Listed investment company Salvus Strategic Investments plans to change its mandate and start to invest in Australia as well as New Zealand.

AIG Life (formerly AIA) has appointed a manager to help increase the insurance advisory capabilities of independent mortgage brokers.

UPDATED: Deposit Rates Report: During the past week a number of organisations have matched, or bettered, the rate banks are offering for investments of 12 months duration.

ABN Amro launches capital protected fund, Goldman Sachs takes stake in CFD coy, Turning loyalty points into savings.

Nathans Finance investors get glimmer of return, but it won't be until next year and it will be small.

This week we had been expecting to see the government unveil new disclosure laws for advisers. However, this appears to have been delayed and now looks likely to be out next week.

There is a mortgage rate war going on, but it's a silent one this year. Traditionally banks have embarked on big Spring campaigns to entice borrowers to their doors.

A foreshadowed bill bringing finance companies and other non-bank deposit takers under the regulatory wing of the Reserve Bank has been introduced into Parliament.

Investors in failed finance company Clegg and Co are likely to between and 70 and 85 cents in the dollar back, but could have ended up with a better result if it wasn't the state of some related party loans to the firm's principal.

Goldman Sachs JB Were has made the second major investment its Trans-Tasman Equity Fund, by taking a stake in Vision Senior Living (VSL).

The news for homeowners only seems to get gloomier at the moment. Right now mortgage rates are high across the whole market and they don't look like getting cheaper for anytime soon.

Auckland

While the finance company sector has been buffeted by collapses and a fall in investor confidence, it is still sound, according to the latest report from brokers McDouall Stuart.