On 17 August 2023 at the Financial Services Council New Zealand conference National Party leader Christopher Luxon announced three significant policies relating to investments, insurance and lending. These will be enacted if National forms a government after October’s election (subject […]
The Commerce Commission (Commission) has continued to take steps to try to reduce the fees consumers pay for using some types of payment methods including credit cards. In connection with that the Commission published updates in early August 2023 on […]
Significant changes to parts of New Zealand’s AML/CFT law under the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (Act) have been confirmed. These changes will be implemented progressively with effect from 31 July 2023, 1 June 2024 and […]
From 15 March 2021 New Zealand financial advice providers (FAPs) and their financial advisers have new disclosure obligations. Those obligations apply before they engage with retail clients and during the process of providing financial advice to retail clients. Cygnus Law’s […]
In an important test case (Dodds v Southern Response Earthquake Services Ltd) the High Court ruled in August 2019 that government-owned insurer Southern Response engaged in misleading & deceptive conduct, and contractual misrepresentation. The case related to Karl and Alison Dodds’ […]
Cygnus Law has published a detailed Guide to Equity Crowdfunding. In this blog I have included the first section, which explains key aspects of equity crowdfunding in New Zealand. If you would like to know more see the full guide. […]
The New Zealand Government has released a paper setting out proposals for further regulation of the conduct of banks and insurance companies. I outline the key proposals below together with my views. Submissions on the paper can be made up […]
The Australian Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry (ARC) issued its final report on 4 February 2019. The ARC’s findings confirm significant and ongoing misconduct by Australian financial service businesses, banks in particular. The […]
FinTechNZ recently published the first detailed New Zealand FinTech ecosystem map-
The map highlights the high level of FinTech innovation in New Zealand. The map covers FinTechNZ members. This type of map is a valuable way to help to link current […]
A draft financial advice code published in October 2018 sets out proposed minimum standards of professional conduct for financial advisers and financial advice firms in New Zealand (it will replace the current code, which applies to a sub-set of financial […]
I’ve repeated below an article I wrote on regulatory innovation in FinTech that was published by FinTechNZ in July 2018. FinTechNZ is an industry working group that supports and promotes FinTech developments in New Zealand.
FinTechNZ Article
Simon Papa, Director of Cygnus […]
This blog post was first published as an article on the business law website interest.co.nz.
Proposals are before New Zealand’s Parliament to reform the law that requires New Zealand financial service businesses to register on the Financial Service Providers Register (“FSPR”). […]
On 16 November 2017 NZ’s Financial Markets Authority published a draft robo-advice exemption notice. FMA is seeking feedback on the notice and related documents by 15 December 2017. The exemption notice will be in force by early 2018 and will […]
The Financial Markets Authority announced on 18 October 2017 that it will allow full robo-advice to be provided in New Zealand. That is, it will be possible to deliver personalised financial advice online using algorithms. FMA is aiming to accept […]
New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority has just published a class designation that is important for all foreign exchange dealers. It comes into effect on 1 December 2017 and confirms that “forward foreign exchange contracts” are not “derivatives” under the Financial […]
The first successful court proceedings have been brought for breach of NZ’s anti-money laundering (“AML”) law. The High Court imposed a pecuniary penalty of $5.29m on the company, Ping An Finance (Group) New Zealand Company Ltd (“Ping An”). Its director […]
New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority (FMA) published its first ever corporate plan (CP) in August 2017. The CP sets out FMA’s planned regulatory activities and key areas for future focus for the period up to July 2018. This sits alongside […]
Developments in technology and regulation are making it ever easier for FinTech start-ups to challenge (or partner with) stodgy incumbents and to create wholly new service types. However, FinTech is harder than other start-up sectors, because financial services are heavily […]
Cygnus Law has made submissions on the FMA’s June 2017 proposal to use its exemption power to permit true “roboadvice” to be provided to consumers in New Zealand. I’m highly supportive of an exemption and I commend the FMA for […]
New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has proposed a change to law to allow full roboadvice to be provided on some investments and other financial products in NZ. FMA’s proposal, if implemented, appears to create a “regulatory sandbox”. A regulatory […]
Cygnus Law has made joint submissions on the FMA’s proposed restrictions on the use of “investment companies” in New Zealand. The submissions address a number of matters, including restrictions on crowdfunded offers, the impact on non-regulated offers and the importance […]
2017 is likely to be a key year for FinTech development globally. NZ has introduced initiatives to support FinTech but is falling behind other countries in the support it provides. In my view the NZ government needs to take a […]
Below is an article I wrote that was published on NZ’s Good Returns website.
Roboadvice for risk insurance advice is less developed than for wealth management, but it is already here in some guises e.g. automated assessment tools from Quotemonster and […]
Below is a blog post I wrote for PledgeMe on 25 August 2016 about what to expect as an investor in an equity crowdfunded NZ company. Companies considering using equity crowdfunding to raise capital can find detailed information in Cygnus […]
Equity crowdfunding was conceived as a way for early-stage ventures to raise capital in their home markets. Few early-stage companies can afford the time and cost involved in preparing a prospectus or product disclosure statement (PDS) ordinarily required for a […]
In January 2016 Cygnus Law made submissions to MBIE proposing changes to law to address the problems presented by unsupervised NZ building societies.* The underlying issue is that loopholes in the Building Societies Act 1965 have been used to register […]
The FMA announced on 16 October 2015 its second internal restructure since it was established in 2011. In my view the most notable change is the creation of a greatly expanded general counsel (GC) role. The new GC role represents […]
Since March 2015 the Fair Trading Act (FTA) has prohibited the use of unfair contract terms (UCTs) in “standard form consumer contracts” (pro forma contracts that consumers have no real ability to negotiate). UCTs apply to all new contracts entered […]
I have 5 tips to help you to get a licence from the FMA. There are 6 types of financial services businesses that need a “market services licence” to carry on business and there are a number of other licence […]
On 18 December 2014 the FMA issued a warning about potentially misleading advertising by New Zealand businesses that help to transfer UK pensions to New Zealand. The warning highlights the importance for all businesses, including providers of financial services, of […]
