Quarterly Statement by the Council of Financial Regulators – September 2025

The Council of Financial Regulators (CoFR) held its quarterly meeting on Monday 1 September 2025.

The meeting was co-chaired by Financial Markets Authority Chief Executive Samantha Barrass and Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Christian Hawkesby.

The Council discussed the progress of the independent review of CoFR, commissioned by Heads in June to assess CoFR's effectiveness and make recommendations on how to implement a more strategic and purposeful future state.

Independent consultant Sapere presented their review findings, with Heads agreeing that further discussions were required for CoFR's future state to be agreed and implemented.

While these discussions occur, CoFR will continue to carry out external meetings with industry bodies, deliver a regulatory initiatives calendar, work that has been agreed through Cabinet papers, and Community of Practice engagements.

Final decisions on CoFR's future state are expected to be made by the time of the Q4 Heads meeting in early December. The Sapere report will be published at that time.