Legislative reform is set with the introduction of the Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (the Bill). The objective of the Bill is to maintain the effectiveness and efficiency of the regulatory systems established by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. The Bill will amend 17 Acts which administer the following regulatory sectors:
- building and housing;
- commerce and consumer affairs;
- communications; and
- energy resources.
To list a few, the Bill proposes to amend the Companies Act 1993 by removing the requirement for large companies with no subsidiaries to prepare entity financial statements if it is a subsidiary of a body corporate registered in New Zealand that is required to prepare group financial statements, as well as removing the requirement for listed companies to notify shareholders of financial assistance given to shareholders to acquire shares.
The Bill will also amend the Building Societies Act 1965, removing the requirement for building societies to sign annual returns, hence bringing the annual returns process for building societies in line with the Companies Act.
The Bill also proposes to give the Registrar of Financial Service Providers under the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008 the power to initiate deregistration of a financial service provider if the financial service provider is not a member of an approved dispute resolution scheme.