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Philip Macalister
Philip Macalister
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[The Wrap] One good deal; One dud deal

Friday 19th of August 2022

News Japanese insurer Dai-ichi Life had acquired Partners Life at a price close to $1 billion surely should silence some of the critics.

Partners has been one of those companies which has polarised advisers, with some people being quite critical of its actions over the years. The simple fact Dai-ichi Life has agreed to buy the business, and pay a significant price demonstrates clearly that Partners Life is a damn good business and that well-run life insurance companies are valuable investments.

AMP shareholders must look at this with some disbelief and wonder what happened to its business. How come a company which was a leading life insurer was sold at lower valuations and then put into a wind down process.

Partners is the third life insurance company Ballantyne has been involved in establishing and most probably her last. Twelve years ago when Partners Life started the founders were clear that they were establishing a business that, at some point in the future, they would exit. 

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FMA outlines its latest expectations for advisers
Paul Flood: The danger is that the 'goalposts' (regarding what is acceptable or unacceptable adviser conduct) may be susceptible to change. Our 'Principles based' legal/regulatory environment lends itself to “prevalence-induced concept change” over time, perhaps not so much in the written laws and Code, as in the interpretation of the prescribed principles.
4 hours ago Steve Wright
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Just a tip, if you use more than six, six letter words in a sentence you lose most Kiwi's. So avoid client/adviser confusion when writing your post or article if you would like it read and understood. Ironically, my last sentence was not likely read.
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FMA outlines its latest expectations for advisers
All things said are great aspirational goals for a great financial advice industry, it mirrors what both the legislation and the code requires. However, like most things discussed it talks about what's expected not how it's done. The hardest aspect of financial advice today isn't what it is, it is how it is done. The how only comes from those that have done it, the how is only provided with examples. Guidance documents that spell out what's required along side how it it done. We’re still dealing with the same issues we started with in 2021, figuring out the how. And figuring out the how in every advice business is consuming resources that could easily be shortcut by the FMA demonstrating what they are expecting. It's not about “do it this way” its about this is the sorts of things we’re looking for. In the absence of standards and expectations, guesswork prevails. That represents significant risk to FAPs and the result is onerous overcooked advice processes for multiple advice operations and undercooked she’ll be right for single operators focused on getting the work done. Both approaches have potential for harm and as its been said earlier, leaves advisers open to explain they haven't been speeding with the authorities have pulled them over. The advice industry needs guidance on the how we know the what already.
2 days ago Jon-Paul Hale
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To correct errors in my previous post: "policies, templates, and controls" should read "policies, processes, systems and controls", and "is more conductive" should read "is more conducive".
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