Source: Investment News
A new financial advice provider (FAP) compliance firm is pitching a “culture changing product” as the industry braces for imminent regime change.
In a release, VeritasHQ says its offering includes “service quality assurance monitoring and forward looking data analytics” to provide long-term support to FAPs under the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act (FSLAA).
The FSLAA transitional licensing period begins on March 15 with all advice firms requiring formal approval from the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) by that date.
VeritasHQ says while the focus for many has been on ‘box ticking’ compliance to “help them across the line”, advisory businesses need to look beyond the short-term licensing goal.
“Regulation must deliver and help you build your business,” the release says. “The big question is will you be able to deliver what you have committed to in your licence application, not just today but well into the future or will you come unstuck and risk the very survival of your business and capsize?”
Headed by a trio of seasoned compliance specialists – Richard Kirkland, Uddhav Kirkitar and Guy Dobson – VeritasHQ has three service components covering: FAP licensing; compliance-as-a-service; and, business review and compliance audit based on data analytics.
Dobson and Kirkitar also run financial services compliance and education joint venture, Maxima, that packages up their respective Dynamique and Compliance Plus businesses.
With less than two months before the FSLAA era begins, the FMA has granted about 1,300 transitional FAP licences: the Financial Services Providers Register lists 1,740 entities that would require a FAP licence to operate after March 15.
Several firms operate in the adviser compliance space including Strategi and Compliance Refinery.
Industry body, the Financial Services Council (FSC), is also running a series of adviser events in February under the ‘Get in shape’ banner to “support the community through the FSLAA changes.
The ‘Get in shape’ clinics start in Wellington on February 10 before heading to Auckland the next day with two South Island dates set for Christchurch and Dunedin on February 17 and 18, respectively.
