Can I get KiwiSaver advice over Zoom anywhere in New Zealand?
Yes. KiwiSaver advice can legally be given over Zoom anywhere in New Zealand, by a financial adviser on the Financial Service Providers Register working under a Financial Advice Provider licence. Solid Steele KiwiSaver Advice meets both requirements.
Solid Steele Advice Limited holds a Financial Advice Provider licence issued by the Financial Markets Authority and is registered as FSP1010211. Cameron Steele is a financial adviser registered as FSP1010212, giving advice under that licence. Both numbers are public, and you can check them yourself using the steps below.
Most people asking this want to know two things: whether advice over a screen is allowed at all, and how to tell that the person on the other end is properly authorised. This page answers both, then walks through what a Zoom session actually involves.
Is financial advice over Zoom allowed in New Zealand?
Yes. The rules regulate the advice, not the room it is given in. New Zealand's current financial advice regime came into force on 15 March 2021, when the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act 2019 amended the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. The Financial Markets Authority says those changes were designed to let financial advice be given online as well as in person. Nothing in the rules requires you and your adviser to be in the same place.
What the rules do control is who can give it. Regulated financial advice to everyday investors, which the law calls retail clients, has to be given under a Financial Advice Provider licence issued by the Financial Markets Authority. A financial adviser giving that advice has to be registered by name on the Financial Service Providers Register and engaged by a licensed provider.
Strictly, it is the business that holds the licence and the individual financial adviser who is registered under it. So "is my adviser licensed?" is really two checks: the adviser's registration, and the provider's licence. Both are on the same public register. Some providers also use nominated representatives, who have less discretion than a financial adviser and are not registered individually. For them, the provider's licence is the check.
The obligations do not change on a screen. Over Zoom or across a kitchen table, an adviser has to give priority to your interests where there is a conflict, exercise care, diligence and skill, and meet the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services. The provider also has to belong to an approved dispute resolution scheme, so if something goes wrong you have somewhere free to take a complaint.
Solid Steele's licence and registrations
- Financial Advice Provider: Solid Steele Advice Limited, trading as Solid Steele KiwiSaver Advice, FSP1010211. Its licence is issued by the Financial Markets Authority.
- Financial adviser: Cameron Steele, FSP1010212, giving advice under that licence. The register lists him under his full name, Cameron Wemyss Steele.
- Dispute resolution scheme: Financial Services Complaints Limited (FSCL), which costs you nothing to use.
How to check a KiwiSaver adviser is licensed
It is free, it is public, and it works for any adviser in New Zealand, not just this one.
Search the register
Open the Financial Service Providers Register, run by the Companies Office, and search the adviser's name or FSP number.
Check the adviser
A financial adviser's entry shows the Financial Advice Provider they are engaged by. Cameron Steele is FSP1010212, listed as Cameron Wemyss Steele and engaged by Solid Steele Advice Limited.
Check the provider
The provider's entry shows whether it is licensed to give financial advice, and which dispute resolution scheme it belongs to. Solid Steele Advice Limited is FSP1010211, and its scheme is FSCL.
Then read the adviser's disclosure statement before you act on anything. It sets out what they can advise on, how they are paid and how to complain. Solid Steele's disclosure statement covers all three.
A Zoom link proves nothing on its own. Anyone can set up a video call and a smart website. If an adviser cannot give you an FSP number, or neither they nor their provider is on the register, stop there. The Financial Markets Authority's guide to finding an adviser covers the same checks, and the Companies Office explains what a register entry shows.
What actually happens in a remote session
The same session Cam runs across a table, on your screen instead. Nobody has to drive anywhere.
Before: book and prepare
Pick a time on the booking page. You will then be asked to complete a short online advice preparation questionnaire, which takes 5 to 10 minutes, so the session is spent on your situation rather than on forms.
During: 30 minutes on Zoom
Cam shares his screen and runs the projections live, so you see the same numbers you would see sitting across the table. He compares providers and funds across the wider NZ market against your timeframe and your tolerance for a bad year.
After: only if you decide to act
If the answer is a switch, it takes about five minutes to action. Cam handles the paperwork and the documents are signed electronically. If the answer is to stay where you are, Cam will tell you that too. Annual reviews run the same way, by video call or phone.
Is it the same advice as meeting in person? Yes. Same adviser, same process, same legal obligations, and the same free 30-minute session. The only thing that changes is that nobody travels.
All you need is a phone, tablet or computer with an internet connection. If video is not practical, a phone call works too. How your information is handled, including in the preparation questionnaire, is set out in the Client Charter and the Privacy Policy.
Who KiwiSaver advice over Zoom suits
- People with no KiwiSaver specialist nearby. If the nearest one is hours away, or there is not one in your town at all, a video call removes the distance. Where you live stops deciding who you can ask.
- Shift workers. Nurses, tradies, hospitality staff and anyone else on a roster. Thirty minutes on a video call fits into a gap far more easily than an appointment with travel at both ends.
- Parents at home. No childcare to arrange and no car to load. Join from the kitchen table or the couch.
- Anyone outside Canterbury. In-person sessions run across Christchurch and Canterbury. Everywhere else, from Northland to Southland, a video call is how it works, and it is what most clients outside Canterbury choose.
It suits less well if you would rather have someone at the table with you, or you are not comfortable on a video call. In Canterbury, Cam will meet you in person, and a phone call works anywhere.
How Cam is paid
Meeting over Zoom changes nothing about how Cam is paid, so this is the same plain-language version every client gets.
Sessions are free and there is no obligation to act. You can have the conversation, take the recommendation away and do nothing at all.
If you implement a recommendation, how Cam is paid depends on the provider. Under most panel arrangements the provider remunerates Solid Steele directly and there is no additional Solid Steele adviser fee charged to your account. Kernel Wealth, Kōura Wealth and Smart KiwiSaver support advised-service arrangements under which Solid Steele charges an adviser fee in addition to the fund's underlying management fee: 0.25% p.a. with Kernel Wealth and Smart KiwiSaver, and 0.30% p.a. with Kōura Wealth.
That payment is a conflict of interest, and the law requires Cam to put your interests first when one arises. Cam compares KiwiSaver providers and funds across the wider NZ market, including whichever scheme you are in now, and a recommendation may be to stay where you are. Where a change is right, he implements it through a selected implementation panel of ten schemes and options.
The provider-by-provider detail, and how the conflict is managed, is set out in the disclosure statement. The wider picture of what KiwiSaver help costs, including the free services that are not advisers at all, is on the Is KiwiSaver advice free? page.
KiwiSaver advice over Zoom, answered
Can I get KiwiSaver advice over Zoom anywhere in New Zealand?
Yes. Regulated financial advice can be given remotely anywhere in New Zealand, including over Zoom. It has to be given under a Financial Advice Provider licence issued by the Financial Markets Authority, and a financial adviser giving it must be registered on the Financial Service Providers Register. The same duties apply online as in person. Cameron Steele (FSP1010212), of Solid Steele KiwiSaver Advice, gives KiwiSaver advice over Zoom anywhere in New Zealand under the licence of Solid Steele Advice Limited (FSP1010211).
Is online KiwiSaver advice as good as in person?
It is the same advice. New Zealand law applies the same duties to advice given over Zoom as to advice given across a table: the adviser must put your interests first, exercise care, diligence and skill, and meet the Code of Professional Conduct for Financial Advice Services. In a Solid Steele session Cam shares his screen and runs the projections live, so you see the same numbers you would see in person. If you would still rather meet face to face, sessions are available in person across Christchurch and Canterbury.
Do I need to be in Christchurch to get KiwiSaver advice from Solid Steele?
No. Solid Steele KiwiSaver Advice is based in Christchurch, but Cameron Steele gives KiwiSaver advice over Zoom, another video call or by phone to clients anywhere in New Zealand. In-person sessions are available across Christchurch and Canterbury for anyone who prefers them. Sessions are free, take 30 minutes, and carry no obligation to act on any recommendation.
How do I check a KiwiSaver adviser is licensed in New Zealand?
Search the adviser's name or FSP number on the Financial Service Providers Register, the free public register run by the Companies Office. A financial adviser's entry shows the Financial Advice Provider they are engaged by, and the provider's entry shows whether it is licensed to give financial advice and which dispute resolution scheme it belongs to. Cameron Steele is registered as FSP1010212 and Solid Steele Advice Limited as FSP1010211. If an adviser cannot give you an FSP number, do not go ahead.
Written by Cameron Steele, Financial Adviser (FSP1010212).