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The compulsory audit period has now been extended to three years – BUT only for those whose audit is due after 9 July 2021. If your audit was due before 9 July 2021 and was not booked in, then you are now technically non-compliant. Read on for a high-level summary of how these changes apply to your business and most importantly additional business risks that you should consider before moving to a three-year cycle.

Effective from 15 March 2021, all financial advice providers (FAPs) plus those who provide regulated financial advice needed to be fully compliant with the relevant legislation, regulations, codes, good conduct obligations, applicable licence standard conditions plus any relevant product provider contract obligations. There is no transition period for this stuff!

Most businesses we deal with have been running flat out this year, handling an unprecedented level of client work, trying to recruit new staff and deal with all the regulatory changes taking effect.

The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act 2009 sector supervisors, the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), Financial Markets Authority (FMA) and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) have jointly published a new explanatory guideline note for Part 3 (EIV) of the Amended Identity Verification Code of Practice (Code).

In early August 2021, the RBNZ issued a formal warning to the New Zealand Branch of Westpac Banking Corporation (WBC) for failing to report prescribed transactions as required by the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) Act 2009.

There are recent changes that will assist you with assessing your money laundering (ML) or terrorist financing (TF) risk if you are sending or receiving funds from New Zealand to the Pacific Islands.

If you are a real estate agent, law firm, conveyancer, or work within any other sector involved in selling property, this update is to help you understand the money laundering and financing of terrorism (ML/FT) risks when dealing with anyone who wants to purchase property without first viewing it in person.

The Covid-19 lockdown has resulted in the commencement date for changes to CCCFA legislation and regulations being pushed back from 1 October to 1 December 2021. The exception to this is the fit and proper certification requirement which continues unchanged, but the other changes now start on 1 December.

NZQA will discontinue offering Version 1 of the New Zealand Certificate in Financial Services (Level 5) (NZCFS Level 5 V1) qualification from 31 December 2022.

The AML supervisors have recently been busy with fines and warnings and there is more to come. You may regard AML/CFT obligations as a pain in the proverbial backside, but you cannot afford to become complacent. These 5 tips may help avoid AML/CFT supervisor action against your business.