Increasing financial challenges lie ahead for the Financial Markets Authority, but advisers should not assume that means they will get an easier time from the regulator.

New Zealand’s Government should step in and set guidelines for financial advisers’ commission, says Mike Naylor, of Massey University.

Staples Rodway’s asset management arm, Staples Rodway Funds, has entered into a  joint venture with Swiss fund management giant Gottex.

How to attract new financial advisers into the sector, and then how to keep them there, have been topics of discussion on the Good Returns site this week.

Being able to check a KiwiSaver balance online might be a double-edged sword, according to research by Massey University’s Claire Matthews.

Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler says if macroprudential tools are successful in managing house price pressure, or if supply increases, the official cash rate could stay lower longer than previously expected, or even be cut.

A fund set up by two former Hunter Hall managers is crossing the Tasman and coming to New Zealand. Jack Lowenstein, of Morphic Asset Management, provides some thoughts on international markets.

Low retention rates among financial advisers can be turned around with more mentoring and transparency, says Felicity Cain, adviser recruitment manager at AMP Financial Services.

New Zealand's economy is likely to grow by 2.5% over the next few years but high house prices are a risk, the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research says.

TOWER has announced it intends to distribute another $114.5 million to its shareholders once the sale of its life insurance business is complete.

St Laurence investors have had their massive losses confirmed.

Property commentator Alistair Helm has called for an end to CVs on residential property.

Ross Asset Management investors’ representatives have written to the Serious Fraud Office, asking it to investigate allegations of insider trading.

It is banks’ perceptions of the stability of the New Zealand housing market that advantages residential property investors, not any preferential tax treatment, the Auckland Property Investors Association says.

A woman at the centre of an alleged series of complex mortgage frauds was operating as a mortgage broker but was not registered, the Serious Fraud Office says.

Three conferences in less than two weeks - it's been a hectic fortnight for the Good Returns team and many in the financial advice sector around the country.