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Exemption review - thank you for your help |
| We are grateful to those who commented on our exemption review.
Twenty-five class exemption notices which expired on 30 September 2002 have been replaced. Eleven notices were renewed for five years with substantially the same terms and conditions. Fourteen were renewed, also for five years, with new terms and conditions. A list of all the renewed class exemption notices is enclosed with this Bulletin.
Share purchase schemes with overseas issuers
A new combined exemption has been granted for employee share purchase schemes operated by overseas issuers. The Securities Act (Overseas Employee Share Purchase Schemes) Exemption Notice 2002 is intended to cover issuers from a wide range of jurisdictions.
The expiry dates of exemptions for individual jurisdictions have been
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extended to 31 March 2003. This provides a transitional regime for Australian, Canadian, United Kingdom and United States issuers who are using these exemption notices.
Current exemptions for other jurisdictions will continue in force until their expiry dates. Issuers may use either their existing notice or the new Securities Act (Overseas Employee Share Purchase Schemes) Exemption Notice 2002.
New Zealand employee share schemes
A new exemption is in place for New Zealand employee share purchase schemes, the Securities Act (Employee Share Purchase Schemes) Exemption Notice 2002. The expiry date of the 1997 exemption for these schemes has been extended until 31 March 2003 to provide a transitional regime for issuers relying on the old notice.
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Further consultation
The expiry dates of the following exemptions have been extended to allow for further consultation:
- Securities Act (Religious Organisations) Exemption Notice 1997
- Securities Act (Charitable and Other Purposes) Exemption Notice 1997
- Securities Act (Industrial and Provident Societies) Exemption Notice 1997
- Securities Act (Co-operative Dairy Companies) Exemption Notice 1997
- Securities Act (Co-operative Companies) Exemption Notice (No 2) 1997
- Securities Act (Industrial and Provident Societies) Exemption Notice 1997
These now expire on 30 November 2002 when we expect new notices to be published.
See www.legislation.govt.nz for Securities Commission Exemption Notices. This site is updated each month.
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International Involvement |
International MOU
The International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) is promoting an international Memorandum of Understanding to set standards for information sharing by regulators. It aims to facilitate investigation and prosecution of crossborder securities violations and enhance the enforcement of securities laws. The MOU will be discussed at the Executive Committee meeting this month. New Zealand is a member of the Executive Committee.
Objectives and Principles
IOSCO adopted three objectives and 30 principles of securities regulation in 1998. The three principles are:
- the protection of investors;
- ensuring that markets are fair, efficient and transparent;
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- the reduction of systemic risk.
The 30 principles are based on the objectives and can be seen at www.iosco.org.
New Zealand is on the committee set up to implement the objectives and principles. This committee's draft
methodology for Assessing Implementation of the Objectives and Principles will be presented to the IOSCO Executive Committee this month.
The Objectives and Principles are being used in the Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) conducted by the
International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
FSAP assessment of New Zealand
New Zealand is to be assessed by the FSAP during 2003. To prepare for this |
the Reserve Bank of New Zealand is co-ordinating a self-assessment exercise involving regulators, government departments and other agencies.
Money laundering and terrorism
We recently commented on a draft Methodology for Assessing Compliance with Anti-Money Laundering and Combating the Financing of Terrorism Standards. Our comments related to the section on securities.
The Methodology was prepared by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an independent body with 29 member countries, including New Zealand.
The Methodology follows publication by FATF of 40 recommendations against money laundering and eight recommendations for combating the financing of terrorism.
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Securities Commission
Level 12, Reserve Bank Building
2 The Terrace, Wellington
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