Annual Compliance Certificate for Credit Licensees 2026

To lodge an annual compliance certificate, reconcile your licence records, obtain the required signatory’s approval and submit the certificate within 45 days after your annual compliance date. Australian credit licensees must complete this each year they hold the licence.

Prepare the evidence before the certificate becomes available. You need access to the licence’s online account and a person who can make the declaration for the licence-holding entity.

Establish the Certificate and Due Date

Confirm the licence-holding legal entity, licence number and annual compliance date against the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) record. The annual compliance date is the licence issue anniversary, unless ASIC approves a different date.

ASIC’s Information Sheet 135 sets the deadline at 45 days after that date. The certificate becomes available on the annual compliance date.

1. Record the entity name and licence number in your preparation file. Match them to the licence record, including where a corporate trustee holds the licence.
2. Record the annual compliance date shown for that licence. Keep any ASIC approval that changes it with your calculation.
3. Add 45 calendar days to establish the lodgement deadline. For example, a hypothetical annual compliance date of 1 July 2026 gives a deadline of 15 August 2026.
4. Schedule evidence review and signatory approval before the deadline. Give each task an owner so a missing document has someone responsible for obtaining it.

The certificate records ongoing compliance for an existing licence. An Australian credit licence application concerns obtaining the licence, while a company annual review concerns the company’s registration. Keep separate reporting obligations on their own calendars.

Reconcile the Supporting Records

Match your practice records to the current certificate questions before asking the signatory to approve the answers. Use ASIC’s April 2025 certificate question guide alongside the online form.

The guide covers business and credit activities, representatives, fit-and-proper people, responsible managers, ongoing obligations, trust money, complaints and compensation. Some questions concern the preceding 12 months, some the annual compliance date and others a financial year. Write the relevant period beside each answer.

Build an evidence index with the question, proposed response, supporting record and reviewer. These are useful checks for a brokerage’s preparation file.

Record	What to reconcile	Evidence to keep with the response
Licence and register details	Entity, licence particulars and authorised credit representatives	Register extract and any lodged change acknowledgement
Personnel list	Joiners, leavers, roles and responsible managers	Appointment records plus evidence of qualifications and relevant experience
Fit-and-proper file	Required personal statements and background information	Signed statements and any checks requested by ASIC
Activity records	The activities and volumes reported for the specified period	Source report, date range and explanation of exclusions
Complaints and compensation	Counts and payments against the certificate’s definitions	Complaint register, remediation records and calculation notes
Compliance controls	The basis for each declaration about ongoing obligations	Compliance plan, monitoring records and incident decisions
Trust money, where relevant	Receipt of money and the applicable reporting period	Account records and audit or reporting evidence

For a new fit-and-proper person, obtain their signed personal information statement. ASIC’s Information Sheet 138 requires retention for at least seven years from certificate lodgement.

You retain that signed statement and make it available if ASIC requests it. It isn’t routinely lodged as a signed attachment. Treat any separately requested background documents as a distinct requirement.

Keep file-level evidence where a compliance response relies on your monitoring of client work. Bulma quotes lender policy wording that brokers can retain in file notes. The mortgage broker compliance checklist covers the broader practice controls supporting those records.

Resolve Exceptions Before Certification

Assign every mismatch or missing record to a named person before the declaration is approved. Record what happened, the response it affects and the action needed.

A correction made today doesn’t erase an exception during the period being certified. Preserve the original event and explain its treatment to the signatory.

For example, a hypothetical staff list shows a representative who left in March, while the register still shows an active authorisation. Reconcile the cessation record and arrange the required register update. Keep its acknowledgement with the exception record, then answer the certificate using the corrected facts and relevant period.

Missing evidence needs its own resolution. If a new fit-and-proper person’s signed statement is absent, obtain it before certifying that you hold it. If an incident affects a compliance answer, escalate it to the person accountable for that obligation.

ASIC’s guidance on changing licence details distinguishes notifications from applications to vary licence conditions or authorisations. A certificate disclosure doesn’t replace a required separate notification or application.

The certificate also has fields for fit-and-proper people and responsible manager information. Follow those question-specific instructions while handling registered licence changes through their applicable forms. Keep a separate acknowledgement for each transaction so the preparation file shows which action actually occurred.

Confirm the Signatory and Lodge

Choose the signatory by the legal entity holding the licence, using ASIC’s rules in Information Sheet 135. A person who prepares or submits the form isn’t automatically the person entitled to sign.

Licence holder	Required signatory
Individual	The individual licensee
Partnership or multiple trustees	A partner or trustee who performs duties relating to credit activities
Body corporate outside the authorised deposit-taking institution category	Its chief executive officer, or the qualifying manager described below if it has no chief executive officer
Authorised deposit-taking institution	Its chief executive officer or a person meeting the responsible-person criteria in Prudential Standard APS 520

For a body corporate without a chief executive officer, the signatory must manage its affairs and control resource allocation for compliance with the National Consumer Credit Protection Act 2009. Record the basis for that authority in the preparation file.

Use ASIC’s credit registers portal page to reach the official login. That portal supports certificate lodgement and viewing lodgement history.

1. Confirm the submitting user has registered access. ASIC’s portal access guidance says additional users register separately and need ASIC approval.
2. Log in using the credit licence number and registered credentials. Select CL50 for the annual compliance certificate on or after the annual compliance date.
3. Compare pre-filled information with your preparation file. Enter the reconciled responses and include every supporting document the form requires.
4. Obtain the required signatory’s approval of the completed certificate. If an agent submits it, retain the licensee’s authorisation for that submission.
5. Submit the certificate. Save the completed signed certificate and submission acknowledgement with the evidence index.

Verify the lodgement record identifies the correct licence and annual compliance date. Keep the acknowledgement’s reference and submission date. A saved draft alone doesn’t establish submission.

Handle a Late or Incorrect Certificate

If the certificate is late, complete and lodge it promptly, including required supporting documents. ASIC’s credit fee schedule lists no ordinary certificate lodgement fee, but late lodgement attracts separate fees.

Keep the amount assessed for your transaction with the lodgement record. An extension requires an application and ASIC approval, so record an approved extension separately from an unanswered request.

If the portal reports discrepancies before lodgement, correct the listed items and resubmit. Check the resulting lodgement record before treating the task as complete.

If you discover an error after submission, retain the submitted version and document the correct information. ASIC’s lodgement and amendment table marks the annual compliance certificate as a form you can withdraw or amend online. Use the portal’s available amendment option and retain the resulting acknowledgement.

If that option doesn’t resolve your case, send ASIC an enquiry through its credit registers portal FAQs. Include the licence number, lodgement reference and affected question. Keep ASIC’s instructions with the correction record.

Failure to lodge can attract penalties or licence suspension or cancellation. The licence doesn’t automatically lapse because you omit the certificate. A licensee seeking cancellation must use the separate cancellation process.

Record the cause of any missed deadline or error, its remedial action and the person responsible. Enter the next annual compliance date and deadline, then set an earlier evidence-review reminder so the same failure doesn’t recur.