With effect from 18 February 2005, applications for new and renewal of representatives licences, applications for renewal of company licences, applications for appointment of principal officers and registered persons and lodgement of notices must be submitted to the SC through the ELA system. However, all new applications for company licences including a dealer's licence, a futures broker's licence, a fund manager's licence and new applications for individual investment adviser's licence are to be submitted in hardcopy to the SC's Licensing Department.

The ELA is the first phase of the SC's broader Electronic Reporting System (ERS) project, which is aimed at facilitating online submission and retrieval of information between the SC and market participants. The ELA also provides a search function for the public to ascertain whether they are dealing with a licensed person or company.

Applicants can expect a shorter application cycle and greater cost effectiveness through this new system. Both the ELA and the CPE Tracker will be interfaced to enable the straight through processing of licensing applications, as the fulfilment of the CPE obligation is one of the prerequisites for licence renewal.

From a broader perspective, the CPE Tracker, which is based on the ERS infrastructure, facilitates online communication between the Securities Industry Development Centre (SIDC), training providers and licensees, for the purpose of managing CPE-approved courses and tracking the CPE points accumulated by the licensees.

To facilitate the implementation of the ELA, amendments to the licensing regulations, namely the Securities Industry Regulations 1987, the Securities Industry (Licensing of Fund Manager and Fund Manager's Representative) Regulations 1996 and the Futures Industry Regulations 1995 have been gazetted on 17 February 2005 and will be effective as of 18 February 2005.

Applicants may refer to the SC's Guidelines for Submission Through the Electronic Licensing Application System, which is available on the SC website here.

For enquires on ELA, kindly contact the ELA Help Desk at 03-62048977 or email [email protected]. For matters relating to the CPE Tracker, kindly contact the SIDC Corporate Services at 03-62048667 or e-mail [email protected].