26 June 2025

Financial Conduct Report sets FMA expectations

We have launched our inaugural Financial Conduct Report, outlining key regulatory priorities for the next 12 months.

Its aim is to provide transparency about the key risks and opportunities on the FMA's radar and how we plan to tackle them.

Samantha Barrass, FMA Chief Executive, says releasing the report supports transparency, accountability and engagement.

“Our job is to support a thriving financial sector that New Zealanders have confidence in. The best way for us to do this is to be forward-looking, and focus on important emerging risks and opportunities.

“This report sets out what those are for the year ahead. Sharing our work plan in advance means firms know what to expect from us and can build it into their own plans.

Sharing our work plan in advance means we will also be accountable. In a year’s time, when we release the second FCR, we will set out what has been achieved, as well as look to the next year,” she said.

The report is split into five sectors with an additional “cross-sector” section covering our industry-wide focus.

We have also published videos on our website explaining what we’re focused on in each sector and why.

Liam Mason, FMA Executive Director Evaluation and Oversight, and General Counsel talks about the Financial Conduct Report in our latest 5 Minutes with the FMA podcast:

Financial Advice Provider (FAP) forums

We have had a lot of interest in our upcoming FAP forums with many early signups.

In-person sessions are still available in Hamilton, Rotorua, Wellington, and Christchurch. We encourage you to register and use this opportunity to gain valuable insights, network with peers, and stay ahead in navigating the regulatory landscape.

There are also two online sessions available for those unable to attend in person. 

If you have any questions or comments regarding this event, please email us at questions@fma.govt.nz.

FMA online services maintenance: 25 - 30 June

The FMA online services portal myFMA is undergoing scheduled maintenance this week from 5pm Wednesday 25 June to the morning of Monday 30 June.

Users will not be able to access or submit online forms during this time. We apologise for any inconvenience.

For any urgent matters, please contact us at questions@fma.govt.nz.

Have your say on licence standard conditions

As part of reforms to financial services, the Government is proposing legislative changes that would require the FMA to issue a single licence to firms that have been approved to provide two or more market services.

To prepare for these changes, we are looking to streamline the standard conditions, licence application process and regulatory returns to better align these across the various market services.

To help us shape this work, we'd like your feedback on the current standard conditions that apply to licences. 

Obligations Review - NZX report card

The NZX has received a positive regulatory report card in the latest annual NZX Market Operator Obligations Review, which assesses how well the NZX is meeting requirements for its market operator licence.

The Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 requires the FMA to carry out a review and report on how well NZX is meeting its licensed market operator obligations.

“NZX continues to deliver a critical service to New Zealand," said John Horner, FMA Director of Markets, Investors, and Reporting. "Our report shows businesses and investors can be confident NZX continues to operate in accordance with its market operator licence and is meeting its obligations.”

FMA responds to Minister’s Letter of Expectations

Removing unnecessary regulatory burden, prioritising fair outcomes for consumers, and advancing work to implement a single conduct licensing regime are central to the FMA’s response to the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs’ Letter of Expectations.

Each year, we outline how we will meet the Minister's expectations. This year we are committed to smarter regulation, innovation, and building consumer trust. These are key elements at the heart of building a vibrant and trusted financial sector.

We remain committed to transparency, fiscal discipline, and industry engagement, with a strong focus on:

• Removing unnecessary regulatory barriers and simplifying licensing — making it easier for businesses to operate and grow, and working with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) on capital market reforms to reduce duplication across agencies.
• The Conduct of Financial Institutions (CoFI) regime — clearly signalling our focus to ensure fair treatment of consumers and consistent good conduct across the sector.
• Improving our digital tools — embedding the fintech regulatory sandbox, and investing in tools to address scams and cyber threats to protect market integrity.

We continue to welcome more opportunities for collaboration with industry, including CEOs, senior leaders and boards, to support a resilient financial system.

The FMA is currently seeking feedback on:

• Our review of 14 class exemption notices that support the regime under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. These notices will expire between December 2025 and November 2026. At the same time, we are reviewing our three class designation notices. 
  Submissions must be sent to consultation@fma.govt.nz by 5pm, Thursday 17 July 2025.
   

• A proposed class exemption for listed issuers from certain unsolicited offer provisions under the Financial Markets Conduct Regulations 2014 when buying back quoted debt securities. 
  Submissions must be sent to consultation@fma.govt.nz by 5pm, Friday 25 July 2025.

Leading women in financial crime prevention

Risk Ready conference panel (L to R) Tiffany Ryan, Group General Manger, Financial Crime, SkyCity Entertainment.; Margot Gatland, FMA Head of Enforcement; Paula Milne, Chief Operations and Risk Officer, Centrapay; Jing Wyllie, Executive Director, Financial Crime, KordaMentha and panel moderator.

Margot Gatland, FMA Head of Enforcement, joined a panel of leading women in the financial crime sector at the recent "Risk Ready" conference, reflecting on the challenges and career decisions that led her to a career in financial crime prevention.

The Auckland event, hosted by LexisNexis Risk Solutions, focused on combating fraud, scams, and money laundering in New Zealand's financial system.

“It was a privilege to be asked to share my thoughts on how our work helps keep "NZ Inc" safe," said Margot. "I enjoyed talking about what inspired my initial interest in financial crime and how I stay resilient and motivated in a field that can be both complex and high pressure.”

“I am proud of the work that we do at the FMA. New Zealand’s financial system relies on trust, transparency and fairness. The enforcement action that the FMA takes helps safeguard a level playing field and maintain market integrity. It is a privilege to work in the field of financial crime.”

Got a question? We're here to help! 

We often feature questions received during industry interactions or sent to us directly.

What are the rules around deadlines for filing financial statements? Is there any flexibility when a business is going through changes?

FMC reporting entities must lodge their audited financial statements with the Companies Office within four months of their balance date under Part 7 of the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC Act).

Why this matters:
Financial statements are a primary source of the most relevant financial information for investors and other stakeholders. For many FMC reporting entities, these financial statements are the only source of financial information publicly available.
Timely, reliable, and well-supported financial statements are essential for informed decision-making and maintaining confidence in New Zealand’s capital markets.

In partnership with MBIE, the FMA monitors filing deadlines, follows up on non-compliance, and can escalate matters where necessary.

This includes addressing administrative or technical issues — such as rejection of financial statements due to filing errors or failing to lodge with the Registrar after releasing results to NZX — as well as more serious issues that may indicate wider concerns.

Some delays may point to significant underlying problems and warrant further investigation or regulatory action. For example:

• Delays in completing audits may suggest non-compliance with financial reporting standards or inadequate accounting records. These may also reflect broader governance concerns.
   
• Potential going concern risks or other significant uncertainties may also be a factor. In one recent case, an entity chose to delay filing while negotiating the rollover of large loans. We made it clear that this was not acceptable to us.
  In this case, we issued an infringement notice for the breach together with a media release.
• Financial statements must reflect the entity’s financial position as at the reporting date and disclose any material uncertainties. Any material developments that arise after filing can be communicated via a subsequent market update.

Our regulatory response to late filing of financial statements will depend on all the relevant circumstances, including the nature and cause of the lateness, the potential harm, and whether investors have been provided with sufficient information in the absence of audited financial statements.

The extent and nature of proactive engagement with us is also considered when assessing the appropriate regulatory response.

Growing a global network - FMA leads in scam warnings

Suspected scam websites, companies and imposters are named every week by the FMA as part of our commitment to fight and disrupt investment scams.

At a recent International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) meeting in Korea, it was announced that the FMA is the number one contributor of scam warnings to the IOSCO I-SCAN global platform, with 407 loaded to date.

Sam McGuire, FMA Manager of Regulatory Services said this was a huge achievement given New Zealand’s scale and market size compared to other IOSCO members - particularly the UK’s FCA, which is a “heavy hitter” in this space.

I-SCAN (International Securities & Commodities Alerts Network) is a global IT system designed to warn investors of suspicious company activity. 

Daniel Trinder, FMA Executive Director, Strategy also represented the FMA on the world stage this month speaking about the fight against scams at an IOSCO webinar for fellow regulators.

More than 700 attendees from 70 jurisdictions attended the webinar, hearing that the scam landscape is characterised by increasing sophistication, staggering financial losses, and a pervasive impact on individuals and economies, driven by technological advancements and the interconnectedness of the digital world.

“Frauds and scams are evolving at an alarming rate, primarily driven by rapid technological advancements," said Daniel. "This presents significant challenges for regulators in combating them.”

Regulators needed to continue to work together, share strategies, share intelligence, and act locally but think globally.

“We all have an obvious challenge in how to combat and disrupt frauds and scams.”

“We need a network to defeat network.”

Meet the team: Anti-Money Laundering

Our Response and Enforcement function is made up of teams that assess and address conduct that poses harm to New Zealanders at the more significant end of the spectrum, as well as our Specialist Supervision teams that supervise, monitor and deal with conduct that applies across different sectors.

We are introducing these teams, sharing more about the work that they do and the impact they hope their work will have. 

This month we are introducing the Anti-Money Laundering team, one of four teams in Specialist Supervision.

Money laundering, financing terrorism and proliferation financing (providing the means to produce weapons of mass destruction) are complex and often quite remote concepts for everyday New Zealanders.

However, it is something that New Zealand needs to grapple with alongside many other jurisdictions across the world.

New Zealand’s response to these risks was the introduction of the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (AML/CFT Act) which provided a set of obligations for businesses working in the financial sectors. It also set up the role of supervisor agencies to support and monitor businesses’ efforts in keeping themselves safe from misuse.

The FMA has been a supervisor for our sectors since 2009 (previously as the Securities Commission), and we have supported businesses in understanding their obligations ever since the AML/CFT Act came in to force in 2013.

In 2023 the FMA formed a dedicated AML Team to ensure the appropriate focus was being given to support our AML sectors.

The team works with businesses by producing sector risk assessments, providing guidance, responding to queries and working alongside our supervisory partners (RBNZ and the Department of Internal Affairs) on NZ-wide AML/CFT issues.

They engage more directly through desk-based reviews of the businesses’ AML/CFT policies, procedures and controls as well as assessing risk assessments. They also visit businesses to get a real sense of how they operate and test the effectiveness of their day-to-day AML/CFT processes, and work with other FMA teams on appropriate regulatory responses if material breaches are identified.

The FMA wants the businesses we regulate to be as successful as possible in protecting themselves from misuse by bad actors who want easy entry into the financial system.

If you have any questions about the work of the Anti-Money Laundering team email questions@fma.govt.nz.

ASIC conditions put on auditor after FMA warning

The FMA's Australian counterpart, the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) has announced it has imposed conditions on the auditor registration of Mr Allan Facey.

It follows a public warning issued by the FMA earlier this year to the Sydney-based auditor regarding his conduct as the Engagement Quality Control Reviewer (EQR) for the audit of Alliant Perpetual.

ASIC reviewed a 2023 audit file of Mr Facey and was concerned that he had not adequately and properly carried out his duties as an auditor to comply with Australian Auditing Standards. Predominantly, ASIC held concerns Mr Facey failed to gather and document sufficient appropriate audit evidence to support his audit opinion.

ASIC’s inquiries began after information was received from the FMA.

Registered company auditors of Australia and New Zealand are mutually recognised to audit in both countries through the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1997. ASIC and the FMA are also parties to a Memorandum of Understanding to co-operate and exchange information related to their regulatory and supervisory functions.

Read the ASIC announcement here:

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