FSPR updates: What advisers need to know

Among the many upcoming regulation changes for advisers on March 15 are updates to the FSPR.

Thursday, February 18th 2021, 6:36AM 6 Comments

With the bigger regulatory changes approaching on March 15, it could be easy for some of the smaller changes to get lost in the shuffle.

One of those smaller changes is the alterations being made by MBIE to the FSPR. And while those changes might be small, it is vital that advisers remain aware of them, considering the eagle eye the FMA is going to be turning toward the registry post-March 15.

Rob Rendle, national manager, business registries, of the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, told Good Returns that while the new regime will dismiss previous categories like “authorised financial adviser” and “qualifying financial entity”, the biggest change to the FSPR will be a migration of advisers to a new registry system.

“Authorised financial advisers and registered financial advisers who are on the register immediately before March 15, 2021 will be migrated to the new register as financial advisers under the new regime.”

Rendle says that within the FSPR financial service category names are being amended to reflect changes in the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008, in order to improve clarity.

“For example, the term 'broking service' will no longer be used on the register, that service is being renamed 'client money or property services'. Financial advisers and other financial service providers should check their registration after March 15, 2021 to ensure that they are registered for the correct services.”

These new names will not be the only things that advisers will have to get used to, as Rendle says, “from March 15 2021, [advisers] will notice a new dashboard from where they will be able to manage their FSP details and registrations. The new system is designed to be user-friendly and will look familiar to people that use our New Zealand Business Number (NZBN) online services.”

Importantly, Rendle notes, “Financial advice providers that need to link financial advisers to their licence will be able to do so from March 15. It’s important to note that they will have 90 days to do this.

“Financial advisers not shown on the register as being engaged by a financial advice provider after this time may face de-registration if they offer no other services.”

The MBIE Companies Office will be releasing guides and videos to help people navigate the new system.

“We’d strongly recommend advisers check these when they login to the new register for the first time,” Rendle says.

Tags: FSPR MBIE regulation

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Comments from our readers

On 18 February 2021 at 9:47 am LNF said:

Could someone who is "up with the play" make a list of the identifiable positive benefits to the end user thus far and the clear additional positive benefits for those end users in the future. It is just that I cannot see what difference for example "the term 'broking service' will no longer be used on the register, that service is being renamed 'client money or property services'" makes. Perhaps it is just me

On 18 February 2021 at 11:40 am Matron said:

Amazing when you consider all that time, energy and effort being put into a publically available FSP register, yet there is no register for the public to determine whether an entity they are potentially engaging with is actually licensed or not.

Cart before horse, or am I missing something really fundamental?

On 19 February 2021 at 9:33 am w k said:

@LNF, rest assured, it's not only you. i'm still scratching my head what "client money" meant?
the term "broker" have been use for a very long time and everybody, even the financial illiterate, understood what it meant.

On 19 February 2021 at 10:08 am Onomacritus said:

@Matron the FSP register will include licence details for financial advice, just as it currently notes licensed Managed Investment Schemes and Derivatives Issuers etc.

@LNF and @w k the broker term has caused some confusion as while a layperson might use it to refer to a mortgage broker, for example, a mortgage broker does not actually provide a broking service as currently defined - they'd be providing a financial adviser service. The change in name should help clarify for both consumers and industry participants.

On 19 February 2021 at 11:52 am Bikedude said:

LNF seems to have missed the huge benefits. Well then... some benefits. Alright then.. no benefits, but think about the clarity now. Alright then, some clarity. Ok no clarity. But anyway the change has been great for all. Well some... OK MBIE and the revenue gathering. That's it...MBIE got more revenue, so everyone's happy. Aren't they???

On 19 February 2021 at 12:05 pm w k said:

@Onomacritus: there were no confusion from layperson about brokers my personal experience. however, none understood what rfa, afa and qfe meant though.

laypersons and advisers will be more confused now with all the new lingo definitions.

K.I.S.S. has always been most effective, and i've never had any problems with my clients keeping things simple - from the ones with low financial literacy skills to the professionals.

try telling a person the time rather explaining how the clock works.

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