But who these two new members are remains a mystery. While Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister David Clark says the new appointees took up their roles in mid-April, the committee’s website has not been updated to include their names. Nor has there been any announcement from the minister’s office.

Under clause 26 of schedule 5 of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, the committee must have no fewer than seven members, two of whom must be consumer affairs representatives or skilled in dispute resolution.

Concerns were raised in March this year that the committee was operating unlawfully with only six, rather than seven, appointees and with only one consumer affairs/dispute resolution member.

At the time, committee chairman Angus Dale-Jones said he understood the matter was going through “normal government recruitment processes”. The situation would be more worrying if the committee was considering changes to the code but that wasn’t the case, he said.

The problem arose in July 2021 when three committee members, including one of the two consumer affairs/dispute resolution representatives, came to the end of their terms.

The two new appointments bring the committee numbers up to eight. But two of the current members reach the end of their terms on 31 July this year, meaning Clark must appoint one more member if the committee is to operate lawfully after that date.

In March this year, a senior adviser wrote to Clark, pointing out that as minister he was required by law to appoint at least one new member. The adviser received a response from Clark dated 31 May, saying the appointments had been made.

He blamed the delay on the impact of covid-19 on the government’s work program and appointments processes.

Clark also said that one of the two new appointees has the required expertise in consumer affairs/dispute resolution. He acknowledged that since the three committee members stood down in July 2021 there had been a gap in this area.

The committee was set up as an independent body in 2017 to develop a code of professional conduct for the financial advice sector. This was completed and approved by the minister in 2019 and the committee has an ongoing monitoring role.