A piece of legislation called the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering of Financing Terrorism Act (phew!) places greater demands on banks, finance companies, insurers and financial advisers to increase customer due diligence and monitoring of suspicious transactions.
The purpose of the Act is to help detect and deter money laundering (making illegally obtained funds appear to be legitimate), maintain New Zealand’s international reputation and contribute to public confidence in the financial system.
So what does this mean for me?
Put simply, whenever you apply for a new financial service or product, or change an existing product – you will probably be asked to provide confirmation of your identification (usually a current passport on its own or drivers licence supported by another form of identification).
In some situations you may also need to provide confirmation of your residential address, bank account and additional supporting information. Some documents will also need to be ‘certified’ copies, witnessed by your solicitor, JP or other person as specified by the product provider.
If any of this additional information is requested from you, please have these documents available as soon as possible to allow for the processing of your request in a timely manner.
Please contact us if you have any questions about these changes.