Make a complaint

We investigate a range of complaints about the conduct of individuals and businesses that operate in our financial markets. We may be able to help you if your complaint is about:

Businesses, individuals and markets we license and authorise

We can look into your complaint to see if the financial service provider might have breached a law we enforce.

Illegal investment offers and schemes

We investigate complaints about illegal investment offers. We publish warnings and alerts when we find organisations have made illegal investment offers or operated illegal investment schemes.

You should report other types of scams to the Consumer Protection’s Scamwatch.

New Zealand incorporated 'shell' companies

We investigate complaints about financial service companies and limited partnerships that are incorporated in New Zealand but have no physical presence here. These are also known as ‘shell companies’.

These companies often offer online services such as margin foreign exchange trading and margin commodity trading. Their websites may imply they are regulated by the FMA, but many are not.

Fair dealing

You can complain about misleading or deceptive conduct in relation to financial products or financial services.  See what products and services are covered and how we work with the Commerce Commission on fair dealing matters. 

Unregistered financial service providers

We investigate complaints about people and organisations that are not registered when they should be.

Everyone who provides financial service in New Zealand must be registered for that service. They must also be a member of a dispute resolution scheme if they provide financial services to retail clients. See our FAQs page for more information about dispute resolution schemes and how to check whether a financial service provider is registered.

Misleading advertising about investments

We regulate advertisements of investments but media advertisements must also comply with the Advertising Standards Authority's Code of Practice for Financial Advertising. 

Complaints about the FMA

You can make a complaint to the FMA that is about us rather than about any other organisation, firm or individual.

We will deal with any complaint about the way in which we have carried out, or failed to carry out, our role. This includes complaints about mistakes or lack of care, unreasonable delay, unprofessional behaviour, bias or lack of integrity by us or our staff. See more about how we deal with complaints below.

For information about any other kind of complaint you may have please check our FAQs and what we don't do and who else may be able to help first (below) – it may save you time.  If you can’t find your answer there, please contact us.

We consider all information we receive, but we can't investigate each complaint. 

If you are concerned about the need to protect your identity, please raise it with us when you make your complaint. Read our whistleblowing page for more information below.

You can provide information anonymously, however, this may limit our ability to investigate your complaint. If you can, please give us your contact details.

We take complaints very seriously so when we receive your complaint, we'll send you an acknowledgement to confirm we have it.

We will record the details you've sent us and decide whether it's a matter that we should take further action on.

1. Assess the seriousness of your complaint

We consider all complaints we receive, but we can't investigate each one. In deciding whether to look further into a complaint, we take into account our compliance and enforcement priorities. We also look at whether the issue you have complained about could harm the market as a whole, such as how widespread the conduct appears to be.

2. Decide if we need more information and respond to your request

We will contact you if we need more information. We will acknowledge your complaint within two working days. We will provide an update about your complaint within 10 working days as to whether your complaint has been evaluated for further action, referred to another agency or will be closed.

General enquiries will be acknowledged within two working days, and then receive a response within 20 working days of receiving all relevant information.

3. Take action

If the issue potentially breaks one of the laws we enforce, we'll consider what action we should take. We have a broad range of powers and functions and may take action in a number of ways. Learn more about our enforcement policy.

4. No action

We may decide not to take action at this time, given our regulatory policies and resources. If this is the case, we'll let you know and close your complaint.

We rely on people in the market to help us to maintain market integrity.

We would like to hear from you if you have information about:

• misleading information in disclosure documents such as a prospectus, investment statement or product disclosure statement
• non-payment of money to investors when due
• use of inside information for profit on the sharemarket
• financial advice given by people who are not Authorised Financial Advisers (AFAs)
• financial services provided by people who are not registered
• misleading reporting or non-reporting of relevant information to NZX or to update a prospectus or investment statement
• low-ball share offers
• misleading or deceptive conduct for financial products and services - read more about fair dealing
• any investigations the FMA is conducting

Protecting your identity

We will take all possible steps to protect the identity of anyone who gives us information in good faith

Information provided to us in confidence is protected by the Financial Markets Conduct Act and remains confidential, except where the FMA Act permits its disclosure. If we need to disclose information that may reveal your identity, we will let you know first. The FMA may be legally required to disclose your identity, or disclosure may be necessary to successfully progress an investigation.

You can provide information anonymously, but this may limit our ability to investigate the matter further.

Legal protection

If you make a disclosure to the FMA, in certain cases the law will protect your identity and may protect you from any related legal action, as contained in the following Acts:

• Protected Disclosures Act 2000 (Voluntary disclosures by employees)
• Financial Advisers Act 2008 (Voluntary disclosures by AFAs)
• Financial Markets Supervisors Act 2011
• Securities Act 1978 (Voluntary disclosures by directors of issuers, promoters and experts)
• Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 (Disclosures by auditors, supervisors, independent trustees, custodians, investment managers, administration managers or actuaries).

If the law does not provide specific whistleblower protection, we cannot guarantee you immunity from legal action in return for information. However, we will always take into account voluntary disclosures and other forms of cooperation when considering what action is appropriate.