News Round Up

New book on understanding fixed interest; Options portfolio has happy first birthday; White knight delivers; Ginseng for all advisers; Unlisted happy with minister, NZX grumpy.

Monday, August 8th 2005, 6:48AM

Macquarie and Standard and Poors have put out a book to help New Zealand investors better understand fixed interest investments.

“Investors are now faced with such a daunting array of fixed interest products that they often don’t spend time getting back to basics, such as understanding the potential risks they are taking.” To order your free copy click here

Good start to Options portfolio
Fidelity Life’s Options Portfolio has achieved a return of 11.55% (after tax and fees) in its first year, exceeding initial projections of 10% net.

The Options Portfolio is a hybrid fixed interest investment using cash deposits, bills and other short-term financial instruments as security for writing leveraged options.

Fidelity chief executive Milton Jennings sees the high return from the Options Portfolio as “only reinforcing what an exciting investment the Options Portfolio is for investors wanting high returns in the traditionally uninspiring fixed interest investment sector”. Find out more about the Options Portfolio here http://www.goodreturns.co.nz/section/261.html

White knight delivers
St Laurence looks to have delivered for a number of financial advisers who, two years ago, asked it to step in and sort out a troubled property syndicate.

After it became involved with the Viaduct Carpark in late 2002 St Laurence developed a “rescue proposal” which saw the property move into a proportionate ownership scheme.

“By assuming the management of the property, St Laurence got the business onto a more viable and sustainable footing which increased the value of the property.”

It now has a $12 million offer on the property which is “well in excess of our initial price expectation and of the property’s current valuation,” St Laurence’s managing director Kevin Podmore says. "We consider that the sale of the property is in the best interests of investors and, accordingly, recommend that they approve the sale.”

Unlisted happy, NZX grumpy
Unlisted has won a reprieve from the Minister of Commerce Pete Hodgson and will neither close nor be regulated.

“We are delighted the government agrees that Unlisted has a legitimate position within New Zealand’s broader capital markets,” Unlisted chairman Bevan Wallace says.

“Any uncertainty regarding the future of Unlisted has been removed and we can all move forward. The Minister’s decision means we can approach the future with confidence, and can look at introducing additional product features for our customers.

One change though is that Unlisted will have to make sure investors know it is an unregistered trading facility.

Meanwhile Unlisted’s rival NZX isn’t that happy with the decision. It put out a terse press release saying it was unhappy with the decision and that it “will continue to focus on, and fight on behalf of, investor protection.”

"NZX is committed to investor protection. In this respect the co-regulatory environment in New Zealand works well, and is the right way to go for a market of growing size and complexity such as ours. However, we recognise that the Minister and policymakers have come under increasing pressure from the Unlisted lobby to allow them to continue operating outside that environment." NZX chairman Simon Allen says.

Ginseng for all advisers
The company offering shares in a crop of New Zealand-grown ginseng has confirmed all financial advisers are able to participate in commission sales.

Clean Green Ginseng director Mal Singh says a 4% sales commission was being offered, which he described as "at the upper end of commission arrangements".

Singh said some members of the financial services industry had assumed the ginseng investment was exclusive to Money Managers franchises.

"Doug Somers-Edgar is involved as a promoter and as an investor, and most Money Managers' branches are supporting it, but it is not an exclusive product," he said.

Banking Ombudsman review
The chairman of the Banking Ombudsman Commission, Sir Ian Barker, announced a wide-ranging independent review of the banking ombudsman scheme, to be conducted by Judge Anand Satyanand, a former Parliamentary Ombudsman and district court judge.

The Office of the Banking Ombudsman was established in July 1992 and played a trail-blazing role as the first ombudsman scheme to be introduced in this country outside the public sector.

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Sovereign takes regulation bull by the horns »

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