Weekly briefs

PRG report due, Public Trust review, Education and incentives, Tower up, Sovereign satisfied.

Sunday, November 30th 1997, 12:00AM

Todd report due
The Periodic Review Group, headed by Jeff Todd, will make its final report to Government on December 18.
While the Government has said it will use this report as the basis for reconvening the multi-party Accord, the chances are looking slim.
That has been acknowledged by Todd, who says it would be very difficult to persuade everyone to sign up to the existing agreement.
New Zealand First has indicated it won't enter into the Accord, ACT leader Richard Prebble told a managed fund conference after the referendum what he wanted to start with a clean sheet of paper and rewrite the Accord. At the same conference Labour deputy leader Michael Cullen said Labour was not prepared to renegotiate the Accord, and Alliance leader Jim Anderton expressed an desire to see the principles of the Accord adhered to.

What Todd is likely to say

Public Trust Office review on hold
An announcement on the future of the Public Trust Office has been put off until next year now.
Officials from the Treasury, the State Services Commission and the PTO have produced a report on the future of the office and that was expected to be released this month.
However, ministers have not yet been briefed on the report and such a briefing is unlikely before Parliament rises.
One of the key aspects of the report is who actually owns the office? In total there are 89 statutes that relate to its governance, however it is not clear who legally owns the business.
The PTO is currently moving from its roots as a trustee company to a financial services organisation. It employs 458 people and has annual revenues of $98 million.

Education and incentives better
The referendum on compulsory superannuation was good for raising public awareness over the need to save for retirement, but most people, according to a Colonial survey, put it in the too hard basket.
Colonial Financial Services general manager David May says people see the carrots of education and incentives as better ways to stimulate savings, rather than compulsion.
He says a salutary note from this latest survey is that 41 per cent of respondent indicated their main source of retirement savings information is newspapers, magazines and television. Just 16 per cent of people said they got information from financial advisers, brokers and insurance agents, and 8 per cent sought information from banks or financial institutions.

Tower higher
Tower Financial Services Group has increased its revenue 73 per cent in the past year to $3.7 billion.
Group managing director James Boonzaier says Tower has maintained its growth and profitability momentum despite the New Zealand market showing no growth overall. He says market statistics indicate the Australian market is growing at about 16 per cent.
The results include a full year contribution from Austrust (six months only in the previous financial year).
Boonzaier says, "Tower is ready for the next stage of its development as a major regional financial services group, once we implement the new financial structure currently under review."

Sovereign satisfied
Sovereign Assurance has posted an unaudited interim profit of $6.4 million for the period to September 30.
The board says the company is satisfied with the result and is on track to achieve its forecast profit of $13.1 for the year to March 31.
Sovereign says it has seen strong growth in all areas of its business and its recently launched Term Deposit Bond has attracted good flows on money.
Sovereign Financial Services is currently raising $150 million from the institutional market through its first offering of Mortgage Backed Securities, which are backed by residential mortgages.

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