Corporations Amendment (Simple Corporate Bonds and Other Measures) Bill 2013

The Hon Wayne Swan MP has released an exposure draft of amendments to the Corporations Act 2001 to streamline the regulatory requirements for issuing simple corporate bonds to retail investors. The reforms:

introduce a streamlined two-part disclosure regime for offers of simple corporate bonds;
make changes to the civil liability provisions in respect to corporate bonds issued to retail investors; and
clarify the application of the defences in respect to misleading and deceptive statements and omissions in disclosure documents relating to corporate bonds issued to retail investors.

These measures form part of the Government's commitment to develop a deep and liquid corporate bond market as announced in the Government's Competitive and Sustainable Banking System Package Government's Competitive and Sustainable Banking System Package.

The Government has previously sought public comment on this policy through a discussion paper released in December 2011 entitled Development of the Retail Corporate Bond Market: Streamlining Disclosure and Liability Requirements.

Making a Submission

Interested parties are invited to comment on the exposure draft.

While submissions may be lodged electronically or by post, electronic lodgement is preferred. For accessibility reasons, please submit responses sent via email in a Word or RTF format. An additional PDF version may also be submitted.

All information (including name and address details) contained in submissions will be made available to the public on the Treasury website unless you indicate that you would like all or part of your submission to remain in confidence. Automatically generated confidentiality statements in emails do not suffice for this purpose. Respondents who would like part of their submission to remain in confidence should provide this information marked as such in a separate attachment.

Legal requirements, such as those imposed by the Freedom of Information Act 1982, may affect the confidentiality of your submission.

Closing date for submissions: Friday, 15 February 2013

Address written submissions to:

Manager
Disclosure and International Unit
Retail Investor Division
The Treasury
Langton Crescent
PARKES ACT 2600

Email: SimpleBonds@treasury.gov.au

For enquiries please call Wayne Fogarty (02) 6263 2949 .

Key Documents

Exposure Draft 509KB 5MB
Explanatory Memorandum 143KB 380KB

Make a Submission

Submit Online

Alternatively submit via post 60KB