Insurables — Australian business risk, sourced and dated

Financial planners: cyber liability requirements in Australia

Cover for the costs of a data breach or cyber incident, including response, restoration and third-party liability.

Data as at

Verified requirements, by state

  • Licence liability condition: Yes. Section 912B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) requires an AFS licensee providing financial services to retail clients to have arrangements for compensating those clients, and ASIC's position is that a licensee "must hold adequate professional indemnity (PI) insurance which takes into account the nature of the financial services business and the potential liability for compensation claims". ASIC Regulatory Guide 126 sets out what adequate means, including how defence costs are to be treated relative to the indemnity limit. NSW · effective 2002-03-11 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: At AFS licence application and on an ongoing basis. ASIC must be satisfied the arrangements are adequate before granting the licence, and a certificate of currency is the usual evidence. The obligation is continuing rather than a one-off application hurdle. NSW · effective 2002-03-11 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: ASIC — again FEDERAL, not New South Wales. Financial advice is licensed under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth); the credential is an Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence, or authorisation as a representative of a licensee. NSW · effective 2002-03-11 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes. Section 912B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) requires an AFS licensee providing financial services to retail clients to have arrangements for compensating those clients, and ASIC's position is that a licensee "must hold adequate professional indemnity (PI) insurance which takes into account the nature of the financial services business and the potential liability for compensation claims". ASIC Regulatory Guide 126 sets out what adequate means, including how defence costs are treated relative to the indemnity limit. VIC · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: At AFS licence application and on an ongoing basis. ASIC must be satisfied the arrangements are adequate before granting the licence, and a certificate of currency is the usual evidence. The obligation is continuing, not a one-off application hurdle. VIC · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: ASIC, under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) — FEDERAL law, so there is no VIC financial planner licence. The credential is an Australian Financial Services licence, or authorisation as a representative of a licensee, and it covers advice given to clients in Victoria without any state overlay. VIC · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes. Section 912B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) requires an AFS licensee providing financial services to retail clients to have arrangements for compensating those clients, and ASIC's position is that a licensee "must hold adequate professional indemnity (PI) insurance which takes into account the nature of the financial services business and the potential liability for compensation claims". ASIC Regulatory Guide 126 sets out what adequate means, including how defence costs are treated relative to the indemnity limit. QLD · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: At AFS licence application and on an ongoing basis. ASIC must be satisfied the arrangements are adequate before granting the licence, and a certificate of currency is the usual evidence. The obligation is continuing, not a one-off application hurdle. QLD · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: ASIC, under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) — FEDERAL law, so there is no QLD financial planner licence. The credential is an Australian Financial Services licence, or authorisation as a representative of a licensee, and it covers advice given to clients in Queensland without any state overlay. QLD · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes. Section 912B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) requires an AFS licensee providing financial services to retail clients to have arrangements for compensating those clients, and ASIC's position is that a licensee "must hold adequate professional indemnity (PI) insurance which takes into account the nature of the financial services business and the potential liability for compensation claims". ASIC Regulatory Guide 126 sets out what adequate means, including how defence costs are treated relative to the indemnity limit. WA · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: At AFS licence application and on an ongoing basis. ASIC must be satisfied the arrangements are adequate before granting the licence, and a certificate of currency is the usual evidence. The obligation is continuing, not a one-off application hurdle. WA · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: ASIC, under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) — FEDERAL law, so there is no WA financial planner licence. The credential is an Australian Financial Services licence, or authorisation as a representative of a licensee, and it covers advice given to clients in Western Australia without any state overlay. WA · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes. Section 912B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) requires an AFS licensee providing financial services to retail clients to have arrangements for compensating those clients, and ASIC's position is that a licensee "must hold adequate professional indemnity (PI) insurance which takes into account the nature of the financial services business and the potential liability for compensation claims". ASIC Regulatory Guide 126 sets out what adequate means, including how defence costs are treated relative to the indemnity limit. SA · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: At AFS licence application and on an ongoing basis. ASIC must be satisfied the arrangements are adequate before granting the licence, and a certificate of currency is the usual evidence. The obligation is continuing, not a one-off application hurdle. SA · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: ASIC, under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) — FEDERAL law, so there is no SA financial planner licence. The credential is an Australian Financial Services licence, or authorisation as a representative of a licensee, and it covers advice given to clients in South Australia without any state overlay. SA · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes. Section 912B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) requires an AFS licensee providing financial services to retail clients to have arrangements for compensating those clients, and ASIC's position is that a licensee "must hold adequate professional indemnity (PI) insurance which takes into account the nature of the financial services business and the potential liability for compensation claims". ASIC Regulatory Guide 126 sets out what adequate means, including how defence costs are treated relative to the indemnity limit. TAS · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: At AFS licence application and on an ongoing basis. ASIC must be satisfied the arrangements are adequate before granting the licence, and a certificate of currency is the usual evidence. The obligation is continuing, not a one-off application hurdle. TAS · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: ASIC, under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) — FEDERAL law, so there is no TAS financial planner licence. The credential is an Australian Financial Services licence, or authorisation as a representative of a licensee, and it covers advice given to clients in Tasmania without any state overlay. TAS · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes. Section 912B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) requires an AFS licensee providing financial services to retail clients to have arrangements for compensating those clients, and ASIC's position is that a licensee "must hold adequate professional indemnity (PI) insurance which takes into account the nature of the financial services business and the potential liability for compensation claims". ASIC Regulatory Guide 126 sets out what adequate means, including how defence costs are treated relative to the indemnity limit. ACT · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: At AFS licence application and on an ongoing basis. ASIC must be satisfied the arrangements are adequate before granting the licence, and a certificate of currency is the usual evidence. The obligation is continuing, not a one-off application hurdle. ACT · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: ASIC, under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) — FEDERAL law, so there is no ACT financial planner licence. The credential is an Australian Financial Services licence, or authorisation as a representative of a licensee, and it covers advice given to clients in the Australian Capital Territory without any state overlay. ACT · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: Yes. Section 912B of the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) requires an AFS licensee providing financial services to retail clients to have arrangements for compensating those clients, and ASIC's position is that a licensee "must hold adequate professional indemnity (PI) insurance which takes into account the nature of the financial services business and the potential liability for compensation claims". ASIC Regulatory Guide 126 sets out what adequate means, including how defence costs are treated relative to the indemnity limit. NT · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: At AFS licence application and on an ongoing basis. ASIC must be satisfied the arrangements are adequate before granting the licence, and a certificate of currency is the usual evidence. The obligation is continuing, not a one-off application hurdle. NT · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: ASIC, under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) — FEDERAL law, so there is no NT financial planner licence. The credential is an Australian Financial Services licence, or authorisation as a representative of a licensee, and it covers advice given to clients in the Northern Territory without any state overlay. NT · effective 2010-07-01 ASIC · 2026-08-24

What contracts commonly ask for

Principals and head contractors set their own insurance requirements, and those are frequently higher than a licence condition. The requirement that binds is the higher of the two, and both have to be read from the actual document.

What this cover costs

This site publishes no cost benchmark for this cover. A benchmark needs a real sample of documents, and none is published until the sample is large enough to compute a median honestly. A benchmark from a handful of policies is a guess with a decimal point.

Sources

  • ASIC — Australian Securities and Investments Commission