What you can complain to us about

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

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.

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.

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 Comission on fair dealing matters. 

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

Everyone who provides a 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.

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

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.

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 – it may save you time.  If you can’t find your answer there, please contact us.

We do not provide legal advice. In most cases you will need to talk to a qualified legal adviser who can tell you how the law applies to you and your particular circumstances. For free advice see the Citizens Advice Bureau.

For matters about anti-competitive practices contact the Commerce Commission.

For complaints about misleading or deceptive conduct for financial products and services that occurred before 1 April 2014, you should contact the Commerce Commission.

We cannot advise on whether a company is legitimate or if you should deal with a particular company. To see if a company is registered, contact the New Zealand Companies Office. 

The Companies Office also maintains registers for a range of entities such as incorporated societies, charitable trusts, and limited partnerships.

We don’t register financial service providers; the Financial Service Providers Register (FSPR) is maintained by the New Zealand Companies Office. You can check the Financial Service Providers Register to see if a person or business is registered.

Financial service providers are not required to be monitored by the FMA simply as a result of registration. We check the qualifications, competence and good character of financial service providers and monitor them only if they are directly licensed by us.

You can check out Consumer Protection for scams known to be circulating in New Zealand and you can report a scam on their website. If the scam relates to an illegal investment offer or scheme you should also contact the FMA.

In addition, you can also report any online incidents such as scams, frauds, privacy breaches or suspicious spam messages to NetSafe.

Consumer Protection and the Commerce Commission have information about your rights when you use credit cards, store cards, buy goods or services on credit or get cash loans.

If you're worried about a loan you've got with a finance company, you can also contact Consumer Protection.

We don't get involved with individuals' disputes. All financial service providers who offer financial services to retail clients must belong to an independent dispute resolution scheme.

Your financial service provider must provide the name of their dispute resolution scheme in their disclosure documents, or you can search for it on the Financial Service Provider Register.

There are four schemes and they offer free services to help you resolve disputes:

• The Banking Ombudsman investigates and resolves disputes between customers and their banks. They also deal with complaints about a range of non-bank financial service providers.
• The Insurance and Savings Ombudsman considers complaints against insurance and savings organisations that are members of its scheme.
• Financial Services Complaints Limited considers complaints against financial service providers that are members of its scheme.
• Financial Dispute Resolution (operated by FairWay Resolution) considers complaints against financial service providers that are members of its scheme.

While we don't give specific investment advice, general information is available in our Consumer section of this site. You can also find information on investing on the Sorted website.

The Real Estate Agents Authority has information on your rights when you buy and sell a property. They will consider complaints about behaviour of real estate agents.

You should contact the Police in the first instance.

The Serious Fraud Office investigates serious or complex fraud.

We do not give any advice on choosing a financial adviser - but we do offer you some tips on getting financial advice.

You can also visit the Sorted website to find out more about how to choose a financial adviser and how to get good financial or investment advice.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) registers banks, licenses insurers (insurance companies) and undertakes their prudential supervision. You'll find further information on the RBNZ website.

While we regulate advertisements of securities, media advertisements must also comply with the Advertising Standards Authority's Code of Practice for Financial Advertising. You can find more information about the Advertising Standards Authority and its code of practice. 

Some professionals offering financial services may be regulated by an independent body such as:

New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants

New Zealand Law Society

New Zealand Society of Conveyancers