Generating interest among Riskinfo readers this week was confirmation by the FMA of a proposed set of consumer and market outcomes it believes the industry should focus on achieving…
Later this year the FMA will share a proposed set of consumer and market outcomes it believes the industry should focus on achieving.
Speaking at the FSC’s Building Consumer Confidence conference in Auckland last week, Clare Bolingford, FMA Executive Director, Regulatory Delivery, said the authority will consult on the outcomes for industry feedback.
She told the 500 attendees registered for the three day event that the FMA had reviewed its 2017 conduct guide this year and decided it was still fit for purpose.
She said: “The overarching principles of culture, controls, capability, conflicts, and communication should still be a consistent compass for all providers of financial services, in all the sectors we regulate.”
However, she added that like any good navigating compass, this is not a set and forget exercise, and the conduct guide continues to be the lens it uses for “…what a good conduct profile looks like”.
“The new conduct outcomes, that we’ll soon be consulting on, will build on these principles to embed a shared focus,” she said.
Second priority
Bolingford said the FMA’s second strategic priority is vital to improve its understanding of what drives market, provider, and consumer behaviour.
She said the authority needs “evidence, insights and data –collected from firms themselves, from fellow regulators here and abroad – to ensure our approach is robust and meaningful”.
“We will then have an evidence base to decide where to focus our discretionary effort; a feedback loop to evaluate the impact of those actions; and core intelligence data to improve our practice,” she said.
Bolingford said deterring misleading value propositions will see the FMA continue to assess inappropriate advertising, value for money, poor disclosure, and increasingly under CoFI, the design and distribution of everyday financial products.