Yes. The regulated questions sit elsewhere: what the lead generator told the consumer, whether you are licensed to give the advice, and how you make contact.
The short answer is yes, and the question is asked so often because the wrong thing is being asked about. Nothing in New Zealand law prohibits buying consumer enquiry data, and no licence exists for doing so.
What is regulated is everything on either side of the purchase. This sets out which regime governs which part, so you can work out where your own exposure sits. It describes the law rather than advising on your situation, and a compliance question specific to your business belongs with your own adviser or lawyer.
None does. There is no statutory prohibition on the sale or purchase of consumer enquiry data in New Zealand, and no register or authorisation attached to the act of buying. The regulated conduct sits in three places, none of which is the transaction itself.
| Regime | What it governs | Who it binds |
|---|---|---|
| Financial advice regime, FMCA Part 6 | Giving regulated financial advice to retail clients | You, and the generator if they advised |
| Privacy Act 2020 | Collecting, holding, using and disclosing personal information | You and the supplier, separately |
| Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 | Commercial electronic messages to NZ addresses | Whoever sends the message |
| Fair Trading Act 1986 | Misleading conduct and unsubstantiated representations | The supplier, and you |
Upstream, with the lead generator, and it is the part most brokers never ask about. Under the financial advice regime, anyone who gives regulated financial advice to retail clients must hold, or operate under, a Financial Advice Provider licence issued by the FMA.
A lead generator who simply collects an enquiry and passes it on is not giving advice. A lead generator whose page recommends a product, narrows a consumer toward a particular type of cover, or tells them what they should do is closer to the line than their marketing language suggests. The label the operator uses for itself does not decide the question; the substance of what was said to the consumer does.
What this means for you as the buyer: You are not liable for someone else's licensing. You do inherit the consumer, and a consumer who was given something that looked like advice by an unlicensed operator arrives with expectations that are already wrong. Ask to see the page.
The FMA reports just over 3,000 financial advice businesses operating in New Zealand: 1,807 Financial Advice Providers and 1,200 Authorised Bodies, engaging 10,743 financial advisers and 12,287 nominated representatives. You can check any counterparty on the Financial Service Providers Register.
The principle written for exactly this situation is IPP 3A. It deals with personal information collected indirectly, meaning from a source other than the individual concerned. Buying an enquiry is a textbook case.
Where IPP 3A applies, you must take reasonable steps to ensure the individual is aware that you hold their information, what it will be used for, who you are, and their rights of access and correction. The obligation is yours, and it does not disappear because the supplier had their own consent.
IPP 9 separately requires that personal information is not kept for longer than it is required for the purpose it may lawfully be used for, and IPP 11 restricts disclosure to other parties.
For phone calls, New Zealand has no equivalent of Australia's Do Not Call Register, so calling a consumer who submitted an enquiry is on ordinary footing.
For electronic messages, the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007 applies to commercial electronic messages sent to a New Zealand address. It requires consent, accurate sender identification, and a functional unsubscribe facility. Consent may be express or inferred, and the practical question for a lead buyer is whose consent was given and to whom.
The Department of Internal Affairs enforces the Act and publishes guidance on what it expects.
It binds both sides. The Fair Trading Act 1986 prohibits misleading and deceptive conduct and unsubstantiated representations, and it is enforced by the Commerce Commission. Two features catch lead operators in particular.
The first is that trader intent is irrelevant. Conduct is unlawful whether or not the misleading effect was intended. The second is that a trader must hold reasonable grounds for a claim at the time the claim is made, even if the claim later turns out to be true.
A trader needs to have reasonable grounds to make a claim about a product or service at the time they make the claim.
Consumer Protection New Zealand, guide to the Fair Trading Act
Applied to lead supply, a supplier claiming "verified" or "exclusive" without a basis for the claim at the moment they make it has a Fair Trading problem regardless of how the records happen to perform.
How Lead Foundry answers this: We own the consumer brands our enquiries come from, so the disclosure on the form is ours to show you. The contracting entity is checkable on the New Zealand Business Number register, and each enquiry carries the source brand on the record.
Yes. No New Zealand statute prohibits buying consumer enquiry data and no licence is required for the purchase itself. The regulated questions are whether the lead generator gave regulated financial advice while collecting the enquiry, whether you are licensed for the advice you go on to give, how you satisfy IPP 3A of the Privacy Act 2020 as an indirect collector, and whether your electronic contact complies with the Unsolicited Electronic Messages Act 2007.
Not to buy them. You need to hold, or operate under, a Financial Advice Provider licence to give regulated financial advice to retail clients, which is what you will be doing once the conversation progresses. The licence attaches to the advice rather than to the data purchase.
It depends on what their pages actually do. Collecting an enquiry and passing it on is not giving regulated financial advice. A page that recommends a product or steers a consumer toward a particular type of cover moves toward advice, and anyone giving regulated financial advice to retail clients must hold or operate under a FAP licence. The substance of what is said to the consumer decides it rather than the description the operator uses.
IPP 3A of the Privacy Act 2020 governs personal information collected from a source other than the individual concerned. Buying an enquiry is exactly that, so you must take reasonable steps to make the person aware that you hold their information, what it will be used for, who you are, and their access and correction rights. The obligation sits with you as the buyer and is not satisfied by the supplier having obtained consent.