[Weekly Wrap] Unlikely allies may join forces

What's the big story of this short week? Probably the strategic alliance between the IFA and NZ Mortgage Brokers Association. Considering the NZMBA had sat outside the discussions between the various investment and insurance adviser associations (and arguably was sidelined from them in the early days), the sudden U-turn is intriguing.

Thursday, March 20th 2008, 3:23PM

It's been a little interesting too in the way it was handled, but more on that here.

Most of this week I have been in Wellington chairing a conference on KiwiSaver. One of the most exciting sessions was a panel discussion where a number of players from the fund manager world discussed what KiwiSaver can do for the New Zealand economy.

Their discussion and enthusiasm for KiwiSaver was quite inspirational. Of particular note was Tower Investments CEO Sam Stubbs, a proud KiwiSaver "zealot".
If what they say comes to fruition then KiwiSaver will be a catalyst to develop exciting new products and be a great source of investment into local ideas and infrastructure.

Sticking with the long-term saving theme we have some stories on Good Returns today about ideas on how the NZ Super Fund may change its approach to asset allocation and personnel changes at the fund. This story is useful, as the NZ Super Fund should be held up a role model for sensible (very) long-term investment thinking.

Also at the conference National's finance spokesman Bill English spoke. While he told us nothing about KiwiSaver, he did, as we report, say he would like to see all these new tax rules simplified.

Quest to be the biggest and the best
The announcement last week of a strategic alliance between the IFA and the NZ Mortgage Brokers Association was both unexpected and fascinating. [more]

Meanwhile, for those of us down at the business end of town, St Laurence is in the market, with a rights issue, to raise some funds to help it develop a couple of buildings. Besides the mechanics of the offer the comments of St Laurence boss, Kevin Podmore, are useful to note. He is reported as saying that he wants to raise the money now, while he can, as times may get harder as the year progresses.

On depositrates.co.nz, we have news of TSB getting an S&P upgrade and comments from IRD that losses from finance companies are unlikely to be tax deductible.

We have some good and not-so-good news in the Insurance News space. AIG has just conducted its Life Matters survey, which shows that the levels of cover are increasing – but they are still way too low. More details of the findings are here.

Have a great Easter.