Preparing to register as a financial service provider
What you should know before you apply
Before you register as a financial service provider (FSP), you’ll need to have decided how you wish to run your business, and what financial services you intend to provide. If you are yet to make these important decisions, you may wish to seek professional advice.
The registration process
The process you follow, and the information you’ll be asked to provide, will depend on whether you wish to register as an individual or an entity.
Who needs to register
Under the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008, an FSP is required to be registered on the FSPR if any of the following applies:
- It provides financial services to persons in New Zealand above a minimum threshold.
- It is a reporting entity under the Anti Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009 that provides financial services.
- It is licensed to provide a financial service, or required by another Act to be licensed or registered in relation to a specific financial service.
If you provide financial services without a current registration, you could be fined or sent to prison.
Who doesn’t need to register
Certain services and activities do not require registration on the FSPR. For the full list of exemptions please refer to the Financial Service Providers (Exemptions) Regulations 2010.
Confirming the financial services you'll provide
When you register as a financial service provider, you must declare the services you’ll be offering. Once registered, you’ll need to keep this information up to date.
Services requiring registration
Services that require a financial service provider to be registered are listed in Section 5 of the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008.
Services requiring licensing
Providing certain financial services requires you to be licensed by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) or the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ).
Financial Markets Authority (FMA) licensing
The FMA licenses FSPs to provide a range of financial services:
Licensed market services
You need to be licensed by the FMA before you can provide any of the following financial services:
- Manager of a registered scheme – licensed
- Independent trustee of a restricted scheme – licensed
- Discretionary investment management service (DIMS) provider – licensed
- Derivatives issuer – licensed
- Provider of prescribed intermediary services – licensed (this includes crowd funding and peer-to-peer lending services)
- Financial advice service as a financial advice provider (FAP)
- Operating a financial product market
- Supervisor under an FMC offer
- Administrator of a financial benchmark - licensed.
Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) registration and licensing
You need to apply to the RBNZ to be:
- a registered bank
- an insurer
- a non-bank deposit taker (NBDT).
Applying online to register
Before you can apply online, you’ll need to have:
- a RealMe® login
- an online services account with the FSPR.
Information you’ll need to provide
When you apply to register as a financial service provider, you’ll need to have gathered all the necessary information about yourself and your business.
How to apply
When you've gathered all the information you need, you can begin your application. To find out how, please refer to our guides for individuals and entities.
Criminal history checks
Before your registration can be completed, every individual FSP, and any individual in the role of a director, senior manager or controlling owner of an FSP, must undergo a criminal history check.
You will receive an email once the criminal history check has been processed.
Once you’ve registered
Choosing a dispute resolution scheme
If you're offering financial services to retail clients, you will in most cases be required to belong to an approved dispute resolution scheme (DRS), and submit your DRS membership details within 10 working days of registering, or becoming engaged by a financial advice provider (FAP).
Financial advice providers engaging financial advisers
If you’re registering as a financial adviser, you’ll need to be engaged by a financial advice provider within 3 months of registration.