The plans for the mark, which have been part of the association’s plans from the outset, were unveiled in June.

A Trusted Adviser of Financial Advice NZ is a member who has been accepted as having a level five qualification or higher, three years’ experience providing regulated financial advice, a minimum of 20 hours’ CPD a year, completing a three-hour ethics workshop every three years, and holding appropriate adviser-level professional indemnity insurance.

Board chair Sue Brown told a webinar discussion about the mark that it could not be finalised until the new regulatory regime was clear. That will take effect from next March.

She said what the board had settled on would be meaningful for advisers and consumers but was also achievable for all Financial Advice NZ members.

Chief executive Katrina Shanks said the requirements for the mark were higher than for the industry as a whole. The new code of conduct only requires advisers to demonstrate outcomes equal to someone who has completed the level five qualification in financial services.

The mark will require the qualification itself or a higher one.

But she said the feedback so far had questioned whether experience should also be recognised.

Whether a member who did not have a qualification but who had a significant number of years of experience should be deemed to have met the qualification standard was an area to consult on, she said.

There were also questions about whether founding members of Financial Advice NZ should be able to be grandfathered in if they had experience.

She said a survey showed 93% of respondents supported the idea of the mark and 71% thought they already met the criteria.

Shanks said the association would promote the mark with a consumer campaign but it would have to remember that there would be members who did not have the mark.

“It’s important to get the balance right between people seeking financial advice from Financial Advice New Zealand and also the public understanding there’s also, on top of that, another mark as well. It doesn’t mean they’re not trusted but they’ve made a different commitment.”

She said she had no doubt that over time the requirement for the sector would be a level five qualification, because of the FAP structure of the new regime.

“That will evolve over time anyway. Do we put that in place now or wait for the evolution to happen?”

Brown said she hoped that within a few years, the mark could be entry-level criteria for the association.