Advisers slow to file renewals

Three authorised financial advisers (AFAs) have opted not to renew their authorisations since they fell due but many are leaving it too late to get their applications in, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) says.

Wednesday, March 23rd 2016, 6:00AM

by Susan Edmunds

All AFAs are authorised for a five-year period. The first authorisations were issued in December 2010.

Renewals are done in the anniversary month. The FMA has processed 174 since December 2015.

Another 1423 AFAs are due for renewal over the course of this year. The FMA said it was expected that most would fall due in May and June.

FMA spokeswoman Andrea Birtwistle said the process had been smooth so far.

But the FMA had seen a number of AFAs leaving it too late to submit their application, AFAs with incorrect information on the Financial Service Providers Register, and not completing their forms correctly with information such as their current Financial Adviser Service Scope.

"Just three AFAs have not renewed their authorisation and their AFA status has been terminated. An additional three AFAs have informed us they will not be renewing and their authorisation will terminate on their expiry date," Birtwistle said.

She said the FMA would send an email before authorisation was due to expire, explaining the process to renew.

"This time period for this email distribution has been increased from six weeks to eight weeks to help manage the anticipated increase in applications over the coming months upcoming months. A complete application is classed as receiving both the completed application form and fee payment. Application processing will not commence until we have received both the completed application form and fee payment."

She said if an adviser's authorisation expired while their application was being processed and the fee had been paid, the AFA would be able to carry on providing financial advice.

"If an AFA fails to submit to both their renewal application and the fee by their expiry date, their authorisation will automatically terminate on their expiry date."

Tags: AFA FMA