Financial market authorities in New Zealand have approved regulations for crowd funding and peer-to-peer lending as part of the government's financial market overhaul.
Commerce Minister Craig Foss says that under the new rules there will be no investor caps for equity crowd-funding, other than the previously announced $2 million cap that a company can raise through the process each year.
Furthermore, offers engaging in equity crowd funding and peer-to-peer lending will no longer need to prepare a prospectus or an investment statement before fund raising from the public.
Says Foss: "This is an exciting development for both start-up businesses and investors. With the regulations coming into force on 1 April, New Zealand will lead the Asia-Pacific region in the development of crowd-funding regulation."
Financial regulators the world over are adapting their rules to take account off the growth and popularity of crowdfunding as an alternative source of capital, with the Securities and Exchange Commission and in the US and the UK's Financial Conduct Authority each consulting on fresh proposals.