New Zealand: the Financial Markets (Regulators and KiwiSaver) Bill

The Parliamentary Commerce Committee has published its report examining the Financial Markets (Regulators and KiwiSaver) Bill and has recommended that it be passed with amendments: see here (pdf). The Bill sets out proposals to reform the structure of financial regulation in New Zealand, including the creation of a new regulator: the Financial Markets Authority (FMA).

An interesting part of the Bill is that intended to give the FMA the power to exercise a person's right to bring civil action against a financial market participant, or to take over existing proceedings, where this is considered to be in the public interest. The Commerce Committee concluded that this power should be retained although it noted that it wished to see progress on a class actions Bill.