I was fortunate yesterday to attend some of the Mortgage Finance Association of Australia’s broker conference in Sydney yesterday.

Partners Life is interested in pursuing any acquisition opportunities in the market, including but not limited to ANZ's OnePath, its managing director Naomi Ballantyne said.

IDS founder Barry Read is taking a job as general manager of an advisory firm, three months after his firm joined forces with Strategi.

Salt Funds Management is working to replace one of its key staff members.

Advisers will probably find it easier to sit the level five qualification than to try to meet the new competence standards any other way, one training specialist says.

AMP says the process that could result in the sale of its New Zealand business is taking a back seat while it works through the fallout from Australia's Royal Commission.

Former National Party MP and chief executive of the Funeral Directors Association, Katrina Shanks, has been named as the first CEO of Financial Advice New Zealand.

This week's newsletter is heavily focused on banks. Adrian Orr presented his first Monetary Policy Statement as Governor of the Reserve Bank and it may well be best remembered for the puns.

The Official Cash Rate (OCR) will remain at 1.75% for some time to come.  The direction of our next move is equally balanced, up or down. Only time and events will tell.