Why the 3-6 month timeframe for these priorities?
It's not yet known how long the pandemic will continue to impact New Zealand’s financial sector. The immediate priorities in this document relate to the foreseeable three to six month timeframe. However, we also plan to publish a corporate plan later this year outlining our key areas of focus and work programme, once there is greater certainty on the impact of COVID-19 on the financial sector.
Are COVID-19 issues being prioritised over other work?
Work on our medium-term strategic priorities is ongoing, but we recognise COVID-19 poses immediate challenges and could seriously undermine consumer confidence and damage the wider sector. We will also continue to progress the medium-term strategic activities that support our statutory objective of fair, efficient and transparent financial markets.
The effects of COVID-19 will be felt for some time yet. Will you continue to provide regulatory relief to allow the sector to deal with the impacts?
We will continue to consider any reasonable requests for regulatory relief, in particular where it enables providers to better meet the needs of customers. This may include “no action” relief or exemptions. We will assess each request for relief on a case by case basis.
When will you resume normal on-site monitoring?
We have resumed our normal monitoring activity with on-site visits scheduled from August. We learned during lockdown that we can conduct our monitoring very effectively on a remote basis so will incorporate this approach where appropriate.
Will you continue to extend financial reporting deadlines?
The last extension of reporting deadlines was until July 31. There are no plans to consider extending reporting deadlines further.
