Opes
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Our Disclosure Document
6 min read
If you’re thinking about working with Opes Partners you’ll want to know how we operate, how we get paid and what you can expect from our services.
This statement explains that. It also meets our legal obligation to disclose certain information to you under our Financial Advice Provider licence.
Our legal name is Opes Partners New Zealand Limited (FSP740071). We trade as Opes Partners.
We are authorised to give financial advice under the Financial Advice Provider (FAP) licence of Opes Group Holding Company Limited (FSP774012) (our shareholder).
Our advisers give financial advice on building long-term wealth through new-build investment property.
We do this by creating an investment plan with you (we call it My Wealth Plan) using our own software.
During this process our advisers work with you to understand your goals, your personal situation and financial circumstances.
Then we will help you assess whether investing in property could be a good fit for you. If it’s not, we’ll let you know. That’s the right thing to do.
If it is a good fit, we may recommend that you invest in a property listed by a related company Opes Licensee Services Limited (trading as Opes Property).
We only recommend properties listed by Opes Property, because we know that Opes Property has undertaken due diligence on the developer and the development.
We don’t give advice on mortgages and insurance planning (but we can refer you to our related company Opes Mortgages Limited (Opes Mortgages)) who have advisers that are specialists in these areas).
We don’t give financial advice in relation to any other investment products, and we don’t provide specific advice relating to asset protection, estate planning or tax (but we do recommend that you seek professional advice in these areas).
We don’t charge you fees, expenses or any other amount for the financial advice we provide. You won’t receive an invoice from us.
If you choose to purchase a property that we have recommended to you:
Your financial adviser receives a salary as an employee of Opes Partners (so they are not incentivised to sell you a property at all costs). They are also eligible to receive a fee if you purchase a property based on their recommendation. This fee is paid from the fee we receive.
Occasionally we may negotiate a lower fee than our usual flat rate. We will tell you if we do. We will also tell you exactly what those fees are if you elect to buy a property recommended by us.
Of course, you can always work with us and then decide not to buy any property we recommend (and we still won’t charge you a fee)!
We don’t pay commissions. We may pay a modest bonus to our advisers if Opes Property meets its monthly performance target.
The bonus is the same regardless of the value of the property recommended to you.
Our financial advisers and other staff may also receive non-monetary gifts (e.g., tickets to an event, a gift, or a meal out).
We monitor these gifts to ensure they don’t create a conflict of interests or compromise the advice we provide to you.
There are two main conflicts of interest you need to know about.
The first is how we are paid (including fees, commissions and other incentives). We’ve discussed those above. The second is about our related companies, and how we work with them.
Because Opes Partners is part of a group, our directors hold (direct or indirect) ownership interests in our related companies, including:
We’ve put together this group to give you a one-stop shop – so you can get all the property services you need in one place.
But it also means that if we refer you to these companies, there may be a financial benefit to the group (and our directors).
We’re careful not to let this sway our investment recommendations. To manage conflict of interests we:
At the end of the day, we’re here for you. Of course, if you choose not to use our related companies, that’s okay too. It’s your choice.
You should also know that Sue Foley from Landley Law Limited is one of the lawyers Opes Partners may recommend to clients.
She is also the sole director of the three corporate trustee companies that own Opes Group Holding Company Limited. So, if you look Opes up on the Companies Office Register, it appears as if she is the ultimate shareholder of the Opes Group.
It appears this way because the three directors of the Opes Group use Sue as their personal lawyer.
Feedback is important to us. If you have a complaint, we want to hear about it. Please contact us as soon as possible:
Call: 0800 676 737
Email: complaints@opespartners.co.nz, or
Write to: Level 2, 236 High Street, Christchurch 8011
If we cannot agree on how to fix the issue (or you don’t want to use our internal complaints process), you can contact our external dispute resolution scheme Financial Services Complaints Limited (FSCL).
FSCL provides a free and independent dispute resolution service that may help to resolve your complaint if we haven’t been able to do so to your satisfaction.
To contact FSCL:
Under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, we and our advisers must:
Contact details
A written copy of this information is available on request and free of charge
