The event, held in Christchurch and attended by many online, finally revealed details from the FMA's much anticipated full licencing application guide.

The panel of FMA leaders, including director of market engagement John Botica, principal consultant Derek Grantham and manager, supervision Michael Hewes, spoke on the specifics of the guide and fielded questions from the crowd.

Botica reiterated his call for any advisers wishing to continue giving advice but who had not yet applied for a transitional licence to do so immediately. “We will be tracking every adviser listed on the FSPR. Do not be on our list of advisers that we cannot trace back to a licence.”

As well as this foreboding reminder, Botica spoke to the key differences between the transitional and full licences. A full licence has no fixed term and is separated into three classes. If an adviser wants to change their class they will have to start the process again.

Botica offered this for any advisers feeling nervous about the change: “Regardless of where you are in the licence status the competency safe harbour offered by the transitional licence will apply for two years. Feel free to use the transitional period as a bit of a trial run, to make sure that you are getting things right.”

Hewes told the assembled crowd that the separation of the licence into three distinct classes came from extended requests from the FMA in their discussions with advisers. “The separation of classes is an opportunity for advisers to think hard about what they want to be.”

Grantham said that “the full licence application guide is not for reading once and then forgetting about. This is a valuable tool for advisers, they will need to put their minds to it. The guide is a key way in which advisers can show the FMA that they are taking their obligations seriously.”

Read the full licence application guide HERE.