Geneva Finance managing director David O'Connell wrote down the possibility of winding down the company in a letter to investors telling them the finance company's banking facilities are set to expire in 2015.

The direction for house prices is down in what is a cooling market, according to ANZ's 10 property gauges.

The government is keen on resuming the issuance of inflation-indexed bonds and is considering increasing the range of debt securities offered by the New Zealand Debt Management Office.

This year is set to be the year of consolidation amongst non-bank deposit takers after a dismal 2009 when the sector racked up more than half a billion dollars worth of losses.

Prospective qualifying financial entities (QFEs) are laying the groundwork to pitch themselves to advisers as the looming regulation deadlines draw nearer in what was always going to be an inevitable result of the legislation.

The directors of failed finance company Bridgecorp heard the charges against them at a depositions hearing in the Auckland District Court today.

Failed finance companies have netted PricewaterhouseCoopers more than $10 million since the sector collapse started in 2006.

Strategic Finance is mulling over a similar debt-for-equity route that got Hanover Finance and its associated companies out of trouble last year as the threat of receivership hangs over its head.

The new Commissioner for Financial Advisers, David Mayhew, is pleased with the level of engagement by industry and he is confident the sector is embracing the move towards professionalising adviser roles.

South Canterbury Finance faces a billion dollar liquidity risk this year and it is banking on getting accepted into the government's extended guarantee scheme to help ease some of the strain.

AXA New Zealand increase insurance sales before tax changes boost the cost of life insurance from July.

AXA New Zealand's new owners, regardless of who they are, have no reason to mess with a winning formula, according to the life insurer's chief executive Ralph Stewart.

House values rose 4.4% in the year through January in what was a "patchy" first month for 2010.

UPDATED: Investors in the Equitable Mortgage Income Trust are quietly shuffling into debentures as the group winds up its Mortgage Income Trust.

The Reserve Bank's harsher liquidity controls on banks has fuelled the tough competition for customer deposits, even as consumers become more reluctant to put their money in the bank.

The Reserve Bank is considering introducing new liquidity controls for non-bank deposit takers as part of the new prudential regime which comes into effect next month which require firms have risk management plans.