Late last month, Commerce Minister Margaret Wilson announced that the government was setting up a task force to look at ways of regulating financial intermediaries.
"Regulation isn’t a matter of if, but when," Berry told last week’s NZMBA annual conference.
Since the government’s only interest is in protecting consumers, the NZMBA has to be able to assure it that it has the appropriate processes in place to do that, Berry said.
As part of that, the NZMBA has developed a template for disclosure, including a personal disclosure statement, which is intended to become compulsory for all members, he said.
The NZMBA is working on empowering inter-lender and inter-broker communication, particularly the sharing of information relating to potential breaches of ethics and standards, he said.
"The inability to communicate has been the nemesis of the industry to date."
Any regulatory framework will have to provide "a robust system to deal with complaints," Berry said, adding that ethical brokers have nothing to fear from greater regulation.
The NZMBA should support any resulting legislation, "provided it’s simple and doesn’t create an administrative nightmare."
