Regulation to occupy industry minds
Regulationof New Zealand’s financial advisory industry is shaping up to be one of the big issues this year.
Investment and Savings Association chief executive Vance Arkinstall believes that it will also be “one of the most difficult issues for 2002/03”.
His personal view is that the existing regime of self-regulation, coupled with light-handed disclosure regulation, is unsustainable in the future.
He says that the industry has to move quickly towards stronger self-regulation, otherwise it will have a regime forced upon it.
“Either the wider financial services industry moves of its own accord to strengthen the self-regulation environment and closes the gaps between the current position and the requirements of a regulated environment such as exists in Australia, or we will quickly find ourselves defending a weak position against tough regulation.”
The Securities Commission last year released a discussion paper on regulation and is soon expected to make some recommendations for changes to the Minister of Commerce.
Commission chairman Jane Diplock told delegates at the recent annual Money Managers conference that she felt the industry in New Zealand was at a crossroads between self-regulation and government imposed licensing.
She warned that if adviser registration was the end result of the commission’s work, there had to be the capacity to de-register wayward advisers to ensure credibility in the minds of the investing public.
Regulation is being driven in New Zealand by ‘perception issues’, as opposed to shonky work by advisers.
Recommended for you
ASIC has cancelled the AFSL of global advisory group Brite Advisors after compensation was paid to an individual by the Compensation Scheme of Last Resort.
Having taken some “quite tough medicine” during its 18-month transformation program, Iress is now doubling down on organic growth in the delivery of its wealth technologies.
The RIAA Conference Australia 2025 will take place later this month, featuring a range of sessions designed for financial advisers.
The month of April enjoyed four back-to-back weeks of growth in financial adviser numbers, with this past week seeing a net rise of five.
