Financial services 'essential'

Financial services have been confirmed as among the “essential services” that will be allowed to continue to operate when New Zealand is at level four in its response to Covid-19.

Monday, March 23rd 2020, 10:02PM

New Zealand will reach that level at 23:59 on Wednesday.

From that point, all non-essential businesses will close, unless all their staff can work from home.

The Financial Markets Authority said it expected that the “essential” financial services allowed to continue would include banks; NZX and broking services; payment and settlement system providers; funds management; insurance services; administrators; supervisors and custodians; among others.

“We encourage industry to advise customers and investors how it intends to operate over the coming weeks and also reassure them they can continue to access their funds. Firms are best placed to identify the services essential to maintain operations and financial stability,” the FMA said in an update.

Financial advice is not among the "essential" services and advisers will not be able to open their offices.

"Our expectation is that most advisers should be able to work from home, with no need to staff offices.   This means advisers can continue to provide support to clients without compromising the Government’s social distancing objectives."

Tags: Covid-19 FMA

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