New Zealand Financial Markets Authority censures Opes for record-keeping, conflicts and client-understanding failures under its financial advice provider licence

The New Zealand Financial Markets Authority has censured and publicly named Opes Group Holding Company Limited for failing to meet several obligations under its financial advice provider (FAP) licence, citing weaknesses in record keeping, client understanding, conflicts of interest management and oversight of advisers. No actual client harm was identified, but the FMA said the contraventions had the potential to increase the risk of detriment to customer outcomes. The review found client documentation was completed and stored inconsistently and was not efficiently accessible, breaching Standard Condition 1 and making it harder for the FMA to verify compliance with other requirements. Opes was also found to have fallen short of the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services by not taking reasonable steps to ensure clients understood the advice, particularly where clients did not progress through Opes’ full process and may not have received further risk disclosures. Given Opes’ vertically integrated model spanning property sales, investment planning, mortgage advice, accounting and property management, the FMA concluded its policies and processes were insufficient to ensure conflicts were identified, disclosed and managed, and it had not taken all reasonable steps under section 431Q of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 to ensure advice given through its authorised bodies complied with the Act’s financial advice requirements. Opes cooperated with the review, acknowledged its compliance framework had not kept pace with rapid growth, and provided a voluntary remediation plan that the FMA considers would support ongoing compliance if fully implemented.