Following lobbying on behalf of, and alongside, our members it is with great delight that the FMA have extended in principle the current exemption scheme for a further 5-year period.
We are also pleased to see that scheme has been broadened to cover and benefit a larger range of New Zealand’s member-owned businesses. This was one of the key points we lobbied on. We will continue to work alongside our members to ensure further consideration goes into the scheme so that it is extended and becomes a permeant fixture.
The following provides a high-level summary from the FMA, following the announcement.
After considering all of the submissions, we have made an in principle decision to extend relief for a further 5-year period on the following terms:
- continuing the ability for irrigation companies to use the same tailored Product Disclosure Statement relief as registered co-operative companies.
- increasing the small aggregate investment threshold from $5,000 to $10,000 (which exempts from certain disclosure, governance, and FMC financial reporting obligations)
- increasing the low revenue investment threshold from $2 million to $5 million (which exempts from FMC financial reporting obligations).
This information has also been published on our website.
We also acknowledge submitters’ concerns about the burden of financial markets obligations on irrigation schemes as a class of entities. We plan to raise this with the Ministry of Business, Innovation, and Employment to consider further outside of this review.
For completeness, we emphasise that the existing notices and thresholds specified in them continue in force until new exemptions are formally granted and entities cannot rely on the proposals above.
