Regulatory Alerts2025-09-11
Designating Financial Market Infrastructures
The New Zealand regulator outlines the process for the Minister to designate Financial Market Infrastructures (FMI) based on regulator recommendations. Designation applies to systemically important FMIs identified through a specific framework or those applying for regulatory benefits like settlement finality. The document details the systemic importance criteria and references supporting guidance notes under the FMI Act 2021.
Browser issue
It looks like the browser you're using doesn’t work well with our website. For a better experience, please update to the latest version of Chrome , Edge , Firefox or Safari .
Oversight of financial market infrastructures (FMI)
Information about how financial market infrastructures can be designated or recognised by the Minister.
Published:
Who can designate FMI
The Minister may designate an FMI on the recommendation made by the regulator. The regulator may recommend designation:
on our own initiative if we believes the FMI is systemically important in New Zealand
in response to an application from the operator of the FMI.
FMI can apply to us or us and the FMA to be designated, even if the FMI is not considered systemically important.
FMI may want to have the benefits of designation, including finality of settlements. FMI designated in this way will be subject to the same set of regulatory requirements as FMI whose designation notice specifies they are systemically important, with the exception of crisis management powers under Part 4 of the Act, which only apply to FMI whose designation notice specifies they are systemically important.
How regulators decide if an FMI is systemically important
The Systemic Importance Framework explains how the regulator decides whether an FMI is systemically important in New Zealand. It draws from the matters the regulator must consider in the FMI Act as well as international best practice and is judgement based.
The specific measures the regulator will use to help assess the systemic importance of FMI are:
size of an FMI
the type of participants in an FMI
what the FMI does and how wide-ranging its services are
how connected the FMI and its participants are with each other and other financial institutions
where the financial risk is concentrated
how easily the FMI could be replaced by an alternative
A framework for identifying systemically important FMI
PDF | 966KB
Guidance Note on designating FMI
The Guidance Note on Designation under the FMI Act 2021 explains:
our role
the role of the FMA
the approach we take to recommend designation.
Designations under the Financial Market Infrastructures Act 2021
PDF | 270KB