Frequently asked questions - timeframes and requirements
The following information is a guide and while we have provided general responses, if you require a detailed answer specific to your particular circumstances, we recommend that you seek independent legal advice.
The answers here come from a number of different sources and are believed to be reliable but are not warranted to be correct or to represent the final form of any regulatory, legislative or industry standards. No reliance should be placed on these documents as sufficient to meet all your regulatory obligations, some of which are still to be legislated.
What is the timeline?
The register of financial services providers opened in mid-August.
The regime will transitionally come into force, with full implementation on 1 July 2011. Other key timeframes are 1 December 2010 and 31 March 2011. See table below outlining key milestones for each date.
On and from
17 August 2010 |
- The register opens under the FSP Act and persons may register under that Act, but are not required to do so;
- Applications for approval as an AFA or for QFE status may be made, and decided on, under the FAA. However, no period of authorisation or grant of QFE status can commence before 1 December 2010;
- The disciplinary committee can be established under the FAA;
- No conduct obligations for financial advisers, brokers, QFEs, or members of QFE groups come into force at this stage.
|
On and from
1 December 2010 |
- It becomes mandatory for providers of financial services (other than financial adviser services) to be registered under the FSP Act;
- The holding-out protections for the terms of AFAs and QFEs come into force (because periods of authorisation and periods of grants of QFE status may commence from this time); and
- Most of the conduct obligations under the FAA for financial advisers, brokers, QFEs, and members of QFEs, and the related enforcement provisions, come into force.
|
On and from
1 April 2011 |
- At this time, the FSP Act is fully in force;
- It becomes mandatory for financial advisers to be registered under the FSP Act;
- Any person seeking to rely on a grant of QFE status to avoid the need to register its employees and nominated representatives must have that status granted by this date.
|
On
1 July 2011 |
- All remaining provisions of the FAA come into force. In particular:
- Restrictions on who is permitted to provide financial adviser services and the prohibition on holding out as a financial planner or investment planner come into force; and
- The disclosure obligations for financial advisers and brokers replace those set out in the Securities Markets Act 1988 for investment advisers and brokers.
|
When will I know what is required of me?
Whilst there are many unknowns, you can still do some things to prepare lot of activity has taken place in the first 4 months of 2010. We expect this level of activity to continue. We will keep you updated via SovInsider.
What if I am overseas and miss deadlines - will I have extra time to become compliant?
You are unlikely to get special dispensation for simply being overseas. If you are unlikely to be available for a period of time, we recommend you take this into account in your preparation.
By 31 March 2011, you will need to be registered if you want to continue providing financial adviser services. You have until 1 July to meet the minimum requirements to become Authorised.
What sould I be doing now? What do I have to do to be complaint? When do I have to do it by?
We recommend financial advisers do the following immediately to be prepared:
- i. Use the online competence assessment tool on the ETITO website to establish your competence needs and any further training requirements. [this should be complete]
- ii. Check your level of competence against the current ETITO level 5 standards, details of the standards are on SovInsider [this should have been completed}
- iii. Get your “house” in order. Gather materials and prepare evidence (such as your files) for competence assessment against ETITO level 5 standards
- iv. Read the consultation papers on the code of professional conduct released by the Code Committee
- v. Start to think about whether your business meets the requirements of the Financial Advisers Act and the proposed code of professional standards
- vi. Get into the habit of using a disclosure statement
- vii. Listen to conference announcements and talk to your BDM
- As more information becomes known, we will communicate via SovInsider.
Sovereign is working on a number of areas to support advisers through the new regime. Key announcements were made at the SovNet conference; others will follow once we have a higher level of certainly.
|