Victoria Stace
Email: Victoria.Stace@vuw.ac.nz, or phone 463 6387.
The course administrator is Jayne Campbell, 463 6315, jayne.campbell@vuw.ac.nz.
The class meets on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 10.30-11.20am in GBLT3.
Teaching runs from 11 July to 14 October 2016.
Mid-trimester break : Monday 22 August to Sunday 4 September 2016.
Examination period : Friday 21 October to Saturday 12 November 2016.
Note: Students who enrol in courses with examinations must be able to attend an examination at the
University at any time during the scheduled examination period.
Withdrawal dates: Refer to http://www.victoria.ac.nz/students/study/withdrawals-refunds .
If you cannot complete an assignment or sit a test or examination (aegrotats), refer to: www.victoria.ac.nz/about/governance/dvc-academic/publications
Other course information, eg lecture cancellations, will normally be posted on the noticeboard located in GB on the ground floor opposite G31 and outside the lecture theatre as well as on Blackboard.
Please check Blackboard regularly. Also, as Blackboard adopts your Student Computing Service email as your default email address, please ensure you either check this email account regularly or arrange for any email to be forwarded automatically to an email account which you check regularly (for instructions on how to do this, see http://www.victoria.ac.nz/students/publications/myvic-it-guide.pdf
).
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An introduction to the regulation of New Zealand’s securities markets. This course considers the law relating to raising money from the public, the regulation of offers, disclosure, advertising, regulation of market services, and trading in securities, insider trading and takeover regulation.
Overview
Regulation of New Zealand’s financial markets has undergone tremendous change in the last few years.
In September 2013, the Financial Markets Conduct Act was passed. This Act has been described as a “once in a generation” rewrite of New Zealand’s financial markets law.
Businesses raise money from the public by the issue of “securities”. Common examples of securities are shares and debentures. Prior to 1978, New Zealand had very few rules around how businesses might go about this. In 1978 the Securities Act was passed, in response to a series of company collapses. Since 1978,
New Zealand’s securities law has evolved and grown. The disclosure requirements, which form the cornerstone of our regime, were revamped in the 1990s and again in 2014. Regulation of the secondary market, virtually non-existent before 1990, now includes the Takeovers Code, insider trading rules, Stock
Exchange regulation and extensive licensing obligations.
The collapse of the finance company sector in 2006 to 2008 causing massive losses to “mum and dad” investors gave the impetus for the recent burst of legislative change. First, financial adviser regulation was introduced. Now we have the Financial Markets Conduct Act, which consolidates the law on regulation of both primary and secondary markets, with a focus on enhanced enforcement and accountability.
Students who pass this course should:
1.
have an appreciation of the current issues and recent reforms in this area;
2.
be able to identify a situation where the Financial Markets Conduct Act applies and have an understanding of disclosure obligations;
3.
be able to identify a situation which may be insider trading and understand the consequences of that;
4.
be able to demonstrate an understanding of the obligations imposed on publicly listed companies, including the law relating to takeovers;
5.
be able to apply their knowledge to a factual situation, identify the issues and structure a reasoned answer; and
6.
have developed their legal research and case reading skills.
Students who are interested in working in any financing area, either in a large commercial law firm or with a financial services provider, or in the area of Government financial policy or regulation, will benefit from having a general understanding of the subject matter covered by this course.
LAWS 211 Law of Contract is a prerequisite for this course. Students will benefit from having completed
LAWS 212 Torts and LAWS 360 Company and Partnership Law.
This course will be taught by traditional lecturing method, with students expected to participate when called on. On occasion students may additionally be required to consider and discuss specific fact situations in class.
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In addition to achieving an overall pass mark of 50%, students must complete both the assignment and the test. Where a student fails one of the assignment and the test (but passes the other), lecturer discretion will be exercised to determine whether an overall passing grade is achieved.
Failure to meet terms will result in a failing grade for the course, regardless of grades attained for the assessment. However, any student who is concerned that they have been (or might be) unable to meet any of the mandatory course requirements because of exceptional personal circumstances should contact the course coordinator as soon as possible.
Average 9-10 hours per week including three lectures per week.
Assessment items and workload per item Submission date / time
1 Written assignment (max length 2,000 words) 4pm Friday 12 August 2016
2 Final examination, 2 hours, open book tba
Marks will be scaled if necessary to conform to the Faculty’s prescribed grade distribution.
% CLO(s)
30% 1-6
70% 1-6
Late assignments will (subject to lecturer discretion) incur a 3 mark penalty for the first day it is late plus 2 additional marks for each additional day it is late. Extensions will be granted only in exceptional circumstances. Assignments that exceed the word limit will (subject to lecturer discretion) be marked down
(one mark can be deducted for each 50 words in excess of the word limit).
A booklet of the key reading materials will be available for purchase from Vic Books. The cost of these materials will be notified to students closer to the start date of the course. It is highly recommended that you purchase this booklet. Additional materials may be referred to during lectures and it will be your responsibility to access these additional materials.
Initial reading:
The following sections of Financial Markets Conduct Regulation, A Practitioner’s Guide , (Stace and others,
LexisNexis 2014):
Chapter 1 and Chapter 3.
Also reading the following would be very helpful: Financial Markets Conduct Act – An Overview, Parts 1, 2 and 3, (Chris Holland), in Company and Securities Law Bulletin at [2013] CSLB 77, 94 and 111.
The class representative provides a useful way to communicate feedback to the teaching staff during the course. A class representative will be selected at the first lecture of the course. Students may like to write the
Class Rep’s name and details in this box:
Class Rep name and contact details:
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Student feedback on University courses may be found at: www.cad.vuw.ac.nz/feedback/feedback_display.php
.
There is other important information that students must familiarise themselves with, including:

Academic Integrity and Plagiarism: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/students/study/exams/integrity-plagiarism

Aegrotats: : www.victoria.ac.nz/about/governance/dvc-academic/publications

Academic Progress: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/students/study/progress/academic-progress (including restrictions and non-engagement)
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Dates and deadlines: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/students/study/dates
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Grades: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/students/study/progress/grades
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Resolving academic issues: : www.victoria.ac.nz/about/governance/dvc-academic/publications
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Special passes: : www.victoria.ac.nz/about/governance/dvc-academic/publications
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Statutes and policies including the Student Conduct Statute: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/about/governance/strategy/academic-policies

Student support: www.victoria.ac.nz/students/support
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Students with disabilities: www.victoria.ac.nz/st_services/disability

Student Charter: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/learning-teaching/learning-partnerships/student-charter

Turnitin: www.cad.vuw.ac.nz/wiki/index.php/Turnitin

University structure: www.victoria.ac.nz/about

VUWSA: www.vuwsa.org.nz
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See the Blackboard site for your course for detailed information on withdrawal dates. See also the 2015
Law Faculty Undergraduate Prospectus for further information, including assessment in te reo Māori: http://www.victoria.ac.nz/law/
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