Pyne Gould Corp-owned finance company MARAC set the interest rate on its NZ$100 million bond sale at 10.50%.

New Plymouth

Aus-NZ mutual recognition on agenda; Suncorp A+ rating affirmed; New Morningstar methodology; An opportunity to diversify.

Debenture holders in Capital & Merchant Finance will recover no more than 8% of their investment in the failed firm, less than originally estimated, according to receivers Grant Thornton.

DepositRates.co.nz has compiled a table showing the rates on offer from the various PIE funds.

Liontamer has launched a new fund which is a bit of a departure from its normal diet of capital guaranteed product, linked to an index.

But in keeping with tradition the new fund is imaginatively named.

The Knockout Series One fund's objective is to provide a high potential coupon, which will be paid even if a particular sharemarket has low or zero growth.

The World Bank closed its New Zealand retail notes offer on Friday 11 July, raising the target issue amount of $100 million.

Financial advisory group Apex Financial is the latest risk-based firm to consolidate under a tighter corporate structure with the launch of its new brand, Share, this week.

Bronwyn Shanks, the recently-appointed general manager of Share, said 36 advisory businesses have signed up to the new brand, which was officially structured in January this year.

The government has rejected calls to standardise default KiwiSaver schemes as recommended in the Review of Retirement Income Policy.

The review, released just before Christmas last year, recommended that the government investigate whether KiwiSaver default funds should have the same level of fees, on the prescribed asset mix.

It also recommended that default KiwiSaver funds should, essentially, be the same "in order for KiwiSaver members to stand a fair chance of an even outcome."

Instant Finance says it has doubled its profit, achieving a net surplus after tax of $3.8 million for the year to March 31.

Since April 2007 the investment advisory industry has been hit with an unprecedented flurry of events – not many of which were particularly pleasant.