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Conduct, culture and the new regulatory regime have rarely left the headlines (or advisers’ to-do lists) over the past year, and it’s fair to say that a certain amount of compliance exhaustion has set in. Understandable, given the heavy workload that the new requirements have brought – however, advisers have been urged to look beyond the details, and to see the big picture of what their hard work will ultimately bring.
The Financial Services Council (FSC) recently held its annual conference in Auckland, where the theme was ‘Towards Wellbeing’ – exploring the financial and social wellbeing of every New Zealander, and how the financial services sector fits into achieving it. In his welcome address, FSC CEO Richard Klipin said that the conduct and culture overhaul will ultimately bring two key benefits to the sector, and to the country as a whole.
“It’s been a really tough year for the sector,” Klipin said.
“There have been around 23 different consultations, and the FSC’s regulatory team has been hard at work crafting responses – and while there is a huge volume, they’re all hoping to get us into a better place.”
“I urge us all to step back from the minutia of regulatory changes and ask where this is ultimately going to get us,” he explained.
“It’s going to get us into two places – firstly, to good customer outcomes, and we need to understand what that means in all its different layers and textures. Secondly, this is New Zealand’s regulatory regime coming up to the world’s best practice. So when we step outside of the details and ask what the big objectives are with all this regulatory change – certainly within the FSC, that’s the weather vane that we’re keeping our eye on.”
Finance Minister Grant Robertson has urged advisers to see this regulatory overhaul as a rebuilding of “social license,” and a chance to play a visibly deeper role in the wellbeing of the communities that they serve.
“My challenge to financial service professionals is that you need to rebuild social license,” Robertson said.
“In most cases, it’s not your fault. It’s not about something you’ve done personally. But it is about a form of social capital – the connections that we have in our community, the critical role you all play in building those connections by the financing you provide, and the work you do in supporting people’s financial security. We’ve all got a responsibility to help rebuild that.
“My challenge is to keep going with that work, and don’t think of it in the negative regulatory sense – think of it in the sense of building social capital, in building communities which are strong, resilient and financially secure.”
