Regulation of financial advice

The Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act 2019 introduced a new regulatory regime for financial advice which came into force on 15 March 2021.

Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act

The Financial Services Legislation Amendment Bill was passed into law on 4 April 2019. The legislation introduces a new regulatory regime for financial advice which came into force on 15 March 2021. Note the new regime was originally due to come into force on 29 June 2020 but was delayed until March 2021 to enable the sector to better focus on supporting clients with the impacts of COVID-19.

• Read more about the new financial advice regime (including fact sheets on key changes)
• Visit the NZ Parliament website to view the history of the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act(external link)

More information regarding the licensing process is available on the Financial Markets Authority website(external link).

Supporting regulations

Some of the further details of the new regime are set in regulations. This includes the disclosure requirements, the licensing fees, the registration requirements, and other aspects of the regulations.

More detail is available on the Regulations to support the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act page

Code of conduct

In May 2019, the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs approved a Code of conduct developed by an independent Code Working Group. The new Code came into effect on 15 March 2021.

Read the Code of conduct(external link)

Development of the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act

The Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act was developed following a statutory review of the existing regulatory regime for financial advice.

Read more about the review and the development of the new regime