Licensing
- You can apply for your transitional licence online. We encourage you to apply early to ensure you have your licence in time for the start of the new regime in early 2021.
- The licence can be in your business name or your individual name.
- Holding a financial advice provider licence in your individual name means you cannot call yourself a financial adviser and you will be personally responsible for any liabilities incurred as a financial advice provider, including liabilities for breach of legal duties (we will provide more information about this soon).
- There are two phases to the licensing process – transitional and full. See ‘Who will need a licence to provide financial advice’ to learn more.
For general information about business structures, visit business.govt.nz.
Duties and obligations
- Ensure your clients understand the nature and scope of the advice you’re providing
- Give priority to your client’s interests where there’s a conflict of interest
- Exercise care, diligence and skill at all times
- Comply with the new code of professional conduct for financial advice
- Only recommend financial products that comply with the FMC Act
- Ensure you follow the new disclosure regulations and make sure your client understands the information they are given – we expect draft disclosure regulations to be released for consultation soon
- Comply with any licence conditions we may include when granting your licence as well as those set in law
- Make sure all financial advisers providing advice on your behalf comply with duties 1 to 7
- Tell the FMA if you materially contravene your obligations or make significant changes to your business
If you decide to engage nominated representatives in future, you must have appropriate processes and controls in place to allow you to control the advice being given and the circumstances in which it is given. You must also ensure all nominated representatives comply with these processes. You can only use nominated representatives under a transitional licence if, before 9 April 2019 you were:
- a QFE, a member of a QFE group, or
- a firm registered on the Financial Service Providers Register that provides class advice through unregistered staff.
Costs
| Charge |
Amount |
|
Transitional licence application fee (payable to the FMA)
|
$465.75*
|
|
Full licence application fee (payable to the FMA)
|
$882.05* for standard applications
For complex applications that take longer than three hours, we will notify you and charge $178.25* per hour for any additional time
|
|
Annual FMA levy (payable to the Companies Office at FSPR annual confirmation)
|
Note: FMA levies for the new financial advice regime are being developed and will be announced later in 2020 given the delay to the commencement of the new regime due to COVID-19 impacts and in light of Cabinet’s decision to increase the FMA’s funding. Please see the MBIE website for further information.
|
|
FSPR annual confirmation fee (payable to the Companies Office)
|
$86.25* for the financial advice provider plus $86.25* for each financial adviser
|
|
Initial FSPR registration fee (Payable to the Companies Office)
|
$345* plus $529 levy if registering a new entity on the Financial Service Providers Register (FSPR)
|
*All charges include GST
For more information on fees and levies, see MBIE’s website.
Next steps
