Changes to How Financial Advisers are Linked to FAPs

The NZ Government’s Companies Office has changed the way financial advisers engage with FAPs through the Financial Service Providers Register (FSPR).

If a financial adviser is registering on the FSPR to provide financial adviser services, they need to be engaged by at least one FAP. The engagement must also be recorded on the FSPR.

Companies Office says it is the financial adviser’s responsibility to ensure the FAP has linked to them on the FSPR within the required timeframe.

It states that advisers can start the linking process on the register, but the status will be recorded as ‘pending’ until the FAP confirms, or declines, the engagement.

“If you’re a new financial service provider — the FAP must be linked to you within three months of the date you registered to provide the ‘financial advice’ service,” states Companies Office.

If you’re an existing financial service provider — the FAP must be linked to you within three months of the date you added the ‘financial advice’ service to your registration, or your only FAP engagement was ended.

Full details are here.