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.

Financial Advice New Zealand aims to be “the voice for our profession and we champion financial advice to enrich New Zealanders' lives,” chair Heather Roy told the organisation's Thrive conference in Wellington.

The new government is reviewing a number of pieces of financial markets legislation to ensure it is effective and doesn't impose too great a burden on financial advisers, commerce minister Andrew Bayly told the Thrive Financial Advice New Zealand conference in Wellington.

[With VIDEO] A bare majority of actively managed New Zealand equity funds managed to beat the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 Index in calendar 2023 but less than a quarter managed to outperform over 15 years.

A consortium led by the Salter Brothers Tech Fund has launched a takeover scheme for small business lender Prospa Group backed by the latter's board that values Prospa at A$74 million.

nib NZ reported “robust” policyholder growth of 2.3% in the six months ended December but its underlying profit was impacted by high service cost inflation.

NZX says its Smartshares subsidiary grew funds under management (FUM) grew 32.9% to $11 billion in calendar 2023 with FUM growth excluding acquisitions rising 14%.