Consultation paper: Review of the Wholesale Investor Exclusion $750,000 Minimum Investment Exemption

November 2021 update

An exemption has now been granted to continue relief for offers of kauri bonds, under the Wholesale Investor Exclusion - $750,000 Minimum Investment in Kauri Bonds notice. Exemptions in the 2017 notice for ‘other unsubordinated debt securities’ have not been continued.

You can find this notice on our website and on the Legislation NZ website. This notice will come into force on the expiry of the existing notice on 4 February 2022.

August 2021 update

After considering submissions in relation to our review of the wholesale investor notice, we have decided to continue relief for offerors of kauri bonds seeking to rely on the Schedule 1, $750,000 minimum investment wholesale exclusion. This will provide continued relief from the requirements to include the prescribed warning on the front of every document containing the key terms of the offer and obtain an investor acknowledgement.

However, we have decided not to continue relief for offerors of other unsubordinated debt securities. Currently these offerors have relief from the requirements to have an investor warning on every key offer document (instead it can just be on the principal terms sheet) and obtain an investor acknowledgement. There is no evidence of material reliance on this exemption in the market. 

The current notice expires on 4 February 2022 and we will therefore aim to finalise a new notice to give effect to this decision before the current exemption notice expires.

18 Jan 2021

We are seeking feedback on the Financial Markets Conduct (Wholesale Investor Exclusion - $750,000 Minimum Investment) Exemption Notice 2017, which will expire on 4 February 2022.

This notice exempts offerors of certain financial products from some requirements (eg warning and investor acknowledgement requirements) that must be given to wholesale investors in order to rely on the $750,000 wholesale investor exclusion in Schedule 1 of the FMC Act. It applies to offerors of Kauri bonds and other unsubordinated debt securities.

Feedback closes 26 February 2021.