On 8 October 2015, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) announced that it has made an in-principle decision to extend the commencement date of reporting obligations for phase 3B entities under the ASIC Derivative Transaction Rules (Reporting) 2013 from 12 October 2015 to 4 December 2015. The extension will provide phase 3B entities with additional time to prepare for implementation of the last phase of derivatives trade reporting in Australia. Phase 3B entities are those reporting entities with less than $5 billion gross notional outstanding OTC derivative positions, as at 30 June 2014.

ASIC has been monitoring the industry's readiness for reporting following the September 2015 release by the Australian Treasury of the single-sided reporting regime under the Corporations Amendment (Central Clearing and Single-Sided Reporting) Regulation 2015 (Cth) (Regulation). ASIC is aware that entities have already revised business decisions as a result of the Regulation, opting either to rely on the single-sided reporting relief or putting in place delegation or other reporting arrangements, but that certain entities are still finalising those arrangements.

Phase 3B entities should now have sufficient time to put arrangements in place before reporting obligations commence on 4 December 2015. For those phase 3B entities which are ready to report, ASIC has confirmed that the extension will not prevent entities from commencing reporting on 12 October 2015. Further information on Australia's derivatives trade reporting rules see Australia's OTC Derivative Reform: Central Clearing and Single-Sided Reporting.