FMA comments on Ross Asset Management investor proceedings

Media release
MR No. 2019 - 30
12 July 2019

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) said today’s filing of proceedings on behalf of eligible investors in Ross Asset Management marked the end of a long battle to enable the FMA to engage with investors so they could determine whether to bring a claim against ANZ.

Rob Everett, FMA chief executive, said: “The Ross Asset Management Ponzi scheme was a major event for New Zealand’s financial markets and had a very significant impact on a large number of investors.

“For the past three years, the FMA has been responding to ANZ’s legal challenge to enable us to engage with and provide relevant information to Ross Asset Management investors.

“We invested considerable time and resources in litigating this matter, which went all the way to the Supreme Court. The FMA established the right for investors to make their own informed decisions and pursue their own claim.

“This matter raises important questions around bankers’ duties and we are pleased they will now be tested in the Court.”

Mr Everett said that given Ross Asset Management investors had decided to take this action, there was no need for the FMA to determine whether to use its statutory powers to pursue an action on their behalf.

“While the FMA has the power to take action on behalf of investors, it is obliged to consider the likelihood of individuals taking their own proceedings and diligently pursuing them.

“This action shows the process is working, with investors exercising their private rights to make a claim,” Mr Everett said. “It has taken a long time to get to this point, but we think that this is the right result.”

Contact:

Andrew Park 
FMA Media Relations Manager 
[email protected]
021 220 6770 

Related

Case: ANZ v FMA (breach of confidence) judgment

Case: David Ross and Ross Asset Management Limited - Order/ Management ban