Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013

Dealing in financial products on markets - Purposes, overview, and interpretation - Relevant interests

235: Relevant interests in financial products (basic rule)

You could also call this:

"What it means to have a say or control in a financial product"

Illustration for Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013

You have a relevant interest in a financial product if you are the registered holder of the product. You also have a relevant interest if you are the beneficial owner of the product, which means you get the benefits from it. You have a relevant interest if you can vote on decisions related to the product or control who votes.

You have a relevant interest if you can decide to buy or sell the product, or control who makes those decisions. This applies even if you can only make those decisions with someone else's help. It also applies even if there are conditions or restrictions on your power to make decisions.

If you share the power to make decisions with someone else, you are still considered to have that power. You can find more information about this by looking at the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 and similar laws, such as s 5 of 1988 No 234.

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This page was last updated on 15 July 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM4091299.

Topics:

Money and consumer rights > Banking and loansBusiness > Industry rulesBusiness > Fair trading

234: Meaning of information insider, inside information, and adviser, or

"What it means to have secret company information or be an adviser"

236: Extension of basic rule to powers or controls exercisable through trust, agreement, etc, or

"Having control through a trust or agreement is still having control"

Part 5Dealing in financial products on markets
Purposes, overview, and interpretation: Relevant interests

235Relevant interests in financial products (basic rule)

In this Act, a person has a relevant interest in a financial product if the person—
is a registered holder of the product; or
is a beneficial owner of the product; or
has the power to exercise, or to control the exercise of, a right to vote attached to the product; or
has the power to acquire or dispose of, or to control the acquisition or disposal of, the product.

Subsection (1) applies regardless of whether the power or control is express or implied, direct or indirect, legally enforceable or not, related to a particular financial product or not, exercisable presently or in the future, or exercisable alone or jointly with another person or persons (but a power to cast merely 1 of many votes is not, in itself, a joint power of this kind).
Subsection (1) applies regardless of whether or not the power or control is or can be made subject to restraint or restriction or is exercisable only on the fulfilment of a condition.
If 2 or more persons can jointly exercise a power, each of those persons is taken to have the power.

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1988 No 234 s 5