Treasury consults on crowd-sourced equity funding

The Commonwealth Treasury department has issued a consultation paper seeking feedback on whether proprietary companies should be able to access crowd-sourced equity funding.

Released as part of the 'Growing Jobs and Small Business' package of the 2015/16 Budget, the paper also seeks feedback on how to reduce compliance costs and make capital raising more flexible for small proprietary companies.

The paper considers transparency and governance obligations that proprietary companies could be required to meet in order to protect CSEF investors who have no other connections to the company or its management. For instance, the proposal includes suggested investment caps for retail investors of A$10,000 per offer per 12-month period, and $25,000 in total CSEF investment for any 12-month period, self-certified by the investor.

Treasury suggests loading additional compliance responsibility onto intermediaries to monitor investments made via their platforms.

The paper also examines the regulatory requirements imposed on small proprietary companies by the Corporations Act,  such as the limits on shareholder numbers and the audit requirements.

The consultation document also suggests other ways to reduce compliance costs for companies so that managers can spend more of their time and resources operating and growing their businesses.

Closing date for submissions: Monday, 31 August 2015.