FMA censures property investment company Opes Group over obligations
Thursday, 11 December 2025
High profile property investment company Opes Group has been censured by the Financial Markets Authority for breaching financial advice provider licensee obligations.
But the company said it accepted the FMA’s warning, and was addressing the issues raised.
The FMA issued its censure due to shortcomings in Opes’ record keeping, how it ensured client understanding of the advice, its management of conflicts of interest and oversight of its advisers.
FMA executive director for response and enforcement Louise Unger said the levels of detail in client documents and the way they were stored was not consistent, and the records were not easily accessible.
That breach made it difficult for the FMA to verify whether other regulatory obligations were being met.
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She said there were reasonable steps Opes could have taken to ensure that clients who did not progress to purchase a property with Opes understood the risks and limitations of the advice provided.
But clients who did not proceed through the full process with Opes did not receive further risk disclosures, and might not have been fully aware of the potential downsides of acting on limited advice, she said.
“The firm is vertically integrated — combining property sales, investment planning, mortgage advice, and accounting and property management.
“The business model creates a risk of conflict of interest between the financial advice provider and the client, making adequate policies and procedures in this area, and the implementation of them, critical to appropriately managing this risk.”
The FMA found that Opes did not have adequate policies or processes in place and could not be confident that all conflicts had been identified, disclosed, and managed, Unger said.
“While no actual client harm was identified by the FMA’s review, we consider these contraventions have the potential to increase the risk of detriment to customer outcomes.
“Censuring and naming Opes is important to ensure the transparency of FMA decision making; it informs the public and previous clients, prevents and reduces the opportunity for consumer detriment, and helps to maximise the deterrent effect on the industry.”
Opes Group director Ed McKnight said that since the FMA’s review in February, the Christchurch-based company had invested in strengthening its processes to ensure it was building a model that exceeds industry standards.
Over the last six years the company had grown a lot, and some of its regulatory compliance procedures had not kept up with the rapid rate of growth, he said.
“We hold ourselves to the highest standard and agree with the FMA’s assessment as compliance is something we have always taken seriously.”
Prior to the FMA’s review Opes was working with third-party specialists to review its regulatory compliance, but the review picked up additional improvements that needed to be made beyond that work, he said.
“We are grateful for the FMA’s guidance and we’re committed to ensuring our operations exceed industry standards. We’ve taken further steps to improve our record keeping and other processes.”
Unger acknowledged Opes’ co-operation with the FMA, its significant efforts to remedy the contraventions, and its ongoing commitment to improving policies and practices.
The company had already taken significant steps to address the concerns raised, and provided a voluntary remediation plan for further improvements it intended to make, she said.
“If fully implemented, the FMA considers these proposed actions will go towards ensuring Opes complies with its obligations going forward.”
Opes Group was founded by managing partner Andrew Nicol back in 2013. It has grown from three employees to 85, and has offices in Christchurch and Auckland.
McKnight said it has helped more than 2500 people invest in property, facilitated investment in about 2874 new builds, and provided management services for about 1500 properties.
Nicol and McKnight also produce a daily podcast - The Property Academy Podcast - which provides insights, analysis and strategies on the property market.