Advice Compliance Lead

Company Overview

NZ Financial Services Group has over two decades of experience in mortgage and insurance distribution, combining a team of more than 1,000 advisers across New Zealand who deliver home loan, insurance, and financial services. Operating under a Financial Advice Provider (FAP) licence, the group is dedicated to ensuring consistent, positive outcomes for clients and fostering sustainable adviser businesses.

Role Overview

The Advice Compliance Lead plays a crucial role by providing expert technical guidance and overseeing daily compliance operations within NZFSG's adviser and authorised body network. This role involves examining conduct issues, managing complaint processes, and ensuring effective corrective actions. The ideal candidate must possess practical knowledge of New Zealand's financial advice regulations along with sound regulatory judgment to implement compliance frameworks effectively and determine proportionate responses.

Key Responsibilities

• Oversee the enforcement of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 (FMCA), FAP licence conditions, Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services, and disclosure mandates within the adviser network.
• Maintain high adviser compliance standards, develop guidance tools and procedures, and provide practical advice regarding disclosures, conflict of interest, referral relationships, remuneration structures, and scope of advice.
• Evaluate regulatory and partner demands including Conduct of Financial Institutions (CoFI) requirements and execute agreed adaptations.
• Offer compliance insights for adviser propositions, distribution strategies, and customer communications.
• Assess compliance concerns arising from various monitoring activities and investigations; conduct thorough investigations and determine corrective or escalation actions.
• Collaborate with Distribution and Operations teams to resolve compliance issues throughout the advice cycle and adviser business changes.
• Investigate adviser conduct breaches, determine customer impact and causes, recommend breach assessments and escalate when necessary.
• Define corrective actions, designate responsible parties, set deadlines, and track resolution progress ensuring compliance remediation is verified.
• Manage all complaint phases including receipt, investigation, resolution, and closure, ensuring fairness, timeliness, and proper documentation.
• Communicate effectively with customers and advisers, coordinate with external dispute resolution bodies, and escalate critical complaints as needed.
• Maintain comprehensive complaint records, analyze trends and root causes, drive corrective actions, and report on complaint outcomes and emerging issues.
• Translate regulatory requirements and emerging matters into accessible, practical guidance for both advisers and internal teams.
• Identify compliance-related learning needs, contribute expert content to training programs, and refer individual capability gaps to the Adviser Coach for remediation.
• Support reporting on compliance issues, complaints, conduct problems, and remediation efforts, including providing clear interpretations and recommendations.
• Participate in thematic reviews, regulatory inquiries, audits, and governance reporting with technical expertise.
• Leverage AI tools to enhance compliance analysis, reporting, and processes, applying professional judgment and ensuring data privacy and accuracy.
• Continuously improve compliance systems and controls to maintain proportionality, practicality, and scalability.
• Manage routine compliance matters and escalate material breaches, regulatory notifications, significant harm, or adviser restrictions to the Head of Compliance.

Required Experience and Skills

• Proven experience in compliance management within a licensed New Zealand FAP, including oversight of external advisers.
• Experience in investigating complaints and conduct issues, evaluating customer impacts, and handling remediation.
• Preferably experienced in mortgage or insurance advice, authorised body oversight, external dispute resolution, or FMA inquiries.
• In-depth knowledge of FMCA financial advice requirements, FAP licence conditions, the Code of Professional Conduct, disclosure obligations, and CoFI's application to distribution.
• Strong relationship management skills enabling trust-building and credibility with advisers, authorised body principals, and internal teams while handling challenging situations.
• Sound regulatory judgment to evaluate issues, determine proportional responses and know when escalation is necessary.
• Experience utilizing AI tools to enhance professional work quality and efficiency, with the ability to critically assess outputs and uphold confidentiality and data handling standards.
• Capability to apply, maintain, and enhance compliance frameworks while offering clear, actionable guidance.
• Strong investigative, communication, and constructively challenging skills.

Qualifications

A relevant qualification in financial services, compliance, law, or related fields is preferred; equivalent practical experience will be considered.

Key Collaborations

• Head of Compliance and Risk & Compliance teams
• Distribution and Operations departments
• Advisers and authorised body principals
• Lender and insurer partners
• External dispute resolution agencies

Success Metrics

• Timely identification, assessment, and escalation of compliance concerns.
• Fair and timely complaint handling meeting standards and requirements.
• Effective remediation with verification that recurring compliance issues decline.
• Provision of accurate and practical guidance to advisers and internal stakeholders.
• Comprehensive reporting supporting prompt decision-making on customer harm and distribution risks.
• Compliance controls enabling growth without imposing excessive administrative workload.

Additional Information

The role may include other responsibilities that reasonably fall within its scope.