News Round Up

SCF ratings affirmed; BT adds to Westpac cash PIE fund; RaboPlus wins best 90-day offering; KiwiSaver to help future of financial literacy; Gould Wealth passes $250 million

Monday, June 30th 2008, 5:25AM

by Maddy Milicich

SCF ratings affirmed
South Canterbury Finance (SCF), one of the largest New Zealand-owned finance companies, has had its ratings of 'BBB-/A-3' affirmed by Standard & Poor's. The outlook remains stable.

The stable outlook reflects SCF's improved diversity of funding and liquidity sources over the past year and its efforts to manage a potential increase in non-performing loans, resulting from a softening property development market and higher interest rates.

BT adds to Westpac cash PIE fund

Three new features have been added to the Westpac Cash Plus Trust, which has attracted more than $100 million of investment in the 13 weeks since its launch in February.

Westpac's fund management business BT Funds Management (BT), which manages the fund, has introduced the following features:

Investors will not pay entry, exit or ongoing administration or management fees
All assets will be invested in monthly compounding deposits with Westpac, providing transparency to investors
An indicative daily interest rate for the fund's deposits are to be published on Westpac's website, to provide greater visibility.

RaboPlus wins best 90-day offering
Online banking service RaboPlus has won the best 90-day term deposit category in the Cannex awards, for the second year running.

The judges noted that it consistently offered the best return on $10,000 invested.

RaboPlus also had the highest average interest rate of 8.53%.

Its term deposits have also now been enhanced to offer interim interest payments for the first time.

"We have had a lot of demand for this enhancement, particularly from retirees who want to live off the interest and don't want to wait until the anniversary of their term deposit, or when it matures, before being paid interest," says general manager Mike Heath.

KiwiSaver to help future of financial literacy
KiwiSaver is being heralded as a tool to significantly improve the future of young New Zealanders' financial literacy levels, investment sophistication and record of saving for retirement, according to a BT Funds Management report.

Fiona Oliver, chief operating officer, says enhanced financial literacy will change the way Kiwis invest and impact positively on an overall economy.

Oliver believes as Kiwis' financial literacy improves, so does their understanding of the long-term benefits of being invested in growth assets.

"New Zealanders' current level of financial literacy and understanding of sharemarket fundamentals lags well behind [Australia and the United States]. As this knowledge grows, we expect levels of KiwiSaver investment in growth assets, such as shares, to increase," she says.

Gould Wealth passes $250 million
Vestar clients representing more than $250 million in funds invested have signed the new agreement with Gould Wealth Management.

The $250 million level, reached on 20 June 2008, represents around one third of Vestar clients. The dollar value is increasing by an average of $30 million per day.

Gould Wealth's purchase of Vestar is contingent on receiving sufficient funds under management and on various due diligence issues yet to be finalised.

Gould Wealth CEO Jeff Staniland said the company had been attracted to Vestar by the opportunity to fundamentally improve the offer to investors.

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