Full licence provisions to be released by mid-November

Leaders of the upcoming regulation change spoke positively about the future of financial advice in New Zealand at the virtual conference yesterday.

Director of market engagement at the FMA, John Botica said that 80% of advisers are now covered by transitional licences, “proof that the regime is flexible and fit for purpose.”

Of those 80%, 50% were single adviser businesses and 30% were shops with between three to five advisers.

Advisers with transitional licences will not have long to wait before finding out what they will need to do to gain full licences. Botica announced that “final standard conditions for full licences will be released by mid-November.”

The release will include a series of questions that advisers will need to answer to the FMA in order to obtain full licences. Also included will be a breakdown of the full licensing conditions as well as a comprehensive guideline on what is required from advisers to achieve this.

For those stragglers who make up the other 20% the line of the FMA is firm, with Botica stating, “we will be taking a hard line for anyone operating without a licence come March 15.”

FMA principal consultant, Derek Grantham stated that this is “not the time for straggling, it is the time for action”. Come November many advisers will be able to take their next step on the course to become fully certified under the new regime.

Comments from our readers

On 15 October 2020 at 8:15 am Simon Papa said:

It’s important to distinguish between standard conditions for a full licence and minimum requirements to obtain a full licence. Standard conditions apply once a licence is issued. FMA has already released a draft of the standard conditions. The key new information FMA will be providing by mid-November are the requirements FAPs need to meet to obtain a full licence. To date FMA has not specified what those requirements will be beyond the fact that they will differ based on the “class” the FAP falls into- more simple FAPs will face less stringent requirements. The draft standard conditions provide some clues as to what those requirements will be as do FMA’s current licensing regimes. In particular FMA's adviser business statement requirements for AFAs and QFEs may be some indication of the approach FMA will take. However those requirements were developed about 10 years so it’s likely FMA will depart from them quite significantly.

On 16 October 2020 at 12:35 pm Matron said:

One can only wonder if licensing 'D-day' had actually occured back in June.

Coming out with full licensing provisions at this juncture with only four months before the implementation of the new regime does not inspire much confidence that "the regime is flexible and fit for purpose.”

Perhaps the FMA should apply for the FANZ Trusted Adviser mark.

Full licence provisions to be released by mid-November

John Botica told attendees at the FSC Generations conference to expect to see full licensing provisions from the FMA by mid-November.

Thursday, October 15th 2020, 7:00AM 2 Comments

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