Financial Advice New Zealand have voiced their approval of the new disclosure regulations that were announced by MBIE on 25 June 2020. Katrina Shanks has said that new regulations mirror what Financial Advice outlined in their CoFI submission.

“Financial Advice NZ chief executive Katrina Shanks said the new rules had picked up many of the points made in the association's submission.

“The focus of the sector during this process was to ensure the right balance between good consumer outcomes and a financial advice sector which isn’t encumbered by unreasonable red tape and adverse outcomes.

“We support regulations around disclosure made to clients – including on conflicts of interest, commissions and other incentives and disciplinary issues.”

The need for disclosure being limited to adviser fees, the products they offer advice on, their conflicts of interest, commission they receive, and how clients can contact dispute resolution services is something Financial Advice is please about.

““However, we are pleased to see a change from the draft disclosure requirements that now only requires disclosure of these matters when they would likely materially influence a client’s decision. This is something we strongly recommended in our submission to ensure disclosures were meaningful and not overwhelming for consumers.

“We were concerned the draft regulations required disclosure of product fees charged by unrelated third parties (e.g. insurance premiums) so the removal of the requirement to disclose fees for ‘acting on the advice’ was a sensible move."” Click here to read more

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