News Round Up

Arcus rebrands as AXA; Leaky investments tribunal called for; Diplock joins global think tank

Monday, February 2nd 2009, 5:30AM

Arcus rebrands as AXA Arcus Investment Management is changing its name to AXA Global Investors Limited.

Since 2002 Arcus has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of AXA, providing investment management services to adviser networks, AXA superannuation and products via AXA to the Bank of New Zealand.

The change is due to the Arcus brand not being as well known as the AXA brand, which has a strong Global following and is well recognised within New Zealand.

"The change does not mean that AXA has changed the way we manage money. The same people are making the investment decisions and the reporting lines that are in place today will exist after the name change is implemented. We will continue to operate using the successful process and guided by the same investment philosophies that have been refined over the years," the company said.

Leaky investments tribunal called for
The EUFA organisation is publicly calling on the government to set up a tribunal to address investor complaints over collapsed finance companies.

EUFA co-ordinator Suzanne Edmonds says if it was good enough to set up a tribunal for leaky homes claims, then it should be good enough that one is established for finance company losses.

“Finance companies sold leaky investments and the money poured into the pockets of directors and lenders and left the rot to set in for investors. If a tribunal ruled that money laundered was to be repaid to investors, as is happening in the building industry, our economy may well rejuvenate quicker than is predicted,” she says.

Edmonds acknowledges that many laws exist to charge “the perpetrators” but there is no manageable forum for victims to take their claims.

“Rulings against advisors by the industry such as Institute of Financial Advisers do nothing to rebuild the economy, and investor rights are stymied by the unavailability of affordable recovery action,” she says.

Diplock joins global think tank
Securities Commission chairman Jane Diplock has been appointed to a high-level global advisory group looking at urgent financial reporting issues arising from the financial crisis.

The Financial Crisis Advisory Group was set up in December by the International Accounting Standards Board and the United States Financial Accounting Standards Board. Its purpose is to advise the boards about standards setting implications of the global financial crisis and potential changes to the global regulatory environment.

Diplock says that “restoring investor confidence should be the number one priority for standards setters when considering any changes to reporting standards”.

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