News Round Up

Monday, December 13th 2004, 6:43AM

The Task Force looking at regulation of financial advisers expects to have a questionnaire on issues out within weeks - possibly before Christmas.

The group met on Friday and Task Force chairman Michael Webb says it is still in “fact finding” mode – trying to scope out what people think the main issues are.

A questionnaire will be widely circulated to business, consumer and other stakeholder groups fairly shortly, he says.

COMBI 2 extended
Liontamer’s COMBI 2 fund has had its closing date extended by one week to December 17.

COMBI 2 is a capital protected fund which invests in commodities, including Brent oil, natural gas, platinum, aluminium, copper, lead, nickel and zinc.

It is for a three and a half year terms and has an “accelerated growth” feature where investors are paid 140% of the growth in the basket of commodities, or 1.4 times the price rise at the end of the period.

FAB's new workbench
Christchurch-based software firm FAB has launched its latest tool Adviser Work Bench.

Work Bench is essentially a customer relationship management tool designed for advisers.

With it advisers can keep their client contact information (emails, letters, phone calls) as well as record their investments and insurances in a secure online database.

Unlisted grows
The NZX’s competitor, Unlisted, celebrates its first anniversary today. Unlisted provides an online trading platform for small to medium-sized companies that want their securities transparently priced and simply traded.

Unlisted opened with three issuers and has since grown to 21 with 24 securities quoted and a trading volume now averaging around $130,000 a day. The total market capitalisation of companies on Unlisted is about $1 billion.

“We see ourselves as a stepping stone for companies that may one day wish to move on to the NZAX or ultimately the NZX,” manager Bruce Cossill says.

Eight brokers are currently registered to trade shares through Unlisted.

Code for credit raters
The International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) will soon publish a code of conduct for credit rating agencies to ensure a global approach to issues of concern to investors, issuers, governments and rating agencies.

The code will deal with issues such as how rating agencies should avoid or mitigate potential conflicts of interest, improve the transparency of the ratings process and protect their integrity and independence while dealing fairly with issuers, investors and other market participants.

CFA Society born
The New Zealand Society of Investment Professionals has changed its name to CFA Society of New Zealand. This move reflects the recent name change of the Society’s parent organisation to CFA Institute.

CFA stands for Chartered Financial Analyst, the prestigious credential held by more than 57,000 investment advisors, money managers and securities analysts worldwide.

The CFA Program is a three year graduate-level, self-study curriculum and series of examinations that test candidates in ethical and professional standards, financial statement analysis, economics, portfolio management and analysis and valuation of debt, equity and alternative investments. More than 180 New Zealand candidates are enrolled for the annual examinations in June 2005.

WIB accredited NZX participant
Westpac is the first bank to be accredited as a distribution and underwriting participant by New Zealand Exchange. The new arrangement allows WIB not only to assist its customers to list or quote securities directly on NZX markets but also to distribute and underwrite issues. Historically, WIB has used third party brokers to list debt securities on NZDX.

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