The firm, which has engaged in a number of capital-raising moves, has been sued by some employees unhappy, so it is reported, about the dilution of their shares in the UK-headquartered company.

FNZ, a global wealth management platform, which has bought several businesses in recent years, is being sued for $4.6 billion by some employee shareholders, a media report said yesterday. They claim that their shares were unfairly diluted through issuance of preference shares and warrants.

Kiwi CayLP, representing FNZ's class B shareholders, alleged that a share issuance unfairly shifted $1.5 billion in value to institutional investors. Kiwi CayLP warned that the employee shareholders' equity could be wiped out if FNZ were to be valued below $8.3 billion in a sale or IPO.

FNZ, which was originally founded in New Zealand in 2003, is headquartered in London. It also operates in Australia, Singapore, Canada, Germany, Sweden and South Africa. 

WealthBriefing had contacted FNZ as far back as 11 April this year after this publication had received a letter, dated 9 April 2025, saying that it was from FNZ employee shareholders. That letter was entitled “Employee Shareholders Call for Action after Losing US$4.5 Billion in Equity.” This news service, which was unable to verify the identity of the sender, contacted FNZ at the time about the matter.

The Reuters report yesterday said that the claim against FNZ's issuance of new preference shares and warrants on non-commercial terms during 2024 and 2025 was filed yesterday (28 July). Kiwi CayLP said that FNZ was last valued at $20 billion, with class B shareholders holding about 23 per cent, or $4.6 billion.

"The claim alleges these transactions were approved by FNZ directors who carried significant conflicts of interest by also being employees and directors of the institutional and private equity investors who stood to benefit from these non-commercial transactions at the expense of FNZ employee shareholders," Kiwi CayLP was quoted as saying.

The lawsuit lists 16 instances where FNZ and its directors allegedly breached New Zealand corporate laws by acting oppressively, neglecting fiduciary duties, and misusing their powers.

Without merit
“FNZ notes the claim filed in New Zealand and considers it to be entirely without merit,” a spokesperson for the firm told WealthBriefing and WealthBriefingAsia. “We are confident that our directors have at all times acted in the best interests of the company, its clients, employees and all stakeholders. The investments by FNZ’s institutional shareholders reflect a strong commitment to the company’s long-term growth and success, an outcome that can only be in the best interests of all its stakeholders.”

As reported here on 8 April, FNZ secured $500 million in new equity funding. FNZ said its long-term institutional investors put in the equity funding. That announcement was a separate matter from the $2.1 billion refinancing of November last year and the August 2024 equity raise of $1 billion.

FNZ has made a number of acquisitions in recent years. In July 2022, it bought New Access, a private banking tech firm mainly active in the markets of Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg. In 2021, it agreed to buy Switzerland-based onboarding tech specialist Appway. In early 2022 FNZ secured $1.4 billion in new equity funding from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and Motive Partners. It has also partnered with Clearstream – the post-trade services provider of Deutsche Börse Group.

In February 2025, FNZ appointed Aashish Kamat as group chief financial officer; he took over from Stewart Maclean, who switched to a group finance director role, after having led the finance function in 2024.

(See a separate story here about FNZ and Microsoft announcing a partnership.)