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 Commission on fair dealing matters. 

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.

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.