Head of enforcement at the Financial Markets Authority, Belinda Moffatt, says the authority is keen to restore confidence in New Zealand capital markets by bringing cases to court where the standards and obligations required by law have not been met.
Ms Might - who was speaking after the last of the National Finance directors was sentenced in the High Court in Auckland - said while investors had not been able to retrieve all their investments, the court cases send important messages to those participating in capital markets.
If they break the law, she says, the authority will take steps to hold them to account.
She says a financial markets conduct bill currently before Parliament is aimed at strengthening and promoting fair, efficient and transparent markets.
On Tuesday, National Finance director Anthony Banbrook was sentenced to eight-and-a-half months' home detention and ordered to pay $75,000 in reparations after pleading guilty to one charge of making untrue statements in a registered prospectus for National Finance 2000.
Under the Securities Act, Mr Banbrook's conviction means he is automatically banned from managing companies for five years.
He is the 20th finance company director to be sentenced after action taken by the FMA.
