NZX's first quarter earnings rose 23.5% on a 14.8% jump in revenue, chair John McMahon told the annual shareholders' meeting.

There has to be some question over the Flint Wealth management platform's future after Harbour Asset Management and Grace Sterling subsidiary Trustees Executors apparently refused to continue funding it.

ANZ chief economist Sharon Zollner continues to expect no official cash rate (OCR) cuts this year but other economists, including BNZ's Doug Steel and Kiwibank's Jarrod Kerr and ASB's Mark Smith, expect one cut late this year.

Resolution Life has said it will buy Asteron Life New Zealand from Australia-based Suncorp Group and the reported price tag is NZ$410 million.

Health insurer nib New Zealand doesn't think the current government has any appetite to provide tax breaks for health insurance premiums.

Shares in Australia-based and ASX-listed fund manager Platinum Asset Management plunged more than 20% after it said it was about to suffer the loss of at least A$1.4 billion in funds under management (FUM) and as newly installed managing director Jeff Peters implements a significant restructuring.

The numbers “aren't looking all that great” for the government's budget due to be delivered on May 30, but it is good news for bond investors, Fergus McDonald, Nikko Asset Management New Zealand's head of bonds and currency told an investment forum in Wellington last week.

Graeme Lindsay has decided to sell his insurance industry research business Strategy Research to Chuck Slogrove and the team at Trail Ltd from April 1 with Davies Financial and Actuarial engaged to do “the complex technical stuff.”

Financial adviser Kevin Smee has suggested it's time to rethink health insurance, including making premium tax deductible again to help take the pressure off the public system.

TMMO readers responded scathingly to accusations by the Commerce Commission that mortgage advisers are at risk of being “unduly influenced” by the commissions the banks pay them for placing mortgages.

Non-banks are pleased the Commerce Commission highlighted their crucial role in providing competition for financial services while the banks are pleased the competition regulator has highlighted the high cost of complying with regulation.

Liberty Financial, which owns Mike Pero Mortgages, and other entities associated with its 77% shareholder, Sherman Ma, won their appeal of tax charges, overturning an earlier decision in favour of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Business organisations and lawyers are panning the Financial Markets Authority's plan to focus its regulatory efforts on fair outcomes for consumers, with BusinessNZ calling for guidelines to be shelved altogether.

The Financial Markets Authority wants to work collaboratively with financial advisers and they shouldn't assume the regulator is out to get them when it's performing its industry monitoring functions, Michael Hewes, the FMA's director of deposit taking, insurance and advice, told the Financial Advice NZ conference earlier this month.

Banks are optimistic the new National Party-led government will be more business-friendly than the previous government but they would prefer the government to tinker with regulation rather than engage in wholesale repeal.

If the new government does bring in a single licencing system for the financial advice sector, it's unlikely to mean that those already holding licences will have to undergo another licencing process, Financial Markets Authority chief executive Samantha Barrass told Financial Advice New Zealand's Thrive conference in Wellington.