20 August 2010
The Code Committee has today submitted a revised draft Code to the Commissioner for Financial Advisers for approval.
The revised Code is available here.
The amendments have been made in response to the Commissioner’s Direction dated 17 August 2010 to ensure that the Code is consistent with the Financial Advisers Act 2008. The main amendments made by the Committee are:
- The description of the financial adviser services requiring authorisation as set out in the Background to the Code has been updated to accord with changes to the Act that came into force on 1 July 2010.
- An explanatory note has been added to Code Standard 5 clarifying both its limited application and the fact that an AFA may not provide financial advice to a retail client in relation to the acquisition of a financial product that is not able to be lawfully offered to the client.
- A note has been added to Code Standard 8 clarifying that where a client has sought personalised advice from an Authorised Financial Adviser, but has opted out of receiving a suitability assessment such that the Adviser ends up providing a class service, the Adviser must comply with Code Standard 10.
Response to Major Submission Points, Second Draft of the Code
Next week, the Committee will publish a paper summarising major issues considered by the Committee in response to submissions made on the second draft of the Code released on 2 July 2010.
The issues summarised will include those where the Committee felt that an explanation may assist those considering the version of the draft Code submitted to the Commissioner, and may help to give context to the changes made (or not made) since the second draft.
The paper will also reflect the Committee’s thinking on the three matters raised by the Commissioner this week.
All issues raised with the Committee have been taken into account in finalising the Code.
Public submissions received, along with the issues paper, will be available at the Committee’s website www.financialadvisercode.govt.nz
Getting Ready
On behalf of the Committee, I encourage advisers to take advantage of the many resources provided by the sector, and by training providers, to ready themselves for this new regime.
Assuming that the Code is approved by the Commissioner, and subsequently by the Minister, it is likely that the first advisers will be authorised from 1 December 2010.
The latest information about the competence requirements for authorisation can be found at http://www.afacompetence.org.nz . At this site, advisers can also book examination and workplace assessment, upload evidence, and check assessment results.
Thank you
I wish to thank the members of the Code Committee for the professional contributions they have made to the development of this document.
I appreciate that they each have other demanding roles, and I acknowledge the personal and corporate sacrifices and investment they have made.
I also wish to acknowledge the very useful contributions made by consumers, advisers, their companies and professional bodies, and by other stakeholders.
The Committee appreciates their involvement in the development of the draft Code, and their active participation throughout this comprehensive consultation process.
Ross Butler
Chairman
Code Committee
Ends
For further comment, please contact Ross Butler on 021 359 899