Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013
|
|
| Regulator |
FMA |
| Jurisdiction |
NZ |
| Status |
live |
| Applicability |
Platform |
The Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 (FMCA) is the primary financial markets legislation
in New Zealand. It regulates the offer of financial products to the public, financial advice
services, managed investment schemes, and market conduct. The Financial Markets Authority
(FMA) is the regulator.
Key obligations for a licensed bank include: product disclosure for regulated financial
products (Part 3 — disclosure obligations, including the Product Disclosure Statement
requirement), financial advice obligations (Part 2 — Financial Advice Provider licensing),
market manipulation and insider trading prohibitions (Part 5), and continuous disclosure
for issuers of quoted financial products (if listed).
The FMCA also provides the framework for the climate-related disclosures regime: under the
Financial Sector (Climate-related Disclosures and Other Matters) Amendment Act 2021, certain
large financial institutions are required to make TCFD-aligned climate disclosures.
Compliance register
This register maps the material obligations under the FMCA that are relevant to the bank's
operations as a bank and financial product issuer.
Scope legend
| Symbol |
Meaning |
| 🤖 Automated |
Platform enforces or performs the obligation. Primary control mode is GATE, AUTO, CALC, or ALERT. Human action is not required in the normal case. |
| 📊 Evidenced |
Platform captures the evidence trail automatically. Human compliance decision sits on top. Primary control mode is LOG. |
| 🏛 Institutional |
Obligation is met by a process entirely outside the platform — board governance, legal, compliance. |
| N/A |
Obligation does not apply to this deployment configuration. |
Build legend
| Symbol |
Meaning |
| ✅ |
Module built and deployed |
| 🔨 |
Module planned — not yet built (build_status: Not started) |
| ❌ |
Uncontrolled gap — no module attributed |
Part 3 — Product disclosure (ss.48–63)
| Ref |
Obligation |
Scope |
Policy |
Platform controls |
Build |
| S.48 |
Offer of regulated financial products requires a registered Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) — the PDS must contain prescribed information and be registered with the Disclose Register |
🏛 Institutional |
CON-004 |
PDS preparation, registration, and content accuracy are institutional (Head of Product, legal). MOD-050 (GATE) — disclosure enforcement gate blocks product activation until the required PDS has been acknowledged by the customer |
🔨 |
| S.51 |
The PDS must be provided to the investor at or before the time they subscribe for the product |
🤖 Automated |
CON-004 |
MOD-050 (GATE) — PDS is presented and acknowledged before every product acceptance; presentation is synchronous with the acceptance workflow, no bypass path |
🔨 |
| S.57 |
Issuer must update the PDS and keep it current; material changes require a supplementary or replacement PDS |
🏛 Institutional |
CON-004 |
PDS maintenance is institutional. MOD-050 (LOG) — every disclosure event logged with the disclosure version; version currency is an institutional responsibility |
🔨 |
Part 2 — Financial advice (ss.388–431)
| Ref |
Obligation |
Scope |
Policy |
Platform controls |
Build |
| S.388 |
Persons providing a regulated financial advice service must hold or be covered by a Financial Advice Provider (FAP) licence |
🏛 Institutional |
CON-001 |
FAP licensing is institutional (General Counsel / board). The platform does not currently deliver a regulated financial advice product |
N/A |
| S.431C |
Duty to meet standards of competence, knowledge, and skill; duty to give priority to client interests; duty to not charge unreasonable fees |
🏛 Institutional |
CON-001 |
Adviser standards are an institutional governance and HR obligation where a regulated advice product is offered |
N/A |
Product suitability and distribution (ss.426A–431)
| Ref |
Obligation |
Scope |
Policy |
Platform controls |
Build |
| S.426A |
A financial advice provider must take reasonable steps to ensure that a financial product offered to a retail client is suitable for that client |
🤖 Automated |
CON-006 |
MOD-155 (AUTO) — customer characteristics automatically evaluated against target market criteria for each product; out-of-target-market distribution events detected and recorded without manual review. MOD-153 (GATE) — customer acceptance gate enforces product eligibility before activation |
🔨 |
Part 5 — Market conduct (ss.262–288)
| Ref |
Obligation |
Scope |
Policy |
Platform controls |
Build |
| S.265 |
Market manipulation prohibition — must not carry out transactions or make statements that create or maintain an artificial price for financial products |
🏛 Institutional |
CON-001 |
Market manipulation compliance is institutional (compliance and legal oversight). Not directly attributable to a platform control |
— |
| S.270 |
Insider trading prohibition — must not trade on the basis of material non-public information |
🏛 Institutional |
GOV-007 |
Information barriers and insider trading controls are institutional governance. Not platform scope |
— |
| Obligation |
Scope |
Policy |
Platform controls |
Build |
| Large financial institutions must prepare annual climate statements in accordance with the External Reporting Board's aotearoa New Zealand climate standards (based on TCFD) |
🤖 Automated |
REP-012, CLQ-007 |
MOD-152 (AUTO) — TCFD-aligned climate disclosure report generated from live model outputs on annual schedule; metrics and targets section fully automated. MOD-152 (CALC) — physical and transition risk scores computed continuously across the lending portfolio |
🔨 |
| Climate risk must be integrated into the institution's risk management framework |
🤖 Automated |
CLQ-007 |
MOD-152 (CALC) — climate risk scores integrated with the stress testing engine; no manual climate risk assessment required |
🔨 |
| Climate statement must be approved by the board |
🏛 Institutional |
REP-012 |
Board approval of the climate statement is institutional. MOD-152 provides the automated disclosure outputs for board review |
🔨 |
| Obligation |
Owner |
Platform evidence input |
| FAP licence application and maintenance |
General Counsel / Board |
Institutional |
| PDS preparation, registration, and content currency |
Head of Product / General Counsel |
MOD-050 disclosure version logs |
| Market manipulation and insider trading controls |
Chief Compliance Officer / General Counsel |
Institutional governance |
| Climate statement board approval |
Board / Chief Risk Officer |
MOD-152 automated report outputs |
| FMA regulatory engagement and examination responses |
Chief Compliance Officer |
MOD-047, MOD-048, MOD-050 provide the audit evidence base |
Coverage summary
| Area |
Total obligations |
Platform automated 🤖 |
Platform evidenced 📊 |
Institutional 🏛 |
N/A |
| Product disclosure |
3 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| Financial advice licensing |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
| Product suitability |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Market conduct |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
| Climate disclosures |
3 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
| Total |
11 |
4 (36%) |
0 |
5 (45%) |
2 (18%) |
All attributed modules are currently build_status: Not started.
| Policy |
Title |
| CON-001 |
Customer Fairness & Conduct Policy |
| CON-004 |
Product Disclosure & Sales Practice Policy |
| CON-006 |
Product suitability and governance |
| CLQ-007 |
Climate Risk Management Policy |
| GOV-007 |
Conflicts of Interest Policy |
| REP-012 |
TCFD Climate Disclosure Policy |
Official documentation
Policies referencing this standard
- CLQ-007 — Climate Risk Management Policy
- CON-001 — Customer Fairness & Conduct Policy
- CON-004 — Product Disclosure & Sales Practice Policy
- CON-006 — Product suitability and governance
- REP-012 — TCFD Climate Disclosure Policy
Compiled 2026-05-22 from source/entities/regulations/nz-fmc-act.yaml