Following the recent NZFSG conference in Auckland, Loan Market’s Bruce Patten said the group was committed to the fact that they are going to assist advisers with the new regulations.

One of the conference’s sessions looked at the new regulations and discussed what advisers might expect.

Patten said one of the questions they posed to the audience was “are we, as a group, going to apply for financial advice licenses on behalf of some members” and the answer to that was “yes”.

The other was around whether they would be applying for licenses for the whole membership and they are still unsure on that one.

While the NZFSG is committed to helping advisers with the looming changes, Patten said how exactly they would help would depend on what comes with the proposed legislation.

“There are lots of questions and answers we are waiting to hear more on. Everybody is still in the dark a bit.

“The devil is in the detail and that is yet to be finalised, so it’s all about watching and waiting. But we are going to be putting information out there as soon as it comes to light.”

The NZFSG is also currently running a survey which asks who is going to apply for a license so that they can get a greater sense of the numbers likely to.

Patten said they are talking about what might happen but they don’t want to commit to anything until they know what is going to be the rules and what isn’t.

The upcoming election throws a bit of a spanner into the works, he added.

“The new legislation is not going to get past round one before the election. Even if there isn’t a change of government, we could see a new minister coming in and that could slow things down too.”

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