Ann: GENERAL: NZX: NZX General Obligations Review

• Release Date: 30/06/14 09:11
• Summary: GENERAL: NZX: NZX General Obligations Review
• Price Sensitive: No
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					NZX
30/06/2014 09:11
GENERAL

REL: 0911 HRS NZX Limited

GENERAL: NZX: NZX General Obligations Review

NZX welcomes the Financial Markets Authority's (FMA) third annual General
Obligations Review, released today, which concluded that during the 2013
review period NZX complied with all of its statutory obligations.

Annually FMA assesses and reports on NZX's compliance with its obligations
under the Securities Markets Act and the Authorised Futures Exchange (NZX
Limited) Notice. FMA concludes that in 2013 NZX met its obligations to ensure
that each of our registered markets and the derivatives market were fair,
orderly and transparent.

NZX has made significant investment in and improvements to its operational
and regulatory functions in the past two years, including the establishment
by the NZX Board of a Regulatory Governance Committee in mid-2013 to assist
the Board in fulfilling its governance responsibilities relating to NZX's
regulatory function.

NZX also put in place further improvements to the structure of the regulation
team including the creation of a new Head of Market Supervision role, which
reflects a split of the current Head of Regulation role in two. The new role
will report directly to NZX's Board, and has responsibility for NZX's
regulation of Issuers and Market Participants. This addition of another
senior resource to the regulation team reflects NZX's continued investment in
this area.

NZX CEO Tim Bennett commented: "Maintaining trust in the integrity of the
markets we operate is core to NZX. We continue to make investments in this
area in response to changes in the market to ensure we run well-regulated,
fair, orderly and transparent markets. It is also critical in a vibrant
market environment where we are seeing a record number of new listings and
renewed interest in the market from retail investors and the public, that we
clearly communicate to investors how NZX and FMA regulates the markets."

For the first time in the annual review process, NZX and FMA this year have
agreed a set of actions to make further improvements in NZX's operation of
the markets, to ensure confidence is maintained in a changing market
environment.

These agreed actions, which are underway, include:

- Establishing a Conflicts Committee of the Board to oversee NZX's
arrangements for managing conflicts, and revising the process for regulatory
decision-making in circumstances where conflicts may arise or there could be
a significant market impact
- Expanding the scope and membership of the Board's Regulatory Governance
Committee to include reviewing regulatory policy changes and appointing
independent members
- Improving communication with complainants and the public to ensure they are
aware of the progress of complaints, and clearly understand NZX's conflict
management arrangements and regulatory processes

"We have developed a positive and robust working relationship with FMA and
look forward to continuing to work together to run well regulated markets
that continue to strengthen the public's confidence in New Zealand's
financial markets," Bennett said

For further information please contact:
Kate McLaughlin
Corporate Communications
M: 027 533 4529
E: [email protected]
End CA:00252203 For:NZX    Type:GENERAL    Time:2014-06-30 09:11:02