News Round Up

AXA first to seek KiwiSaver certification from IRD, Westpac enters distribution deal with Southern Cross, Finsia opens NZ office, Tower asks S&P to withdraw ratings.

Monday, March 19th 2007, 6:54AM

AXA says it is the first company to provide the Inland Revenue Department with a signed Scheme Provider Agreement to get a KiwiSaver product registered.

Managers wanting to offer KiwiSaver products have to get SPA certification from the IRD and then register with the Government Actuary.

AXA is one of the six managers picked as default providers.

IRD says 19 firms have expressed an interest in having KiwiSaver products and five existing work place schemes have indicated they may add-on a KiwiSaver scheme to their existing offerings.

Westapc enters distribution deal with Southern Cross

Westpac has entered into a distribution relationship with Southern Cross that sees the bank’s wealth, private and migrant advisors trained and accredited to offer Southern Cross’ range of VIP health insurance plans to Westpac customers.

Westpac currently offers customers comprehensive personal and risk insurance through Westpac Life and other key strategic alliances. The addition of this new service will extend the offering to Westpac customers to include health insurance.

“Anecdotal evidence from our customers suggested that having all their products under one umbrella was advantageous to them. This development will now allow us to meet that customer need and provide an enhanced customer experience,” Westpac’s head of wealth Tracey Berry says.

Finsia opens NZ office
Finsia – the Financial Services Institute of Australasia – officially opened its new Auckland office on Thursday.

Finsia aims to build a much stronger base throughout New Zealand, and become “the largest financial services professional institute on both sides of the Tasman.”

Finsia was originally formed in June 2005 through the merging of the Australasian Institute of Banking and Finance (AIBF) and the Securities Institute of Australia. Today Finsia has a global network of 20,000 professional members and over 15,000 students worldwide.

Tower asks S&P to withdraw ratings
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has withdrawn its ratings on the various holding companies of Tower Ltd at the request of the company. This follows the earlier finalisation of the geographical split between the Australian and New Zealand businesses and repayment of rated outstanding debt obligations.

Buy KiwiSaver guide
You may have seen the book Peter J's Guide to KiwiSaver which was profiled in a Sunday paper yesterday. This is a guide to KiwiSaver. To buy the book either go to the Good Returns' Bookstore or call 0800-345675.