If you provide any of the following financial adviser services to retail clients:

• give personalised financial advice on category 1 products. Financial advice covers any recommendation or opinion about buying, selling (or refraining from buying or selling) a financial product.
• provide a personalised discretionary investment management service (DIMS).
• provide an investment planning service, that is, if you design or offer to design a plan for an individual that:
  • is based on an analysis of an individual's current and future overall financial situation;
  • identifies their investment needs and goals, and
  • includes recommendations or opinions to realise those goals.

• you only give financial advice for category 2 products. 
• you only provide a financial adviser service to wholesale clients. See section 5C and D of the Financial Advisers Act 2008 for the full definition of wholesale clients.
• you only provide a class service to retail clients, e.g. generic product brochures and online resources. These services target a wide class of people rather than being specifically tailored to meet an individual's needs or situation.
• you only provide a financial service which is incidental to another non-financial service, e.g. a sales assistant advising a customer on a hire purchase contract.
• you are a member of certain professions providing a relevant financial service in the ordinary course of your professional business. This exemption applies to chartered accountants, lawyers, real estate agents and others.
• you are a not-for-profit organisation providing a relevant financial service without charge.
• you are an employer providing relevant service to an employee in connection with a financial product made available through the workplace.

For a complete list of exemptions see s13 and s14 of the Act.

• register on the Financial Service Providers Register (FSPR)
• join a Dispute Resolution Scheme (DRS) 
• select the financial adviser services (FAS scope) you wish to be authorised to provide.

Once you have completed the steps above, you can apply for authorisation online at the FSPR.

Before beginning your application, please read the financial adviser authorisation guide and related resources listed below.

• The AFA Authorisation Guide will tell you step by step how to become an AFA
• AFAs must adhere to the Standard Conditions for Authorised Financial Advisers
• The Financial Advisers Act 2008 
• The Code of Professional Conduct
• The information on AFAs competence and assessment will explain how we check that advisers applying for authorisation meet the required competence standards 
• Before applying for AFA authorisation, applicants who have completed version 2 of the New Zealand Certificate in Financial Services (Level 5) will also be required to complete Unit Standard 26360 in order to meet the competency requirements for AFA authorisation. Unit Standard 26360 is not covered in Version 2 of the New Zealand Certificate in Financial Services (Level 5) and is required by the Code of Professional Conduct for Authorised Financial Advisers. Unit Standard 26360 provides an understanding of the legislative and regulatory requirements that all AFAs need to understand. Please contact the Skills Organisation in the first instance for further information on completing Unit Standard 26360.
• Applicants who have completed version 2 of the New Zealand Certificate in Financial Services (Level 5) will be required to register with the Skills Organisation via their online portal and obtain an FSC number. This is so the Skills Organisation can download your record of achievements from the New Zealand Qualification Authority and report them to the FMA.
• The AFA testimonials templates and guidelines provide the forms and instructions to help you prepare the testimonials you’ll need as part of your application
• The Guidance Note: Good Character and Criminal Convictions provides full details of the FMA's criteria and requirements for assessment of good character of AFA applicants.
• Under the standard conditions of authorisation AFAs must maintain a current written adviser business statement (ABS). Please read the AFA Adviser Business Statement Guide 
• Each year, you must confirm to us that your ABS is current through the annual AFA information return

Renewing your authorisation

• On 8 April 2019, the Government passed a new law changing the rules for how financial advice is provided to retail clients. As part of the transition rules, you do not need to renew your AFA authorisation before the start of the new regime.
• If your expiry date is approaching, we will contact you with further information.
• To learn more about the changes, see our new financial advice regime webpages.

Cancelling your authorisation

• To cancel your authorisation please email the FMA at AFAapplications@fma.govt.nz

Your authorisation can be terminated for the following reasons:

• the period of your authorisation expires
• you ask the FMA to cancel your authorisation
• you cease to be registered as an FSP
• the FMA cancels or suspends your authorisation if you are no longer eligible to be authorised, or you have breached your obligations under the Financial Advisers Act, regulations, the Code or your terms or conditions.

If we decide to cancel, suspend or amend the terms and conditions of your authorisation, you will be notified first and given the opportunity to make submissions. We will notify your change of status to the registrar. If your authorisation is cancelled or suspended because you are no longer eligible or you have breached your obligations under the Act, we may also make this information public.

The fees above are payable to the Companies Office when you apply to become an AFA. This is additional to the fee for registration as an FSP.

Variations to terms and conditions

The fee to vary the terms and conditions of an AFA authorisation is $115. This is payable to the FMA when you apply for the variation. We will then invoice you for the time spent assessing the variation application, based on the FMA hourly rate.

For more information see the Financial Advisers (Fees) Regulations 2010.

You must annually renew your registration on the Financial Service Providers Register and notify the Registrar of changes. You must be a member of a dispute resolution scheme, if providing services to retail clients.

An AFA must comply with the terms and conditions of authorisation which will include:

• standard conditions subject to any modifications that the FMA considers appropriate
• terms and conditions specific to the AFA.

The standard conditions include requirements for the AFA to maintain an adviser business statement, provide an annual confirmation and to notify us of significant matters.

• standard conditions for authorised financial advisers
• standard conditions for authorised financial advisers (AFAs) incorporating explanatory notes

Variation of terms and conditions

Most terms and conditions will remain in place for the term of the authorisation. The conditions can only be varied during this time in the circumstances outlined below

If an AFA applies to renew their authorisation new terms and conditions may apply.

The Code of Professional Conduct sets out minimum standards and applies to all AFAs from the date of authorisation and while they remain authorised.

Make sure your advertisements are clear and true

A financial adviser must not advertise a financial adviser service in a way that is misleading, deceptive or confusing. This is in addition to the general requirement that a financial adviser's conduct in providing a service must not be misleading or deceptive (See sections 35 and 34 of the Financial Advisers Act (FAA).

Tell your clients what's important

• You must make both a primary and secondary disclosure when providing personalised services to retail clients.
• The principle behind disclosure is to provide the essential information your client needs to make an informed decision. It must not be misleading, deceptive or confusing.
• Any additional information you decide to provide to a client must not be misleading, deceptive or confusing either. For example, if you decide to provide accompanying information about your qualifications, make sure your client understands the relevance to the service they are considering. 

Find out more on your disclosure obligations.

• AFAs must meet certain minimum standards for continuing professional development. These are set out in Code Standards 17 and 18 in the Code of Professional Conduct for Authorised Financial Advisers.
• AFAs have an obligation to be competent when they give advice (Code Standard 14) and must maintain and keep a current professional development plan (PDP) for each CPD period.

• Advisers providing personalised DIMS will need to ensure that their ABS contains all of the required information with respect to personalised DIMS.  
• All other advisers should be mindful of the changes brought about by the amendments to the Code when they next update their ABS.
• Read the AFA adviser business statement guide.
• Under the standard conditions of authorisation, AFAs must maintain a current written adviser business statement (ABS). 
• Each year, you must confirm to us that your ABS is current through the annual AFA information return.
• You do not need to supply us with a copy of your ABS or specify any changes you have made to update your ABS.  However, we may ask for a copy of an ABS at any time to assist in monitoring.

• The AFA information return is an online tool that each authorised financial adviser (AFA) must complete and submit annually. It consists of a series of questions about AFAs, their business, their compliance approach and their approach to continuing professional development.
• The information return is a reporting requirement contained within the regulatory reporting guide (RRG). The RRG sets out the periodic and other reporting, accounting and notification requirements for AFAs as required under the standard conditions.

See more information on Annual AFA information return.

The FMC Act sets out minimum compliance standards of behaviour for people operating in the financial markets.

It prohibits:

• misleading or deceptive conduct
• false or misleading representations
• unsubstantiated representations
• offers of financial products in the course of unsolicited meetings.

Read more about fair dealing here

The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 (the Act) imposes several obligations: 

• You must provide a written risk assessment of the money laundering and financing of terrorism activity you could expect in the course of running your business.
• You are required to implement an anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism programme that includes procedures to detect, deter, manage and mitigate money laundering and the financing of terrorism.
• You are required to appoint a compliance officer to administer and maintain your programme.
• You are required to perform due diligence processes on your customers. This includes customer identification and verification of identity.
• You are required to report suspicious transactions. 

The FMA supervises designated business groups (DBGs) and reporting entities listed in Section 130 of the Act.