News Round Up

Sovereign launches regulation website; AMP considering its position on AXA; NZ sharemarket gains over: Pure Capital.

Monday, December 21st 2009, 7:55AM

Sovereign, has recently launched a website aimed at providing advisers with the facts around the impending life tax and industry regulation changes.

Sovereign Insider is backed by a dedicated team working solely on regulatory and tax issues. The initiative is designed to offer effective communication and education around these issues, and the implications for both advisers and consumers. With much concern and speculation circulating, Sovereign aims to provide a reliable, clear source of up-to-date information regarding regulation. Sovereign considers the Government’s regulation plans to be an overwhelmingly positive step for the industry, which will help to raise standards across the board. Sovereign Acting Head of Marketing and Product David Drillien said that anything that is good for the consumer is good for the industry.

“The new regulation will finally recognise the overwhelming majority of advisers who have – and will continue to – operate professionally in terms of offering advice to consumers.”

AMP considering its position on AXA
AMP says it was considering its position in light of the announcements by AXA Asia Pacific Holdings and National Australia Bank Limited.

AMP said its exclusivity agreement with AXA SA remains in place until Friday 6 February 2010, enabling AMP to take time to carefully consider its position.

NZ sharemarket gains over: Manager
Investors area being warned to brace for a potentially destructive market slump in New Zealand equities.

Pure Capital chief investment officer Anthony Limbrick questions the momentum and sustainability of a global recovery principally based on the extraordinary injection of monetary liquidity – against what will be a structural debt overhang at consumer and government level for many years.

“The bull move in global equities from the March lows has been pretty anaemic over the last few months – and for us this warns of a trend lower again. This could be a large, possibly even a violent move.”

From a fundamental economic perspective the prospect of higher interest rates, a persistently weak terms of trade, and over-indebted New Zealand consumers add up to significant economic headwinds – despite the glimmerings of recovery that have emerged in recent months.

“The New Zealand economy has shown some resilience with some good primary export news, but current economic settings are non-optimal for the markets and economic environment of the next 12 months. We think these could be a significant drag on growth. The New Zealand sharemarket will reflect this. Our analytics suggest the back of the year’s uptrend has already been broken”.

Pure Capital is a quantitatively-driven investment manager. It has $60 million in assets under management.

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Sovereign takes regulation bull by the horns »

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