Weekly briefs

Carter says NZ Super should be a benefit, NZ First support TOLIS, Royal & SunAlliance change managers, Calan looks west, Farmers Mutual and Southland Building Society unite.

Sunday, November 1st 1998, 12:00AM

New Zealand Superannuation should be a benefit, not a universal entitlement according to Senior Citizens minister David Carter.
Carter told Greypower members in Tauranga last week that the state pension should be a benefit to those who need it rather than an automatic right of entitlement at age 65.
Not surprisingly his comments were not well received by the aged.
"I get the impression the Government just wants us to lie down and die now - to hell with what happens later," Greypower policy chairman Colleen Baldwin says.

New Zealand First supports tax credits
New Zealand First has confirmed it plans to support legislation enabling the introduction of a tax credit system for life and superannuation funds when the relevant bill comes before Parliament.
Currently the Taxation (Tax Credit, Trading Stock and Other Remedial Matters) Bill has been stalled on Parliament's order paper as the Government was unsure it had the numbers to pass the legislation.
ACT, Labour and the Alliance say they will not support the bill, however New Zealand First says it will.
"This provides the Government with the necessary numbers to move quickly and pass the legislation," Investment Savings and Insurance (ISI) Association acting chief executive Vance Arkinstall says.
The ISI supports the bill even though it was not its preferred option due to its complexity and the high costs of implementation.

Calan to look west
The Calan Healthcare Property trust is planning to go ahead with moves to expand its investment mandate to include Australian assets.
The manager wrote to the trust's 5480 unitholders earlier this year proposing an amendment to the trust deed which would allow it to invest in the Australian healthcare sector.
It says about 20 unitholders, representing less than 10 per cent of the units on issue, responded to the letter. As that was less than the number required to trigger a unitholder meeting, the manager can now proceed with implementing the necessary changes to the trust's trust deed.

Royal &SunAlliance change managers
Royal & SunAlliance are changing the manager of a number of its offshore equity trusts to avoid some "negative tax implications".
Currently the firm's international equity funds are invested in a selection of authorised unit trusts in the United Kingdom which are managed by Norwich Union. However, these trusts are changing their status to Open-Ended Investment Companies.
This move has some negative tax implication so management of this money is moving from Norwich to Royal & SunAlliance Investment Management. The new managers have consistently outperformed Norwich and are widely regarded, in the UK, as a very strong manager.
The trusts directly affected are the International Sharemarket Growth trust and the Asian Sharemarket Growth trust. Diversified trusts impacted by the changes are the Income Priority trust, Balanced Growth trust and Growth Priority trust.
There will be no change in the fees and expenses currently incurred by New Zealand unitholders in any of these funds.

FMG and SBS get hitched
Palmerston North-based Farmers Mutual Group (FMG) is forming a joint venture with Southland Building Society (SBS) to provide mortgages and investment products to its customers.
New services to be offered include fixed, floating and flexi mortgages for residential and rural properties. Flexi mortgages combine fixed and floating components.

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