Peters calls for all advisers to be registered

The best way to protect the New Zealand public from unscrupulous investment advisers and financial planners is to have a compulsory registration scheme, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says.
"There should be registration of all investment advisers and financial planners," Peters told Good Returns today.
Peters says the current self-regulatory scheme is not working as there is no organisation that has the teeth or resources to police the advisory industry. Also many advisers are not members of a professional organisation and don't come under any disciplinary scheme.
No existing organisation has "the ability or competence to take action against the cowboys," he says.
Peters says a number of recent incidents, including one in Tauranga, where investors had been ripped off showed the current light-handed regulations isn't working.
Besides the issue of adviser fraud, there is the issue of New Zealand's "worrisome savings record".
Peters says if the public had greater confidence in advisers "there would be a significant number of people who would be invested in the sharemarket."
The NZ First caucus will discuss the issue this week. Peters says he may introduce a Private Member's Bill to get compulsory registration as the current administration is unlikely to implement such a scheme.

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