Minister says Govt will force change
Delegates at the Financial Services Council annual conference were given a clear message that they needed to “up their game”, or the Government would intervene.
Tuesday, September 17th 2019, 6:05AM
The Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Kris Faafoi, said that “soon” a bill would be introduced to Parliament to address conduct and culture issues.
“The customer needs to be at the heart of what you do.”
In a thinly veiled comment he warned: “Where it is clear parts of the industry are dragging their feet around conduct and culture we will help them to get there.”
“This is not about the journey but the destination.”
Faafoi said there had been some improvements since the Financial Markets Authority and Reserve Bank’s review of banks and life insurance companies.
But there had been examples where insufficient change had been made: “That is disappointing,” he said.
Faafoi echoed comments made by the Minister of Finance Grant Robertson and said he didn’t want a Royal Commission like the one in Australia.
However, improvements are needed. He said New Zealand could get into “the same territory” as Australia.
“Both you and I do not want to go there.”
Like other speakers he made the point that financial services providers had an added duty of care to do the right thing by customers.
This is “beyond legal and regulatory compliance”.
Faafoi also said responsibility for how products were sold rested on the manufacturers as well as the people who sold the product or service.
He urged financial services companies to show “strong leadership that puts your customers first”.
Faafoi also said work was progressing on a review of insurance laws which are, in some cases, 100 years old.
“My focus is to consolidate and modernise insurance law,” he said.
Insurance is a critical part of financial services and there is a duty of disclosure.
He also reminded delegates that there is only one week left to make submissions on the review of default KiwiSaver schemes.
The Capital Markets review paper which was released this week had some interesting ideas.
“The bottom line is that KiwiSaver members need to get good value for money.”
| « Strong response expected to KiwiSaver default review: Govt | Mann on a mission to diversify financial advice » |
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