What the FMA Wants Financial Advice to Be (and How to Demand It)

In March 2026, New Zealand's financial regulator told the advice industry exactly where it's falling short. Our guide translates the FMA's 2026 review into plain English - so you know what good advice looks like, what you're entitled to expect, and the questions that get you the advice the regulator says too few New Zealanders receive.

What the FMA Wants Financial Advice to Be NZ

Updated 24 July 2026

Summary

In March 2026, the Financial Markets Authority published its Access to Financial Advice Review - the result of 80 interviews across the industry, questionnaires to 30 licensed advice businesses, and a nationwide consumer survey. The headline finding, in the regulator's own words: "not enough consumers get the financial advice they need."
The numbers behind that sentence are stark. Only 28% of New Zealanders used a financial adviser in the past year. 23% spoke to nobody at all about their finances. 26% said they wouldn't know where to start. And this is happening in a country with over 9,000 licensed financial advisers and another 11,000 nominated representatives sitting inside banks, insurers and fund managers.
This isn't a report about villains or bad players. Most of the review describes an industry that has professionalised well but delivers advice awkwardly - too much process for simple questions, too little service after the sale, and almost nothing for the people who need help most: retirees working out how to spend their savings.
The useful part for everyday New Zealanders is that the FMA has now put in writing what good looks like and this guide turns each finding into something you can use.

In this guide, we cover:

Know This First - New Zealand's advice sector at a glance (30 June 2025, per the FMA's report):

Licensed financial advice providers (FAPs): 1,553
Financial advisers: 9,198 (up 8.4% in a year)
Nominated representatives (mostly in banks, insurers and fund managers): 11,019
FAPs offering digital advice: 40
New Zealanders who received digital advice in 2025: ~165,000 (up 90%)
New Zealanders who used an adviser in the past 12 months: 28%

Important: Most licensed FAPs (e.g. a financial advisory firm) have fewer than twenty advisers - the industry is dominated by small, independently owned businesses, not big institutions. That matters when you're choosing: the corner-office firm and the two-person practice operate under the same licence, duties and disputes access.

Advertising Disclosure: No adviser, provider or industry body has paid to appear in, or influence, this guide - our editorial views are independent of all commercial arrangements.

Attribution: This guide summarises and quotes the FMA's Access to financial advice in New Zealand report (March 2026), published and copyrighted by the Financial Markets Authority and available free at fma.govt.nz. The FMA has not endorsed this guide.

Findings 1 - 6: What the FMA Wants You to Know

The FMA structured its review around the six challenges below. For each one, we summarise what the regulator found, then - more importantly - what it means you can ask for.

One theme connects all six findings - the rules already allow better and more accessible advice; the industry (as a whole) just isn't consistently delivering it. The FMA has effectively written your side of the conversation and the findings below show you how to use it.

Finding 1: You Can Ask for 'Small' Advice

One of the review's most consumer-useful findings is that advisers default to "widely scoped" advice - the standard six-step process for financial advice, comprehensive fact-find and all - even when you only need help with one thing. Some do it from caution about compliance; the effect is that simple questions become expensive, slow engagements, and people who "only" have a KiwiSaver question get told they're not commercially viable because the balance they have to invest is too small.

The FMA's response is blunt: The rules already allow advice to be scoped narrowly, and it wants the industry to use that flexibility. The regulator's own examples include a mortgage adviser advising a first-home buyer to move their KiwiSaver to a lower-risk fund while house-hunting, without a full retirement workup; a bank staffer helping a customer choose between a term deposit and a savings account for a lump sum, based on nothing more than timeframe and access needs.

What this means for you:

You are allowed to ask for exactly the advice you need, and nothing more. For example, you can say "I don't want a full financial plan - can you scope this to just my KiwiSaver fund choice / my insurance cover / this lump sum, and what would that cost?"
An adviser who says narrow advice isn't possible is describing their business model, not the law.
The adviser must still make sure you understand the scope and its limits of their service.

Finding 2: If Your Adviser Receives Ongoing Commission, It is Reasonable to Ask Exactly What Ongoing Service That Payment Supports and Whether Regular Reviews Are Included

Advisers and providers told the FMA that "commercial realities can, at times, prioritise new business over servicing (existing clients)" - in plain English, chasing new clients pays better than looking after existing ones. Among KiwiSaver providers and advisers, only around 10% of clients engage in an annual review. The most common servicing approach is a yearly email inviting you to get in touch.

This matters because ongoing service is often already being paid for. Many insurance and investment products carry trail commissions - ongoing payments to your adviser that exist precisely to fund servicing you across the life of the product. The FMA's report even describes advisers wrestling with insurers over reassigning trail commission when a client wants a new adviser, which confirms that those payments are real money.

Our View: If an adviser or provider receives ongoing payments connected to your products, an annual review isn't a favour - it's the service the payment is for. The 10% figure isn't primarily a story about lazy consumers; it's a story about an industry that gets paid whether or not it calls you.

What this means for you:

If you've not heard from your adviser for some time, send this today to your adviser, insurance broker or KiwiSaver provider: "Please confirm what ongoing service I'm entitled to, whether you receive any ongoing commission connected to my products, and when my next review is."
Then, once you hear back, book a time in.
If the answer is silence, that arguably tells you what the relationship is.

Finding 3: Your Bank Is Licensed to Advise You - and Mostly Doesn't

Most New Zealand banks hold FAP licences. Yet the FMA found banks mostly distribute products without advice, offering it only "passively" - it exists if you somehow know to ask. The starkest data point raised in the FMA's report was that for customers holding more than $10,000 in low-interest on-call or savings accounts, two banks admitted over 75% of those customers received no advice, and two more said 26-50% didn't. The FMA's conclusion: "some consumers may be missing out on meaningful interest."

Our View: Banks can see exactly who has $20,000 sleeping in an account earning close to nothing; they employ thousands of people licensed to say "you'd be better off in a term deposit", and largely, nobody says it. The FMA has pointedly reminded banks that under the new Conduct of Financial Institutions regime, making advice accessible for everyday products is part of treating customers fairly. Mortgages got the same critique - a decades-long commitment routinely sold with information only.

What this means for you:

First, check your own accounts - if you're holding five figures in an on-call account, our savings accounts and term deposits guides will likely make you more in ten minutes than the bank has offered in years.
Second, know that you can walk into your bank and ask for actual advice - "I want financial advice on where this money should sit, not just product information" - and they are licensed to provide it.
In no uncertain terms, the FMA has just told the banks to say yes more often.

Finding 4: The Retirement Drawdown Gap - the Biggest Failure in the Report

KiwiSaver holds $120+ billion, and New Zealand will have a million people aged 65+ by 2028. The FMA found plenty of advice about which fund to be in while you're saving - and an outright gap in advice about the harder question - how to turn those savings into income once you stop working. In the consumer research, 53% of people thought advisers could help with retirement planning; the sector's actual decumulation offer is thin.

The report explains why this stage is genuinely difficult:

You're managing unknowable life expectancy, uncertain returns and real spending needs simultaneously.
Get it wrong one way, and you underspend - dying with money you could have lived on.
However, get it wrong the other way, and you run out.
There's a trap specific to this phase called sequence of returns risk: poor market returns in your first retirement years, combined with withdrawals, can deplete savings faster than the maths of averages suggests - and strong returns later can't fully repair it.
While you're saving, a market fall means buying cheap; once you're withdrawing, the same fall does permanent damage.

What this means for you:

If you're within about ten years of retirement, "which fund am I in?" is no longer the main question - "what's my drawdown plan?" is. Our guide to drawdowns has more information.
Ask any adviser or provider directly: "What is your decumulation advice offer - how will you help me structure withdrawals, manage sequence risk, and decide what I can safely spend?" You need clear answers and a plan - that's what the FMA expects.

Finding 5: The Barriers Facing Māori

The FMA's report found that Māori disproportionately face barriers to advice, and much of the problem sits with the industry, not the consumer.

The review lists what advisers commonly lack:

Cultural competency and basic manaakitanga
Understanding that for many Māori entities the true client is the members, not the entity
Knowledge of the legal landscape around collectively owned assets, entity types and Māori Land Court jurisdiction; and
Awareness that templated, one-size-fits-all advice fails clients whose decision-making is driven by collective identity and values, including alignment between investments and tikanga.

What this means for you:

If you're seeking advice as whānau, hapū, iwi or a Māori entity - or simply want an adviser who understands your context - the regulator has confirmed you're entitled to exactly that, and named the competencies to test for.
Reasonable questions include "What experience do you have with collectively owned assets and Māori entities?" and "How do you incorporate our values into investment decisions rather than fitting us to a template?"
Some FAPs have built genuine capability here; the FMA's message to the rest is that this is now a standard, not a specialty.

Finding 6: Digital and AI Advice Is Here - With the Same Protections

Around 165,000 New Zealanders received digital financial advice in the past year - up 90% - from just 40 licensed providers. The FMA sees technology and hybrid human-digital models as the main route to reaching people the current model prices out, and is reviewing how AI is used in advice. Consumer trust in AI-delivered advice currently sits between 28% and 41% depending on the product - cautious, but a real base.

What this means for you:

Digital advice from a licensed FAP carries the same duties, disclosure requirements and free disputes access as advice from a human across a desk - it's regulated advice, not a chatbot loophole.
The arrival of open banking (the Consumer Data Right) means advisers you authorise will increasingly see your real spending and balances, enabling proactive advice - like flagging under-contribution to KiwiSaver or expensive debt - rather than advice based on what you remembered to mention.

Checklist - What the FMA's Standard Means You Can Expect from a Financial Adviser NZ

Your Checklist: What the FMA's Standard Means You Can Expect

The review, read as a consumer, sets out a practical standard consumers can reasonably ask advisers and providers to meet:

Advice scoped to your actual question - and a clear explanation of what's in and out of scope, in plain language you genuinely understand.
A price for small advice - not just the full-plan quote.
Fair treatment and useful advice - these are Code obligations, not marketing; advisers must have reasonable grounds for what they recommend.
Disclosure before you commit - how they're paid, commissions, limitations on which providers they can recommend, and their complaints process.
The ongoing service you're paying for - if trail commission or ongoing fees exist, reviews and contact should too. Ask for the servicing commitment in writing.
Advice from your bank on everyday products - savings, term deposits and mortgages, actively offered where it would improve your outcome.
A real answer on decumulation if you're approaching retirement - drawdown structure, sequence risk, sustainable spending.
Culturally competent advice - including genuine understanding of Māori contexts, entities and values where relevant.
The same protections through digital channels as face-to-face.
A free, independent disputes scheme behind every licensed adviser - and an FSPR listing you can verify in two minutes before you engage anyone.

Important:

None of the above is wishful thinking - every line traces back to duties in the Financial Markets Conduct Act, the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services, or expectations the FMA has now put in writing. You don't need to quote section numbers to benefit; you just need to ask, and to notice how the person across the desk responds.
An adviser who welcomes these questions is exactly who you want - an adviser who bristles at them has told you something useful too.

MoneyHub's View of the FMA's Report

Read as a whole, the report confirms something we've observed for years - New Zealand has a large financial products industry and a much smaller financial planning profession.

We believe the numbers tell the story:

There are more nominated representatives sitting inside banks, insurers and fund managers (11,019) than there are financial advisers (9,198).
The most popular training pathway for new advisers is residential property (i.e. mortgages), followed by life and health insurance - transaction lines, not planning disciplines.
Ongoing reviews reach around 10% of clients.
A big question has no product attached to it - how to turn savings into retirement income - is the one where the FMA found an outright gap.

Our view is simple:

This is what an industry looks like when the money arrives at the moment of sale. Commissions are earned when a product is placed; trail payments continue whether or not anyone calls you; and, in the FMA's own words, commercial realities "can, at times, prioritise new business over servicing".
None of this makes advisers bad people, and the report is clear that professionalism has genuinely lifted since licensing.
But it means the default experience for some New Zealanders is that they are being sold to at the start and ignored afterwards - and that is the opposite of financial planning.
The FMA has signalled further work on advice business models and remuneration, which suggests the regulator sees the same pattern we do.

How to tell whether you have a financial planner or a salesperson
You don't need to audit anyone's commission statements. Four questions, asked directly, will tell you nearly everything:

"What will you advise me on that pays you nothing?" A planner talks easily about debt repayment, KiwiSaver contribution rates, emergency funds and budgeting. A salesperson goes quiet, because unpaid advice isn't part of the model.
"Can I see an example financial plan, with names removed?" You're looking for a document with goals, numbers, dates and assumptions - not a product brochure with your name written on the top of it.
"How are you paid, in one sentence - and what ongoing service does that pay for?" Then ask for the servicing commitment in writing.
"What's your decumulation offer?" If you're within ten years of retirement, this is the filter - you need an answer that makes sense.

Our View: Ask these at your next review - and if you can't remember your last review, that's your answer to a fifth question you didn't need to ask.

MoneyHub Founder Christopher Walsh shares his view:
"I've spent years reviewing just about every financial product and service in New Zealand, and the emails MoneyHub receives about advisers follow a pattern - plenty of contact before the sale, near silence after it, and then a sudden reappearance when there's a new product to move to or the client threatens to leave the adviser. That's distribution, not advice.

The best advisers I've come across do the opposite. They ask more questions than they answer in the first meeting, and they put a plan in writing - one where you can see every fee in dollars, not just percentages, and where the funds are simple, diversified and cheap enough to make sense for a 20 or 30-year goal.

That last part matters more than most people realise - decades of evidence show fees are one of the few things in investing you can actually control, and one of the best predictors of the returns you'll keep - while this year's top-performing fund usually predicts nothing.

I suggest you listen carefully to the pitch. If it's 'we pick winning funds', you're being sold to. If it's 'we'll build a low-cost plan that fits your goals, and keep you invested when markets wobble', that's advice likely to be worth paying for - the real value of a good adviser is the plan and the discipline, not the forecast. And some of their best advice earns them nothing at all: pay down the mortgage, lift your KiwiSaver contributions, etc.

Good advisers exist all over New Zealand; they're not necessarily more expensive, and the FMA's reports give you the questions to find them. Be direct - the good ones will respect you for it, and the rest will select themselves out".

Christopher Walsh
MoneyHub Founder

Frequently Asked Questions

Our FAQs below cover the most common questions about the FMA's review and what it means for anyone using - or currently avoiding - a financial adviser:

Is this report about bad advisers?

Mostly, no - the FMA found licensing and competency requirements have lifted professionalism and consumer trust. The problems are structural - advice that's over-engineered for simple needs, under-delivered after the sale, and missing entirely at retirement. That's arguably better news for consumers - structural problems respond to informed customers asking pointed questions.

Do I have to accept a full financial plan if I only want one question answered?

No - the regime explicitly allows narrowly scoped advice, and the FMA is actively encouraging the industry to offer it. The adviser must ensure you understand what the advice does and doesn't cover - then it's legitimate, regulated advice on just the thing you asked about.

My adviser gets trail commission, but I haven't heard from them in years. Is that normal?

It's common - the review found only around 10% of clients engage in annual reviews - but common isn't acceptable. Ongoing commissions exist to fund ongoing service. Ask in writing what servicing you're entitled to; if the relationship is genuinely dormant, you can also ask about moving your servicing to an adviser who'll actually provide it.

Is advice delivered by AI or an app actually regulated?

If it comes from a licensed FAP through a digital advice facility, yes - the same duties, disclosure and free disputes access apply. Roughly 165,000 New Zealanders used digital advice in 2024-2025 per the report. What isn't regulated advice is generic information from unlicensed apps and websites - which is exactly why the licensed version, with its protections, matters.

Related guides:

Important: This guide is general information only and isn't financial advice. It summarises and interprets an FMA sector report; the FMA has not endorsed this guide. Always verify any adviser on the Financial Service Providers Register before engaging them.