Weekly Wrap: Disclosure for winners

This week we had been expecting to see the government unveil new disclosure laws for advisers. However, this appears to have been delayed and now looks likely to be out next week.

Friday, November 23rd 2007, 3:52PM

During the week ASSET Magazine ran a session with some key industry figures where various issues were discussed. Full coverage of the Round Table will be in the December issue of the mag. One common theme which came through about who will be the winners and losers, was that advisers who are already prepared for the new disclosure rules will be winners.

The news theme this week has again centered around finance companies. The latest contribution being the release of the McDouall Stuart report. It is essential reading for anyone who is involved in this sector and is available through Good Returns.

At the big picture level the firm believes the sector is still quite sound, at what I would call the big end of town. This was something which was commented on more here.

However, there are issues around the fate of the smaller companies and also around the whole concept of ratings.

Good news from the finance company sector
It's pleasing to see that the finance company scene has been quite quiet recently and it is appears to be in a bit of a rebuilding phase. [more]

KiwiSaver is another one of our regular subjects at the moment. The Professional Advisers Association has surveyed its members on the topic and made some useful discoveries. These are in our report called "Advisers swing KiwiSaver choices".

Over at depositrates.co.nz we have a report on the Clegg and Co finance company failure and how the related party lending is going to hurt debenture holders.

For those using bank term deposits we have an update of the action here. The main theme is that a number of banks are getting into a battle for one-year interest at maturity deposits. We report on this and compare rates here.

The other battle in the market place is in home loans. However this is, as we report, a Silent War. While last week saw a raft of large increases across the board, this week has been remarkable for the lack of changes. You can compare the latest rates in our comprehensive table here.

There are a number of new offers in the market or close to being in the market. One which we feature in the Special Report section is Liontamer's first open ended fund. This is a fund, from its new parent KBC, which invests in water assets. (The ultimate in liquidity, I guess?) The fund is a bit different than its recent closed ended water fund. To find out more about this offering go to the Special Report section.

No Weekly Wrap would be complete without reference to the People section. Latest appointments are a new analyst at Vestar and some changes at AIG Life.

Have a great weekend.