Financial advisers may not have enjoyed the transition into a regulated environment but the experience will prepare them for future changes, a financial services lawyer says.

Research houses’ independence isn’t compromised by fund managers paying them, the boss of New Zealand’s oldest research firm says, and a fund manager agrees.

One of the themes this week was adviser confusion over their obligations when dealing with lower value advice.

Financial advisers need to promote the services they offer rather than designations that are meaningless to many consumers, industry commentators say.

 Local fund managers agree New Zealand should not follow a number of international economies and print more currency.
 

The Financial Markets Authority is looking at whether to issue guidance on lower-value advice to help clear up an issue described by one consultant as causing uncertainty for advisers.

Auckland-based adviser and former newspaper columnist Andrew Robinson has become the second authorised financial adviser (AFA) to be stripped of his authorisation.

The financial advice industry in New Zealand would be much larger if it weren’t for the axing of compulsory superannuation nearly 40 years ago, industry figures say.

Some streamlining of disclosure requirements might be useful but advisers are already able to put together small documents, according to Standard Set C assessor Angi Lambert.

One of the interesting stories of the week was about whether Authorised Financial Advisers are capable of constructing portfolios themselves or whether they should rely on products from manufacturers.

Many Authorised Financial Advisers are constructing portfolios with individual stocks and bonds despite not being qualified to do so, a finance academic says.

Simplified disclosure requirements, less volatile markets and less bickering between AFAs and RFAs are among the things advisers are hoping for in 2013.

Term deposit rates won’t move much in either direction in 2013 unless there are big economic changes either locally or globally, an economist says.

Rising house prices and the falling homeownership rate make it more important than ever that financial planners focus on housing costs as part of retirement planning, experts say.

Financial advisers are unlikely to get as much business from trans-Tasman superannuation portability as they have from UK pension transfers, experts say.

New Zealand QROPS providers and advisers can breathe a sigh of relief that they won’t be getting a repeat of the big changes they saw last year.