The number of licensed discretionary investment management service (DIMS) providers will exceed 50, according to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA).
While 50 entities were already licensed as DIMS operators a further two applications were “in the pipeline” post the November 30 deadline, an FMA spokesman said.
In June the regulator said it had received only 44 DIMS licence applications by the original May 31 deadline set for processing in readiness for the December 1 cut-off point.
All firms wishing to offer ‘class’ DIMS after November 30 this year were required to be licensed under the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC).
The DIMS rules were introduced to provide a regulatory framework around the previously under-the-radar sector while also reducing the number of entities– particularly authorised financial advisers (AFAs) – who offered the service.
According to a Treasury analysis published last year, 1,228 AFAs were permitted to offer DIMS under their authorisation conditions, although FMA research indicated only about 560 actually provided the service.
A further seven financial advisory firms and one major bank (Westpac) have joined the official DIMS list since Investment News NZ reported the last of the three biggest brokerage firms, First NZ Capital, was licensed late in November.
