Finance company enquiry not about redress: Dalziel

"The type of inquiry EUFA (Exposing Unacceptable Financial Activities) and some committee members want is not the kind of inquiry the committee can hold," committee chairman Lianne Dalziel says. "That's for the regulators."

The committee convinced Commerce Minister Simon Power to ask the Ministry of Economic Development to prepare a report into the moratoria of finance companies in May, and last month Power announced plans to improve disclosure regulation around finance company moratoria.

Dalziel said while there was some crossover on the issue of moratoria between the government's review and the parliamentary inquiry, the committee would put more emphasis on investigating whether management should be able to retain their positions if a company goes into moratorium.

In March, Registrar of Companies Neville Harris issued a damning assessment of New Zealand's failed finance companies, likening their practices to "Ponzi schemes."