Stewart first in region to get licence

Stewart Financial Group is the first Hawke's Bay owned business to be awarded a Discretionary Investment Management Services (DIMS) licence.

Stewart Financial Group is the first Hawke's Bay owned and operated financial advisory business to be awarded a Discretionary Investment Management Services (DIMS) licence.

The licence is part of the Government's tightening regulation of the industry, aimed at protecting investors who have given investment decision-making discretion to a provider. It came into force on June 1 under the Financial Markets Conduct Act, which allows only DIMS-licensed advisers to trade on behalf of their clients without sign-off.

Stewart authorised financial adviser Glen Trillo said under the act DIMS-licensed advisers were making investment decisions - trustees were seen as having outsourced the function to an expert.

"This is particularly important in a region like Hawke's Bay, which has one of the largest number of trusts per capita of any region."

Dealing with a non-DIMS provider exposed independent trustees to a higher level of due-diligence risk, he said.

The licence comes with regular auditing, a process Stewart Group receives more than most after becoming one of eight New Zealand firms to achieve CEFEX accreditation in July. The Toronto-based Centre for Fiduciary Excellence is a global standards and certification agency which runs regular auditing processes to ensure that correct investment stewardship processes are being followed by any company it certifies.

The DIMS licence also requires ongoing assessment, with a yearly audit from the Financial Markets Authority.