Consultation: Proposed fair outcomes for consumers and markets

March 2025 update 

We have published the FMA’s approach to outcomes-focused regulation, taking into account the feedback received.  

We received useful views through the consultation where respondents sought to understand the FMA’s evolution to be a more outcomes-focused regulator, how we would make use of the draft outcomes and what this meant for financial market participants. While many submitters could see why we had chosen the outcomes we did, the feedback indicated that we needed to consider further how we explained what being a more outcomes-focused regulator meant, and how these outcomes sat with the FMA’s statutory objectives and the legislation we enforce. 

In response to the comments from stakeholders, the publication: 

• clarifies what outcomes-focused regulation is and how it shapes the FMA’s evolving approach to our work, including examples of where we have already started operating in this way;
• explains that this continues an evolution we have been on for a number of years and builds on previous work such as our 2017 Guide to the FMA’s view on conduct;
• reframes the ‘outcomes’ to better show how they relate to the FMA’s statutory objective and purposes; and
• highlights how the outcomes will help us focus our efforts on identifying and responding to the most significant risks and opportunities for New Zealanders and our markets.   

December 2024 update 

To keep stakeholders informed, we have now published the submissions received on our fair outcomes consultation.  The fair outcomes consultation sought industry feedback on the outcomes that the FMA had identified as important for consumers of financial services and for New Zealand’s financial markets.  There was support in the feedback for the intention of using customer and market outcomes as a basis for prioritising our work.  However, submitters also expressed a range of concerns, including that the focus on detailed outcomes statements gave an impression that these would be treated as new rules or compliance obligations for firms and that it was unclear how the FMA would operationalise outcomes focus in practice.  

We have taken time to consider this industry response to our consultation.  We agree that it would be beneficial to explain the FMA’s regulatory approach so that providers and other stakeholders understand how we intend to use outcomes focus to prioritise and carry out our work.  We intend to publish this in 2025.