a hearing in these circumstances.