Financial Institutions

The CoFI Act creates a new market service of “acting as a financial institution." We refer to this market service as the “financial institution service”. The licence for this new market service is known as a “financial institution licence”.

Topics covered in this section

Financial institution licensing

Any registered bank, licensed insurer, or licensed non-bank deposit taker in the business of providing one or more relevant services will need to hold a financial institution licence to operate, if that service is received by a consumer in New Zealand.

Licensing FAQs

Our team has fielded a number of questions from various financial insititutions about licensing. Please take a moment to read through the licensing FAQs ahead of applying for your licence.

Fair Conduct Programme

A fair conduct programme (FCP) means policies, processes, systems and controls that are designed to ensure the financial institution’s compliance with the fair conduct principle. A financial institution’s FCP must be in writing and must meet the minimum requirements set out in the CoFI Act.

Fair conduct programmes - information for smaller firms

This information sheet provides information and examples to help smaller Financial Institutions (FIs) establish, implement and maintain their fair conduct programme. It complements our other resources relating to FI licensing. It will be useful for smaller firms holding or applying for a licence to act as an FI under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.

Financial institution regulatory returns

Regulatory returns are due annually by 30 September for the 12-month period from 1 July to 30 June. The first return period will commence 1 July 2025.

Question or concern about CoFI?

Please get in touch. We're happy to help.

Useful links

Upcoming events and announcements

26 Mar 2025 Wed 8:30am

FMA Chief Executive and Insurance industry roundtable

This is a planned industry gathering of Life and Health Insurance CEOs, chaired by the FMA Chief Executive Samantha Barrass.

Participants will be by invitation only and numbers will be limited. The conference will not be open to the public.

Location: FMA offices, Auckland

02 Apr 2025

FMA Chief Executive speaks to Financial Advice New Zealand annual conference

Wed 7:00am

See details →

07 Apr 2025

Round table with industry body leaders

Mon 2:00pm

22 May 2025

Chartered Accountants ANZ: Audit and Accounting Conferences

Thu 12:00pm

See details →

Latest

Speeches & presentations

04 Feb 2025

Speech by Samantha Barrass to the Financial Services Council Outlook 2025

Samantha Barrass, Chief Executive FMA speaks at the Financial Services Council Outlook 2025.

Media releases

23 Dec 2024

Westpac admits to misleading representations that resulted in $6.35m in overcharges

Westpac New Zealand Limited has admitted to misleading customers entitled to advertised discounts as well as overcharging some of its business custome ...

Media releases

20 Dec 2024

FMA files civil proceedings against InvestNow for alleged AML/CFT breaches

FMA has filed civil proceedings against InvestNow Saving and Investment Service Ltd, which trades as InvestNow, for alleged breaches of the Anti-Money ...

Reports and papers

04 Dec 2024

This report provides key insights from reviews of 70 climate statements for reporting periods ending in December 2023, January 2024, and March 2024. I ...

Media releases

04 Dec 2024

FMA encouraged by first climate statements

The FMA has today published its Climate-Related Disclosures insights report from the first set of entities that were required to file climate statemen ...

Research

02 Dec 2024

Consumer Confidence Survey Report

This report is the result of our inaugural Consumer Confidence Survey which asks consumers about their experiences with their financial services provi ...

Featured

Financial institution licensing guide

This guide explains how to make an application for a licence, and the criteria you will need tomeet to obtain a licence.

Standard conditions for financial institution licences

All financial institutions and their authorised bodies need to comply with standard conditions to obtain and maintain their licence.

Fair Conduct Programme

This document provides useful information to assist financial institutions in the preparation of a Fair Conduct Programme (FCP).