FMCA licensing hits the home straight
The deadline is looming for fund managers to get licensed under the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMCA) and the
Financial Markets Authority is putting out the final call to those that want to stay in the game.
Under the FMCA, fund managers, discretionary investment management service providers and derivatives issuers must meet
new governance and capability standards before 1 December 2016.
Most firms have now completed licensing but those firms who have not yet put in applications must get their applications
in by 30 August. The licensing process can take up to 12 weeks so the sooner businesses start talking to the FMA’s
licensing team, the sooner they can iron out any challenges the application may bring.
Liam Mason, Director of Regulation says “When the Financial Markets Conduct Act came into effect we were very clear in
setting out an appropriate implementation time so the industry could go through the licensing process and meet the
standards of the new regulation. Our experience shows that businesses need to take time to work through the process so
we need to engage with a few providers that haven’t started the process.
“Our licensing team talk to new applicants about the minimum standards and level of compliance they will need to
continue offering financial products and services to consumers. This process is a good opportunity for the FMA to talk
individually to providers about conduct obligations under the new Act.”
The FMA is currently processing 40 licence applications, is in discussion with another 12 providers but believes there
may be more out there that still need to apply in order to stay in business after 1 December.
Firms offering financial products under the FMC Act also need to make sure they leave enough time to prepare a PDS and
upload detailed information about their schemes and offers on the Companies Office Disclose Register by 30 November
2016.
The vast majority of the industry is on track to be licensed and have completed the transition to the new Act. An
important sector of the market to many New Zealanders – their KiwiSaver provider – have been approved or are being
processed.
Current standing of FMCA licensing is:Type of licenceIn ProgressApprovedMIS1638Crowd Funding38DIMS151Independent Trustee622P2P (Peer to Peer lenders)35Derivatives Issuer1113Total:40137
ENDS