THE CORPORATIONS LAW

CHAPTER 5C - MANAGED INVESTMENT SCHEMES

PART 5C.2 - THE RESPONSIBLE ENTITY

Division 1 - Responsibilities and powers

SECTION 601FC   DUTIES OF RESPONSIBLE ENTITY  

601FC(1)  [Duties]  

In exercising its powers and carrying out its duties, the responsible entity of a registered scheme must:

(a)  act honestly; and

(b)  exercise the degree of care and diligence that a reasonable person would exercise if they were in the responsible entity's position; and

(c)  act in the best interests of the members and, if there is a conflict between the members' interests and its own interests, give priority to the members' interests; and

(d)  treat the members who hold interests of the same class equally and members who hold interests of different classes fairly; and

(e)  not make use of information acquired through being the responsible entity in order to:

(i) gain an improper advantage for itself or another person; or

(ii) cause detriment to the members of the scheme; and

(f)  ensure that the scheme's constitution meets the requirements of sections 601GA and 601GB; and

(g)  ensure that the scheme's compliance plan meets the requirements of section 601HA; and

(h)  comply with the scheme's compliance plan; and

(i)  ensure that scheme property is:

(i) clearly identified as scheme property; and

(ii) held separately from property of the responsible entity and property of any other scheme; and

(j)  ensure that the scheme property is valued at regular intervals appropriate to the nature of the property; and

(k)  ensure that all payments out of the scheme property are made in accordance with the scheme's constitution and this Law; and

(l)  report to ASIC any breach of this Law that:

(i) relates to the scheme; and

(ii) has had, or is likely to have, a materially adverse effect on the interests of members;

as soon as practicable after it becomes aware of the breach; and

(m)  carry out or comply with any other duty, not inconsistent with this Law, that is conferred on the responsible entity by the scheme's constitution.

Note:

Subsection (1) is a civil penalty provision as defined by section 1317DA and Part 9.4B provides for civil and criminal consequences of contravening it.

601FC(2)  [Trust]  

The responsible entity holds scheme property on trust for scheme members.

Note:

Under subsection 601FB(2), the responsible entity may appoint an agent to hold scheme property separately from other property.

601FC(3)  [Conflicting duty]  

A duty of the responsible entity under subsection (1) or (2) overrides any conflicting duty an officer or employee of the responsible entity has under section 232.

601FC(4)  Investment of scheme property in other managed investment schemes.  

The responsible entity may only invest scheme property, or keep scheme property invested, in another managed investment scheme if that other scheme is registered under this Chapter.