Commission recommends compliance by the book

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Financial advisers looking to beef up their compliance processes in preparation for regulation should check out the guidelines recently published by Standards New Zealand, the Securities Commission said in its latest bulletin.

Tuesday, May 12th 2009, 6:48AM

by David Chaplin

Angus Dale-Jones, Securities Commission director of supervision, said the 'Compliance programmes standard' released by Standards New Zealand late in April would provide  "useful guidance for anyone subject to regulation".

"It is particularly timely for financial advisers seeking authorisation as over the next 12 months they will have to put in place systems to deal with the requirements of the Code Committee, as well as with their terms and conditions of authorisation under the Financial Advisers Act," Dale-Jones said in the bulletin.

The compliance programme standard was based on the Australian version with only a slight variation to make it adaptable to New Zealand conditions.

In a statement, Martin Tolar, ceo of the Australasian Compliance Institute, which sponsored the adoption of that standard in New Zealand, said the compliance programme standard was a voluntary guideline designed to help organisations "customise and develop their own compliance systems".

"The standard provides both public and private sector organisations in New Zealand with standardised guidance on the principles for developing, implementing, and maintaining effective compliance programmes - and harmonisation with the compliance methods used by Australian organisations," Tolar said.

It is understood the Securities Commission was also planning to produce a list of authorised financial advisory training instituions and third-party compliance firms, similar to that maintained by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) across the Tasman.

In a report tabled in Parliament last month, the Commerce Committee also backed calls for the Securities Commission to receive "significantly increased funding" in the upcoming budget "to ensure that it has adequate resources to carry out the expanded functions required of it under legislation, including its larger responsibility for overseeing financial advisers.

"We consider it particularly important that the commission should have the resources it needs to carry out its investigative and enforcement work," the Commerce Committee report says.

To order or download NZS/AS 3806:2006 with Amendment 1 incorporated visit www.standards.co.nz and enter keyword 3806, or call 0800 782 632 during business hours.  If you already have a copy of AS 3806, you can download the New Zealand-only Amendment 1 for free.  (Note that a charge applies for hard copies of amendments.)

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