Advisory: Financial Services Council conference speech by Clare Bolingford

Media Release  
MR No. 2023 – 35 
16 August 2023

Financial Markets Authority, Executive Director for Regulatory Delivery, Clare Bolingford spoke to the Financial Services Council annual conference today, on the theme of building consumer confidence. Ms Bolingford reflected on the increasing maturity of New Zealand’s regulatory system since the introduction of conduct obligations for financial services under the Financial Markets Conduct Act in 2013. 

“The FMC Act enabled the FMA to evolve from an enforcement regulator – cleaning up the mess of the finance companies – into a conduct regulator with a range of proactive tools, besides litigation, to influence conduct and investor outcomes into the future... This legislation took a high level, principles-based approach, only introducing detailed prescription where it is necessary for consistency in practices.  This enables us all to respond to continually evolving risks, innovation and opportunities that emerge through various cycles. 

“The recent Conduct of Financial Institutions legislation has taken the same approach. With CoFI and the new Financial Market Infrastructure regimes now in place, this brings New Zealand more closely into line with international jurisdictions, closing conduct gaps and implementing a fully-formed twin peaks regulatory model. Twin peaks is simply where prudential and conduct regulators meet to support a robust, sound, and fair financial system. The important piece is to ensure we work closely and cooperatively where we share a responsibility to supervise and enforce. 

“The thread that connects all this is a constantly evolving and maturing framework – and approach – to conduct regulation in Aotearoa, ensuring there is consistency in New Zealand for firms, but also with standards, norms and protections that have existed overseas for a very long time.” 

Ms Bolingford spoke to the FMA’s strategic priorities in the short to medium term, which are to successfully implement new legislative regimes, and: 

• To successfully transition towards an outcomes-focused approach to regulation
• Better understand the drivers of market, provider, and consumer behaviour 
• Proactively minimise harmful conduct on the perimeter 
• Deter misleading value propositions of financial products and services.

Read her full speech here. 

Ends

Media contacts:  

Andrew Park  
FMA Media Relations Manager  
[email protected]   
021 220 6770  

Matt Chatterton  
FMA Senior Adviser, Media Relations  
[email protected] 
021 241 7868