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Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013

Disclosure of offers of financial products - Procedure for making regulated offers - Content and presentation of product disclosure statements and register entries

59: Meaning of material information in this Part

You could also call this:

"What 'material information' means when buying financial products"

When you read about a regulated offer, you might see the term material information. This means information that a reasonable person would think is important when deciding whether to buy a financial product. You would expect this information to influence your decision to buy the product. The information must be about the specific financial product on offer or the company selling it, not just about financial products in general.

This material information does not include details about a financial product that have been tailored for a specific investor. It also does not include information about a particular investor. You can find more details about what is included in the regulations, but generally, material information is what you would want to know when making a decision about buying a financial product.

You should be aware that some information might not be considered material information, even if it seems important. For example, if you are negotiating custom terms for a financial product, those specific terms might not be considered material information for the overall offer.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM4090997.

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58: Register entry not required in prescribed circumstances, or

"Some offers don't need to be listed on the register in certain situations."

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"Getting permission from experts before using their statements in important documents"

Part 3Disclosure of offers of financial products
Procedure for making regulated offers: Content and presentation of product disclosure statements and register entries

59Meaning of material information in this Part

  1. In this Part, material information, in relation to a regulated offer, means information that—

  2. a reasonable person would expect to, or to be likely to, influence persons who commonly invest in financial products in deciding whether to acquire the financial products on offer; and
    1. relates to the particular financial products on offer or the particular issuer, rather than to financial products generally or issuers generally.

      1. However, material information does not include—

      2. information about the specific terms of a financial product that have been customised for a particular investor; or
        1. information about an identifiable investor.

            1. Example

            A derivatives issuer makes an offer of a particular type of swap agreement to retail investors.

            These derivatives involve some standard or generic terms. They also involve customised terms that are negotiated with the particular retail investor (for example, terms relating to particular dates or amounts).

            The material information for the regulated offer as a whole does not include specific information about the customised terms that apply to a particular investor. This does not prevent the regulations requiring the PDS or register entry to contain a description of the kinds of customised terms that may be negotiated.