A body with the power to fine financial advisers or recommend they be deregistered will hear its first cases today.

The FMA files civil proceedings against Diligent founder Brian Peter Henry for alleged involvement in the manipulation of company shares.

The FMA has issued a public warning against doing business with a foreign currency exchange company.

New Zealand's leading financial regulator has announced he his stepping down.

David Ross appeared briefly in the Wellington District Court this morning, where hearings were adjourned to August 22.

The FMA is preparing to take action against two unnamed KiwiSaver issuers for making misleading statements in their offer documents.

Former Dominion Finance directors Robert Barry Whale and Ann Butler have both been sentenced to terms of home detention in the High Court in Auckland today.

The Serious Fraud Office has laid charges against financial adviser David Ross, who is alleged to have operated a $400 million Ponzi scheme.

Belgrave Finance director Stephen Smith has been sentenced to four years in jail.

Businesses which drag their heels or fail to comply with a new anti-money laundering and terrorism financing law should expect to face firm action, say regulators.

Suggestions the FMA knew about David Ross long before his business was raided were "crap", says Sean Hughes.

Tougher licensing rules for authorised financial advisers won't be introduced in a law change despite being suggested by the market regulator.

The Financial Markets Authority still wants Mark Hotchin to be repaid the $12.2 million he put towards an Auckland mansion, despite the businessman's lawyer not pursuing the full amount at the end of a High Court dispute.

A former director of the failed firm Capital + Merchant Finance has been handed an extra year in prison and two others have been sentenced home detention and community work.

A judge has found that Neill Williams, who claimed to only do work for the Five Star finance companies, was an integral part of all major decisions at the company.

The FMA's Diane Maxwell will be stepping across into the role of Retirement Commissioner for three months.