Weekly Wrap: What advisers think of finance companies

Previously I mentioned advisers will be in for a bit of a rough time and this prediction is coming through. I see one of the weekly business papers has had a good crack at Vestar this week and I understand both TVNZ and National Radio are planning to air pieces this week.

Friday, September 21st 2007, 3:36PM

The other observation this week is that a number of people have commented on the commentators. The point is that some people are out in medialand making comments which are not particularly helpful or balanced and only increase already soft investor confidence. Chris Lee makes some comments about this which are discussed in Phil's Blog. Also in the Blog are some ideas about who should do, or could do, ratings on finance companies.

Good tyre kicking research required
Chris Lee is one of those characters many in the industry love to hate. However our survey of advisers show that many follow his research and comments on finance companies. [more]

One of the things Good Returns is doing is to get some good feedback from readers on issues. Two of the tools here are comments on Blogs and our surveys. Many people are discussing the Blogs and I know they have a wide readership. I would encourage you to take part if you have an opinion you would like to air.

Secondly we are doing more surveys. On Good Returns today we report on our survey asking advisers about finance companies and fixed interest investing.

Funds management and investing is as much about people as it is about the numbers. We ran a piece from Standard and Poor's this week which discussed the game of musical chairs going on in the Australian market. It is a good reminder to keep an eye on what is happening here and often when a key person leaves to understand how the firm will handle the changes.

Of course you can keep up to date with new appointments in our People section. Key announcements this week have been changes at Salvus and a new appointment for IRESS in New Zealand.

In the insurance space, Tower Health and Life rolled out some new policy this week including a move away from the traditional premium pricing model. Details are here.

This week the home loan market has sprung into life with Kiwibank starting a mini pricing war which started in the three-year term but has now moved to five years as well. While the banks are battling it out at the long end of the curve, non-bank lenders have been quietly lowering two-year rates. Full details and rates are in the Mortgage Centre.

Over in depositrates.co.nz we report on the latest rate changes, as well as other news relating to finance companies.