Monday 24th of May 2004

New Zealand Commerce Minister Margaret Wilson and Ross Cameron, Australian Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer, today released a joint discussion paper on the trans-Tasman mutual recognition of offers of securities and managed investment scheme interests. "The proposed regime will allow issuers to offer securities in both Australia and New Zealand, using the same offer documents and offer structure", said Margaret Wilson. "The objective of the proposed regime is to remove unnecessary regulatory barriers to trans-Tasman securities offerings. This will promote investment between Australia and New Zealand, enhance competition in capital markets, reduce costs for business, and increase the choice for investors." "The regime proposed in the discussion paper is being developed as part of a general initiative for greater co-ordination of business law between Australia and New Zealand and is an important step in achieving a more integrated trans-Tasman financial market", said Ross Cameron. "A mutual recognition regime will reduce the costs of raising capital in both Australia and New Zealand while maintaining investor protection through appropriate disclosure." BT stops court proceedings
BT Funds Management has written to investors in its Australian products saying that it ... WELLINGTON, 18 May 2004 -- Superbank is on course to reach a quarter of a billion dollars in deposits for its SuperSaver product by the end of September. SuperSaver is experiencing exponential growth by redefining the term deposit market in New Zealand with its "Term Deposit Returns without the Terms" positioning. Deposits recently passed $150 million and new account balances average $24,000. Customers are adding SuperSaver to their portfolio as a complement to their existing banking facilities. With Superbank customer advocacy ratings at an extremely high level, they are also discussing the benefits of SuperSaver amongst networks of friends and colleagues with term deposits. "Customer advocacy is our most important performance metric," says James Munro, chief operating officer of Superbank. "Satisfaction surveys don't tell the whole story and often lead to complacency. The ultimate measure of satisfaction is whether or not your customer would put themselves on the line by recommending you and your products to a friend or family member, without any incentive to do so. Our customers do this in increasing numbers, telling their friends that term deposits are dead, proving that SuperSaver is not a me-too product. "Traditionally banks have talked of owning the total customer relationship and they achieved this by hooking the customer on a cornerstone product and then relying on customer apathy to gain the rest of the business. Those days are ending. Superbank products will continue to redefine product categories and will win customers based on being best of breed for their needs. If we were to end up fulfilling all a customer's banking needs, we want to do so because each product has proven itself in the minds of the customer as the best choice." Unit trusts taxation clauses to be included in Taxation (Annual Rates, Venture Capital and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill. For the new clauses and the explanatory note to the additions see Supplementary Order Paper No 210 from http://www.cch.co.nz/tax/leg/bills/billstoc.asp Submissions on the clauses in SOP No 210 close 4 June 2004. A reminder that submissions on the clauses in the Bill as introduced close this Friday, 21 May 2004. ........... Christchurch accountant Grant Perry McGowan has been struck off by the Institute of Chartered Accountants after the misuse of $246,000 of clients' funds. Mr McGowan, a sole practitioner, pleaded guilty to four charges on the eve of a hearing before the institute's discipline tribunal in Wellington today. The charges included: misconduct in a professional capacity, conduct unbecoming an accountant, negligence or incompetence, and significant breaches of the code of ethics. Mr McGowan was also ordered to pay costs of $41,738. Tribunal chairman Tony Frankham said the tribunal found Mr McGowan was "guilty of totally unprofessional conduct" and that he "played around" with the money of "vulnerable clients". "He put clients' money in high-risk investments and in investments in which he himself had a financial interest," Mr Frankham said. Mr McGowan had previously been severely reprimanded for a complaint of a significantly similar nature, Mr Frankham said. "There has been a pattern of offending." Mr McGowan had treated the institute's professional conduct committee "with disdain" by repeatedly failing to appear before it in the leadup to the case's referral to the tribunal. Neither Mr McGowan nor a representative attended today's hearing. The charges stem from complaints that Mr McGowan had made investments on behalf of a trust and an estate worth $246,000 without the knowledge or consent of the trustees. The names of the client trust and estate and the companies the investments were made in were suppressed by the tribunal. All the money had been repaid, but an unquantified amount of interest remained outstanding. DOM Bancorps m and a fund s and p hedge dfund index rapid ratings and b corp