What is the FSPR? How to Use the Financial Service Providers Register

The Financial Service Providers Register (FSPR) is the official New Zealand register of everyone who is legally allowed to provide financial services to the public. It is maintained by the Companies Office and is the first place to check before you trust anyone with your money or financial decisions. If a person or firm is not on the FSPR, they cannot legally call themselves a financial adviser in New Zealand.

This guide explains exactly what the FSPR is, what its entries actually mean, how it differs from the FMA, and how to use it to verify any NZ adviser in under two minutes.

What the FSPR actually is

The Financial Service Providers Register was created under the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008. It is hosted by the New Zealand Companies Office (part of MBIE) at fsp-register.companiesoffice.govt.nz.

Every person or firm that provides any of the regulated financial services listed in that Act must be on the register. The register is searchable, public, and free to use.

It exists for one specific reason: so a New Zealand consumer can answer the question *"is this person legally allowed to give me financial advice?"* without having to ask the adviser to prove it themselves.

What an FSPR entry tells you

When you look up a person or firm on the FSPR, you can see:

FSP number — the unique ID for the registrant (e.g. FSP12345). This is the stable identifier that does not change even if the firm renames.
Legal name and any trading names — the formal entity name and any brands they trade under.
Registration status — Registered / Suspended / Deregistered / Refused. Only entries showing *Registered* are currently legally allowed to operate.
Registration date — when they first joined the register. Useful for tenure context.
Annual confirmation date — registrants must reconfirm each year. A current confirmation means the entry is being actively maintained.
Financial services they are authorised to provide — e.g. *financial advice service*, *broking services*, *credit contracts*, *foreign exchange*. The list is precise — an adviser registered only for *broking services* is not authorised to give investment advice.
The dispute resolution scheme they belong to — one of FSCL, IFSO, FDR, or FDRS. This is the body you complain to if something goes wrong.
Their Financial Advice Provider (FAP) parent — if they are an adviser working under a licensed FAP, their FAP name and FSP number are linked.

What the FSPR does NOT tell you

The register is a record of legal eligibility. It is not a quality rating. An FSPR entry tells you the person is allowed to operate — it does not tell you:

Whether they are good at their job
Whether they are right for your specific situation
How much they charge
What products they recommend or distribute
Their professional qualifications beyond licence type
Their performance track record
Whether other clients are happy with them

For all of that, you need to read their Public Disclosure Statement (see our separate guide on how to read an NZ adviser disclosure statement) and check Google reviews, professional body memberships, and references.

FSPR vs FMA — the difference that confuses many people

These two things are commonly conflated, including in marketing copy you may see from advisers. They are not the same:

FSPRFMAWhat it isA register (a list of who is allowed to operate)A regulator (the body that supervises behaviour)Run byCompanies Office / MBIEIndependent Crown agencyFounded20082011Websitefsp-register.companiesoffice.govt.nz fma.govt.nzQuestion it answers*Is this person legally allowed to provide financial services?**Is this person following the rules?*

A useful analogy: the FSPR is the licence plate database — the FMA is the police. An FSPR entry is necessary to operate but does not by itself prove the operator is currently doing the right thing.

The correct phrase to use when describing an adviser found on the FSPR is "FSPR-registered" — not "FMA-registered" (which is not a thing) and not "FMA-licensed" (an adviser is not licensed by the FMA, though their FAP firm may be).

How to look someone up in 90 seconds

The FSPR search works by name, FSP number, or trading name. Step by step:

Go to fsp-register.companiesoffice.govt.nz and click Search.
Enter the adviser's full name, their firm's name, or their FSP number if you have it. Use the name they gave you exactly — variations matter.
Click through to their entry. Verify:

- Status shows *Registered* (not Suspended, Deregistered, or Refused). - Annual confirmation date is recent (within the last 12 months). - Financial services include the type of advice you actually want — *financial advice service* is the general category for KiwiSaver, investment, insurance, and mortgage planning. - Dispute resolution scheme is named. If you ever need to complain, this is where the complaint goes.

If they are a financial adviser working under a FAP, note the FAP FSP number too. You can look up the FAP separately to see who governs their conduct, what the complaints history looks like, and what products the FAP distributes.

If the search returns *no result* for someone who has told you they are a financial adviser in New Zealand, do not engage them. The Financial Markets Authority encourages reporting people who hold themselves out as financial advisers without being registered — see their warnings and alerts page.

What the registration categories mean

The FSPR lists each registrant against one or more financial service codes. The ones that most consumers will encounter:

Financial advice service (FAS) — the main category for personal financial advice. Within this you may see:

- *Financial Advice Provider (FAP) — Licensed* — the firm holds a full licence to provide regulated financial advice - *Financial Advice Provider — Transitional licensed* — an interim status during the 2021-2023 regulatory reset; should now be Licensed - *Financial adviser (FA)* — an individual adviser working under a licensed FAP

Broking services — handling client money or assets in the course of providing financial services
Custodial services — holding client assets in trust
Credit contracts — consumer or commercial lending arrangements
Money or value transfer — sending or receiving funds across borders
Foreign exchange — currency conversion services

An adviser whose only service code is *broking services* is not authorised to give financial advice. An adviser whose only code is *credit contracts (consumer)* is a credit provider, not a financial planner.

When the FSPR entry contradicts what an adviser told you

If the FSPR says one thing and the adviser told you something different, trust the register. Common red flags worth investigating before proceeding:

They told you they are FMA-licensed but the FSPR shows them only as registered (registration is not the same as a licence)
They told you they can give investment advice but their registered services do not include *financial advice service*
Their registration status is *Suspended* or has a recent *Refused* note — both are serious signals
They have no listed dispute resolution scheme membership — every legitimate adviser must belong to one of FSCL, IFSO, FDR, or FDRS

What FinanceAdvisersNZ does with FSPR data

FA-NZ is a directory mirror of the FSPR. We are not a regulator and we do not vet, verify, or endorse individual advisers — we publish the public-register data in a more searchable, more cross-referenced format than the raw register provides. Every adviser profile on FA-NZ links back to the canonical FSPR entry so you can confirm the current state for yourself.

The authoritative source for *current* registration status is always the FSPR itself at the link above. FA-NZ updates from the register monthly; the register itself can change between our updates. Where the two ever disagree, the FSPR is correct.

Summary

The FSPR is the legal register of New Zealand financial-service providers — it answers *"are they allowed?"*, not *"are they any good?"*
It is run by the Companies Office under the FSP Act 2008, free to search, public
The correct phrase is FSPR-registered, not *FMA-registered* — the FMA is the regulator, not the registry
Look up any adviser before engaging them: confirm Status, Annual Confirmation Date, the services they are authorised for, and their dispute resolution scheme
After the FSPR check, read the adviser's Public Disclosure Statement for the qualitative detail the register cannot provide

Sources used in this guide:

Disclaimer. This guide is general information about the FSPR and how to use it. It is not financial advice. FinanceAdvisersNZ is not a Financial Advice Provider and does not provide regulated financial advice. For decisions about your money, consult an FSPR-registered financial adviser whose registered services match your needs.