Uncertainty reigns over the number of brokers and financial advisers that have registered for NZ’s Financial Service Provider Register (FSPR).

Brokers and advisers have until March 31 to register, but due to the various layers of registration it is making it hard to see if people will meet the deadline.

Insurance Brokers Association of New Zealand CEO Gary Young told insuranceNEWS.com.au today the number of brokers who have registered is not yet known.

The new regulations have a three-tier system with Authorised Financial Advisers (AFAs), Registered Advisers (RAs) and Qualified Financial Entities (QFEs).

Brokers need to be registered as RAs, as they don’t give investment advice – the measure for registering as an AFA.

The problem of who needs to be registered is compounded by the registration of QFEs covering all brokers and advisers employed within the company.

Unlike its Australian counterpart, the NZ register does not list the advisers registered to a QFE on the website, making it impossible to see the number of brokers and advisers registered under this layer.

Institute of Financial Advisers President Nigel Tate told insuranceNEWS.com.au 200 advisers have registered as AFAs and another 400 applications have been submitted by its members.

“We have estimated that there are about 5000 people who should be registered, but we don’t know whether they are registered as AFAs or RAs,” he said.

“We have been trying to get our members to move from the RA status to AFA by taking the extra exams, and we did obtain relief for 99% of our certified financial planners because of their higher education standards.”

The Government had believed there were between 10,000 and 15,000 advisers in NZ, but after they removed accountants and solicitors the number dropped to about 5000, Mr Tate says.

While the IFA supports the Government’s moves to register advisers, it is not happy with life insurance being treated as “simple products”, and as a result those advisers only need to register as RAs.