Crowd funding gets green light

Commerce Minister Craig Foss today announced Cabinet has approved regulations for crowd funding and peer-to-peer lending as part of the Government’s financial market overhaul.

Mr Foss has announced that there will be no investor caps for equity crowd-funding, other than the previously announced $2 million cap that a company can raise through crowd funding each year.

“Crowd funding provides a platform where contributors receive shares in the businesses they invest in, providing a new avenue for early-stage and growth companies to source the risk-capital they need to grow,” says Mr Foss.

Under the new regulations, offers engaging in equity crowd funding and peer-to-peer lending will no longer need to prepare a prospectus or an investment statement before fund raising from the public.

“This is an exciting development for both start-up businesses and investors. With the regulations coming into force on 1 April, New Zealand will lead the Asia-Pacific region is the development of crowd-funding regulation.

“Crowd-funding is one of several changes the Government is making to support confident and informed participation in New Zealand’s financial markets.

“Implementing the Financial Markets Conduct Act is a key component of the Government’s Business Growth Agenda to build New Zealand’s capital markets and drive business growth, exports and jobs,” says Mr Foss. 

For more information on the Financial Markets Conduct Act implementation, visit www.fma.govt.nz/keep-updated/the-future-of-financial-markets.