Commerce Minister Simon Power today announced the establishment of a committee to conduct disciplinary proceedings arising out of complaints against authorised financial advisers. “The aim of the Financial Advisers Act is to build confidence in the
Commerce Minister Simon Power today announced the establishment of a committee to conduct disciplinary proceedings arising out of complaints against authorised financial advisers.
“The aim of the Financial Advisers Act is to build confidence in the professionalism and integrity of financial advisers,” Mr Power said.
“A key part of that is making financial advisers accountable for the advice they give.”
The new regime does not come fully into force until 1 July next year, but advisers who become authorised before then will be subject to all their obligations from the date they become authorised.
The Disciplinary Committee will be chaired by the Commissioner for Financial Advisers, David Mayhew.
He will be joined by committee members Tracey Berry, Simon Hassan, Peter Houghton, and Sir Bruce Robertson.
Mr Power said another recent step in the implementation of the new financial services regime has been the finalisation of exemptions from the Financial Service Providers Act.
“These exemptions address a number of technical issues with the legislation and will help minimise compliance costs.”
One key exemption is for ‘sole adviser practices’ – those financial advisers working through their own closely-held company.
They will have to register on the new Financial Service Providers Register in their own name, but they will not have to register their company as well, minimising registration fees.
Membership of an approved consumer dispute resolution scheme is still compulsory for the company.
