New laws for NZ planners

Lianne Dalziel

New Zealand has moved to bring the regulatory regime covering financial planners substantially into line with that applying in Australia with the introduction this week of the Financial Advisers Bill.

The legislation, introduced by the New Zealand Minister for Commerce Lianne Dalziel, aimed to ensure that financial advisers are “held to higher standards of competency, accountability and disclosure”.

It will see the planners subject to a co-regulatory regime involving Approved Professional Bodies and the Securities Commission.

Announcing the introduction of the legislation, Dalziel said it was crucial that consumers were able to have confidence that their financial adviser met acceptable standards of competency and accountability and could trust that the adviser had disclosed any potential conflicts of interest.

She said the purpose of the legislation was to require disclosure of financial advisers’ conflicts of interest, fees and competency to ensure members of the public could make informed decisions about whether to use a financial adviser and whether to follow a financial adviser’s advice.

The minister said it would also require competency of financial advisers to ensure that they had the experience, expertise and integrity to match effectively a member of the public to a financial product that best met that person’s need and risk profile.

The legislation will require that advisers belong to an Approved Professional Body (APB) that will act as the frontline supervisor of their activities with oversight by the Securities Commission.

The minister will approve the APBs while the Securities Commission will have enforcement powers.