NZFMA Dealer Accreditation study plan

Map the FMA licensing pathway for a dealer firm: market services licence categories, the application and 'fit and proper' assessment, and the conditions typically imposed, writing a one-page diagram from memory.

Summarise the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013's structure - its purposes, the role of regulations and FMA guidance, and how the fair dealing provisions sit within it - into a personal glossary of 25 defined terms.

Explain to a study partner (or record yourself) the difference between the fair dealing prohibitions on misleading or deceptive conduct, false or misleading representations, and unsubstantiated representations, with one original example of each.

List the core obligations that attach to a licensed dealer: governance, capability, record keeping, client money and reporting, and note which regulator or body enforces each.

Draft a table linking each licence condition to the operational policy a firm would need to evidence compliance.

Work through the fair dealing provisions applied to real scenarios: advertising, social media posts, product comparisons and verbal advice, deciding for each whether conduct breaches the Act and why.

Draft a compliant client-facing disclosure document (terms, fees, conflicts, risks) for a hypothetical dealer, checking every claim is substantiated and balanced.

Identify the disclosure obligations that apply at different points of the client relationship - pre-service, onboarding, ongoing and on material change - and build a timeline.

Distinguish disclosure requirements from advertising standards, and note where FMA guidance adds expectations beyond the statutory minimum.

Write five original multiple-choice questions on fair dealing and disclosure, with explanations of why each distractor is wrong.

Outline the AML/CFT Act obligations for a dealer: risk assessment, customer due diligence (standard, simplified, enhanced), ongoing monitoring, suspicious activity reporting and record retention periods.

Build a customer risk-rating matrix with at least six factors (jurisdiction, product, channel, PEP status, source of funds, entity structure) and assign scoring thresholds.

Draft a client onboarding pack: identity verification checklist for individuals and entities, beneficial ownership identification, and source-of-wealth evidence requirements.

Write three original scenarios (a PEP, a complex trust, a cash-intensive business) and state the CDD level, evidence required and escalation path for each.

Explain the relationship between FMCA conduct obligations and AML/CFT obligations where they overlap at onboarding.

Map the order lifecycle from client instruction to settlement, identifying at each stage the record, confirmation and disclosure obligation that attaches.

Explain best execution and order handling duties: client order priority, aggregation and allocation, handling of conflicts between firm and client orders, and error trade policy.

Draft an order handling procedure covering instruction capture, pre-trade checks, allocation methodology and trade confirmation content.

Describe trade reporting obligations and timelines, and identify what must be reported, to whom, and within what period.

Work through five original order-handling scenarios (partial fill, aggregated order, late allocation, client error, firm error) and write the correct handling and record for each.

Define the record-keeping obligations that apply to a licensed dealer: what records, in what form, for how long, and who can access them.

Design a reconciliation process: frequency, client money and client asset reconciliation, break investigation, escalation and sign-off.

Build an audit trail specification for a client instruction, listing every data point that must be captured and retained.

Identify the record-keeping failures that most commonly lead to regulatory action and write a preventive control for each.

Draft a records retention schedule covering client files, orders, communications, complaints and AML records, with statutory retention periods noted.

Design a complaints handling process end to end: intake, acknowledgement, investigation, response, internal review and referral to an approved dispute resolution scheme, with timeframes.

Explain the role and jurisdiction of the dispute resolution scheme available to retail clients of a dealer, and the point at which a complaint must be referred.

Draft a breach reporting procedure: identification, assessment and escalation, notifiable breach criteria, reporting to the FMA, remediation and record keeping.

Write three original breach scenarios (a systems outage, a misstated fee, a late client money transfer) and decide for each whether it is notifiable and why.

Explain how complaint and breach data should feed back into compliance monitoring and training.

Map the conflicts of interest that arise in a dealer business (remuneration, proprietary trading, order allocation, gifts and entertainment, outside interests) and design a control for each.

Explain the conduct expectations around inducements, personal account dealing and the prioritisation of client interests.

Apply an ethical decision framework to four original dilemmas (a large client pressuring for a skipped CDD step, a colleague front-running, an undisclosed referral fee, a complaint the firm would prefer not to escalate) and write the correct course of action.

Describe how a firm's code of conduct, training and whistleblowing arrangements support ethical behaviour in practice.

Link complaints and breach lessons from week 6 to conflicts management, identifying at least three systemic control improvements.

Complete two full-length timed practice exams under exam conditions and review every incorrect answer to its source obligation.

Re-test weak areas identified by practice scores by rewriting the relevant summary page from memory and comparing it to the original.

Recite from memory the key numbers: retention periods, reporting timeframes, CDD escalation thresholds, complaint timeframes and dispute scheme referral points.

Practise answering scenario questions in structured form: identify the obligation, apply it to the facts, state the action and the record required.

Assemble a one-page pre-exam summary sheet covering all eight domains and confirm each domain's key obligations appear at least once.