Advice Compliance Lead

NZ Financial Services Group; Auckland; On-site; NZD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

NZ Financial Services Group is seeking an experienced Compliance Lead to manage day-to-day NZFSG compliance across adviser networks. You will oversee investigations of conduct concerns, complaints handling, and remediation, applying NZ financial advice rules to protect customers and support compliant growth.

The role partners with the Head of Compliance and teams across Compliance, Distribution and Operations to continuously improve frameworks and practical guidance for advisers.

Qualifications

• Experience in a licensed NZ FAP compliance environment.
• Experience investigating complaints and conduct concerns with customer impact.
• Mortgage or insurance advice experience desirable.

Responsibilities

• Oversee FMCA compliance across the adviser network.
• Investigate complaints and conduct concerns, determine remediation.
• Provide practical guidance on disclosures and conflicts of interest.

Skills

FMCA knowledge

Regulatory judgement

Relationship management

Investigative skills

AI tools experience

Communication skills

Education

Financial services qualification

Tools

CRM systems

Compliance software

Job description

With more than 20 years in mortgage and insurance distribution, NZ Financial Services Group brings together over 1,000 advisers providing home loan, insurance and related financial services across New Zealand.

We operate under a Financial Advice Provider (FAP) licence and are committed to consistently delivering good customer outcomes while enabling sustainable adviser businesses.

The Role

The role provides technical expertise and manages day-to-day compliance across NZFSG's adviser and authorised body network. This includes investigating conduct concerns, managing complaints and ensuring effective remediation.

The role requires practical experience of New Zealand's financial advice regime and sound regulatory judgement to apply NZFSG's compliance frameworks, assess issues and determine proportionate responses.

Working closely with the Head of Compliance and colleagues across Compliance, Distribution and Operations, the role continuously improves our compliance frameworks and practices to support good customer outcomes and compliant growth.

Distribution Compliance

• Manage the practical application of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 (FMCA), FAP licence conditions, the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services and disclosure requirements across the adviser network.
• Maintain adviser compliance standards, guidance, tools and procedures; provide practical advice on disclosures, conflicts, referral arrangements, remuneration and scope of advice.
• Assess regulatory and partner requirements affecting distribution, including relevant Conduct of Financial Institutions (CoFI) expectations, and implement agreed changes.
• Provide compliance input into adviser propositions, distribution arrangements and customer communications.

Adviser and Authorised Body Oversight

• Assess compliance concerns arising from Advice Assurance findings, complaints, monitoring and referrals from colleagues and lenders; investigate where required and determine appropriate corrective action or escalation.
• Work with Distribution and Operations to address compliance issues arising during the advice cycle, changes to adviser businesses and ongoing network activity. Conduct Investigations and Remediation
• Investigate adviser conduct concerns and potential breaches, establishing the facts customer impact and underlying causes; recommend breach assessments and escalation to the Head of Compliance.
• Establish corrective actions, owners, deadlines and evidence required for closure; track delivery and verify that compliance issues have been addressed effectively.
• Escalate material concerns, overdue actions and unresolved customer harm promptly.

Complaints Management

• Manage complaints from receipt through investigation, resolution and closure within agreed authorities, with fair, timely and well-documented handling.
• Communicate clearly with customers and advisers; coordinate external dispute resolution matters and elevate significant complaints.
• Maintain reliable complaint records, analyse themes and root causes, drive corrective action and report on outcomes, ageing and emerging concerns.

Compliance Guidance and Adviser Learning

• Translate regulatory requirements and emerging issues into practical guidance for advisers and internal teams.
• Identify compliance learning needs, provide technically accurate content and specialist input to the Adviser Coach and relevant training colleagues.
• Refer individual capability gaps to the Adviser Coach with clear compliance outcomes and remediation requirements.

The Adviser Coach owns coaching delivery, professional development plans and assessment of adviser capability improvement. The Distribution Compliance Lead owns the compliance issue, corrective action requirements and verification of compliance closure.

Reporting and Improvement

• Provide concise reporting on distribution compliance, complaints, conduct issues and remediation, explaining implications and recommended decisions.
• Contribute technical expertise to thematic reviews, regulatory enquiries, audits and governance reporting.
• Use AI tools to improve compliance analysis, reporting and processes, applying professional judgement and verifying outputs
• Improve compliance processes and controls so they remain proportionate, practical and scalable.

Decision Making and Escalation

Manage routine compliance matters and complaints within agreed delegations. Escalate material breaches, regulatory notification recommendations, significant customer harm and proposed adviser restrictions or termination to the Head of Compliance, who retains overall functional leadership and significant compliance decisions.

Experience

• Demonstrated experience managing compliance within a licensed New Zealand FAP, including oversight of external advisers.
• Experience investigating complaints and conduct concerns, assessing customer impact and managing remediation.
• Experience in mortgage or insurance advice (desirable), authorised body oversight, external dispute resolution or FMA enquiries is desirable.

Knowledge and Skills

• Strong working knowledge of FMCA financial advice requirements, FAP licence conditions, the Code of Professional Conduct and disclosure obligations, with an understanding of CoFI's relevance to distribution.
• Strong relationship management skills, with the ability to build trust and credibility with advisers, authorised body principals and internal teams, work through difficult issues and maintain clear compliance expectations.
• Sound regulatory judgement to assess issues, determine proportionate responses and recognise when escalation is required.
• Demonstrated experience using AI tools to improve the quality and efficiency of professional work, with the ability to assess outputs critically and apply appropriate confidentiality and data-handling practices.
• Ability to apply and improve compliance frameworks and provide clear, practical guidance.
• Strong investigative and communication skills, including confidence to challenge advisers and colleagues constructively.

Qualifications

• A relevant qualification in financial services, compliance, law or a related discipline is desirable. Equivalent practical experience will be considered.

Key Relationships

• Head of Compliance and the Risk & Compliance
• Distribution and Operations teams;
• advisers and authorised body principals;
• lender and insurer partners;
• External dispute resolution schemes.

Measures of Success

• Compliance concerns are identified, assessed and escalated promptly.
• Complaints are handled fairly, within applicable requirements and agreed service standards.
• Remediation is completed with evidence that underlying issues have been addressed; repeat compliance issues reduce.
• Advisers and internal teams receive accurate, usable guidance.
• Reporting enables timely decisions on customer harm and distribution risk.
• Compliance controls support growth without unnecessary administrative burden.
• Additional duties may be undertaken where reasonably within the scope of the role.