by Niko Kloeten
This week saw the end of an era for the New Zealand Mortgage Brokers Association (NZMBA), after its members voted overwhelmingly in favour of a merger with the Professional Advisers Association (PAA).
Like businesses, industry and professional bodies are reliant on the support of their customers (members), and must continue to provide value for money in the service they offer. And like businesses, these organisations need to adapt to changing market conditions.
The mortgage market is a different beast to what it was five years ago, and the new regulatory environment has had an effect as well. We can expect to see further changes in the professional/industry organisation space over the next couple of years.
Another organisation that responded to the changing financial services environment was the Investment Savings and Insurance Association (ISI), which this week was replaced by the Financial Services Council (FSC).
The change reflects the desire by its members, which make up most of the fund management and life insurance sectors in New Zealand, to have a strong financial services lobby group, an "800-pound gorilla" as described by FSC chief executive Peter Neilson. It is also hoping to become a pan-industry association.
Meanwhile, TNP's new professional association, TNPPA, said this week the number of advisers that had signed up had reached "double figures".
It is aiming for 100 advisers to be signed up by the end of the year, although it is hard to gauge its progress because "double figures" could mean anything from 10 to 99.
Also this week, Partners Life released its figures to Good Returns and they show it continued to grow its market share in the December quarter, increasing from 10.5% in September to 13.4%.
The newcomer ranked second in new business written behind Sovereign, overtaking OnePath Life which has made changes to its sales team.
In regulation news, Pathfinder Asset Management called for the FMA to focus its attention on investment statements rather than prospectuses because no-one reads them.
Another area of interest for the FMA is "fringe" investments that fall outside the Secrurities Act and other laws it is responsible for. Advisers can play an important role in ensuring people are informed about the potential risks, the regulator says.
The FMA has prosecuted a number of finance company directors and now investors are increasingly keen to sue them to get some of their money back. A litigation funder has been "deluged" with inquiries.
Finally, Heartland New Zealand said this week that New Zealand needs greater control of its finance industry. Naturally, it plans to play its part in that.
Niko Kloeten can be contacted at niko@goodreturns.co.nz
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