Financial Markets Conduct (Bonus Bonds) Exemption Notice 2022

Summary: The Financial Markets Conduct (Bonus Bonds) Exemption Notice 2022 (Exemption) exempts ANZ Investment Services (New Zealand) Limited (the manager), as the manager of the Bonus Bonds Scheme (the Scheme), from regulation 62(1)(b) of the Financial Markets Conduct Regulations 2014 (the Regulations), subject to some conditions. The Exemption gives relief to the manager from having to directly contact those scheme participants for whom the manager has not received completed payment instructions (which have been requested in order to make distribution payments as the Scheme is being would-up) and for whom the manager does not hold a valid email address (Specified Participants). As an alternative to contacting the Specified Participants directly, the manager must place prominent public notifications in major print and online news channels in New Zealand. These notices must advise of the availability of the annual report to scheme participants and advise how the annual report may be obtained. The Exemption also provides relief from the manager’s obligation to hold an annual meeting in accordance with regulation 92 of the Regulations. The Exemption recognises that as the Scheme is in the wind-up process there is less need for the annual meeting to be held, as no significant decisions remain to be made for which scheme participants need to be consulted. It also acknowledges that any benefits of holding an annual meeting would be likely be outweighed by the cost of doing so and would impose unnecessary compliance cost on the Scheme to the detriment of scheme participants.