The Financial Advice Code Working Group has released the following update on their March/April 2018 consultation:
As you probably know, on 12 March we released a consultation document and invited submissions from anyone with an interest in the Code by the end of April.
We ran 10 roadshows in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Dunedin, Balclutha, Hamilton, Tauranga and Napier, which were attended by around 800 people. More people dialled in to a webinar.
We received around 160 submissions – nearly 2000 pages. Approximately 20% of submissions were from RFAs, 16% were from AFAs, and over 20% were from firms whose services ranged from investment and insurance broking, to investment advice and wider financial planning. Over 10% were from industry bodies or dealer groups, and around 13% were from insurers or QFEs such as banks. We also received submissions from or had meetings with consumer representatives, dispute resolution schemes and education providers.
We also conducted a survey of consumers’ experiences with financial advice. We received some useful insights on what consumers expect and how a Code of Conduct could improve outcomes for consumers.
We have been collating and reading these submissions and considering the points people have made.
We are especially appreciative of the great deal of time and effort that clearly has been put into the submissions we received. We thank everyone who sent or contributed to a submission or attended a roadshow. We are still in the process of analysing the feedback and deciding how best to reflect it in the way the code standards are drafted.
We plan to publish submissions once they have been redacted to protect personal and commercially sensitive information.
We will also be meeting with some practising advisers to get some additional input.
Our next major milestone will be to develop the draft code standards. These will take account of what you have told us in your consultation submissions.
We will plan the timing of our consultation on those draft standards once the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Select Committee has reported back to Parliament on the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Bill.
Sincerely,
Angus Dale-Jones
Chair
Financial Advice Code Working Group
