GoodReturns.co.nz - All News

Minister tells industry FMA fees will be comfortable

Advisers will be "very comfortable" with how much they will have to pay in levies to fund regulation, Minister of Commerce Craig Foss has told industry representatives.

Churn is different to replacement: Partners says

Partners Life has hit the road and told advisers what it thinks is churn and what is legitimate replacement business. Benn Bathgate went along to find out the answers.

Further evidence OCR won't rise soon as inflation expectations fall

Evidence suggesting rates won't rise any time soon continues to pile up.

Tyndall hooks up with Goldman Sachs

Tyndall has ditched the New York-based boutique manager of its global fixed interest portfolio, replacing it with investment banking giant Goldman Sachs.

Fisher confirms departure of international managers

Fisher Funds has confirmed big changes to its international investment team, with senior portfolio manager Ken Applegate to return to the US and the company's San Francisco office to close.

News Round Up: May 21

Fisher Funds to lose international managers? Where do financial planners sit on the trust scale? New index for the future.

Advisers losing favour with KiwiSaver investors

Financial advisers are losing popularity as a source of information for KiwiSaver members, who prefer to go to product providers or their employers, according to new research.

More home loan rate cuts to come

It was a huge week in the mortgage market with banks slashing fixed-term rates across the board and, if Friday's sharp move lower in wholesale interest rates is any guide, there should be further cuts in the coming week.

TNP sales school sees 91% industry ‘stickability’

[Advertorial] TNP offer a variety of interactive sales-related training workshops that are proving to be highly successful and are giving new risk and mortgage advisers the boost they need to get started in this challenging industry.

Roest jailed for six and a half years

Former Bridgecorp director Robert Roest has been sentenced to six and a half years in jail, the same term handed down to fellow Bridgecorp director Rod Petricevic.

New funds firm established

Aaron Gascoigne has moved on from Canvas Investments and is setting up a new funds distribution firm.

Big fish plans to swallow little fish

Independent advisers’ pain could become Macquarie Private Wealth New Zealand’s gain, with small advisory businesses its main focus as it looks to nearly double its adviser force.

[Weekly wrap] Looking for consolidation

This week we saw signs of consolidation in the financial adviser industry; also, new research revealed big implications for income investment while life insurance figures showed a worrying decline.

Kiwibank matches most of the market

Kiwibank, who kicked off the latest mortgage rate war last month with a one-year fixed "special" on the same day Reserve Bank governor Alan Bollard opened the door to a possible official cash rate (OCR) cut, has belatedly matched most of the rest of the market's across the board cuts.

Asteron increases commission

Asteron has increased the commission paid to advisers’ across its entire disability income products range and its mortgage repayment cover.

New life insurance business dropped in March Qtr

New business in most product categories of life insurance written by Financial Services Council members fell sharply in the March quarter compared with both the previous quarter and the March quarter last year.

Partners Life gains market share for 4th successive quarter

Partners Life continued to gain market share in the March quarter for the fourth successive quarter, although new business was down for most companies compared with both the December quarter and the March quarter last year.

Why aren't the banks cutting their floating mortgage rates?

The banks are competing fiercely over fixed-rate mortgages but none have cut their floating rates.

Income investment turned upside down

Low interest rates combined with increasingly attractive yields on the share market mean traditional ideas about the role of bonds and stocks need to be re-examined, new research suggests.

Sovereign appoints two new board members

Sovereign has appointed two new members to its board, David May and Stephen Ward.

The emerging v submerging economies

Financial advisers need to take the news with a grain of salt if they want to achieve the best results for their clients, according to a well-known international market commentator.

ASB joins rate cutters

ASB Bank has joined a number of other banks in cutting fixed-term mortgage rates, slashing its one, two and three-year rates.

Why are you so bad at recruiting?

Russell Hutchinson surveys the market to see who is recruiting advisers - and makes some startling findings.

News Round Up: May 14

Liontamer winds things down; Independence under spotlight; Why we have under-insurance; Reserve Bank learns lessons from GFC

BNZ tickles interest in fixed rates

Highlighting the intense competition building up in the mortgage market, BNZ has slashed its 18-month fixed “Classic” mortgage rate to 5.10% “for a limited time.”

[Weekly wrap] Diminishing prospects

The biggest story on Good Returns this week involved a law that could make prospecting for new clients much more difficult for advisers.

ANZ National sharpens rate for Chch borrowers

Hard on the heels of slashing its one-year fixed mortgage rate nationally, ANZ National Bank has launched a 4.55% one-year fixed rate for Christchurch residents and committed to lend up to $500 million as part of a package of measure aimed at supporting the residential rebuild in the quake devastated city.

Health insurance shortfall a bigger issue than retirement savings

New Zealanders' failure to take up health insurance will create bigger problems than any retirement savings shortfall, according to Accuro chief executive Bruce Morrison.

Another research option for advisers

Insurance advisers can now access client-specific product research ratings from price comparison website QuoteMonster.

IFA slams ‘nanny state’ attitude to advisers

The Institute of Financial Advisers has spoken out against a proposed new law that could severely limit advisers' ability to prospect for new clients, describing it as "nanny state".

Don't tinker with super: AMP

AMP provides an update on its performance and also some terse comments about changes to superannuation.

BNZ says it's winning market share in deposits and mortgages

BNZ says it's winning market share in both deposits and mortgages.

Advisers snared in door-to-door sales crackdown

Proposed new regulations, which formerly targeted door-to-door salesmen and now look to have a much broader application, could have huge implications for financial advisers and product providers.

ANZ slashes its one-year fixed mortgage rate to 5.25%

ANZ Bank has slashed its one-year fixed mortgage rate to 5.25% from 5.65% citing "a window for cheaper longer-term wholesale interest rates that ANZ is taking advantage of and we're passing this on to customers."

KiwiSaver providers wary of more regulations

Imposing more regulations on KiwiSaver funds could stifle the best performers, says Fidelity Life chief executive Milton Jennings.

ISO Scheme Case Studies

This months's case studies take another look at non-disclosure when the clients say "But I told my adviser/ broker..."

Reserve Bank guesses at reasons for dramatic slowdown of credit growth

Only about half the dramatic slowdown in credit growth since 2007 can be explained by the slowdown in house sales, the Reserve Bank says in its latest Financial Stability Report.

Beware talk of the ‘paradigm shift’

For those who say “this time is different” in regard to the commodities boom, NZIER chief economist Shamubeel Eaqub has a simple warning: it probably isn’t.

SBS cuts longer term home loan rates

SBS and its sister HBS have taken market leading positions with medium and long term fixed home loan rates.

Dividend obsession hampers NZ stock market

New Zealand's dividend-focused stock market is good for retirees but is crippled by a lack of growth companies, and the blame for its malaise lies in a number of places, a boutique fund manager says.