News Round Up: May 16

Adviserlink opens new centre in Auckland; AIA makes place on Heng Seng; NZSA welcome removal of Whimp hazard; Companies Office in Facebook first; Labour leader slams KiwiSaver plans.

Sunday, May 15th 2011, 1:20PM

Adviserlink opens new centre in Auckland
Adviserlink has announced the opening of its new Centre of Excellence in Auckland's Queen Street, the centre of Auckland's financial hub.

General manager David Cairns said the state-of-the-art centre has been designed to accommodate NCFS Level 4 and 5 qualification workshops, facilitate the uploading of evidence for Capstone C and provide induction for online CPD Central.

"For 27 years Adviserlink has been a trusted educator in New Zealand which is a proud legacy that we aim to uphold today and for the next generation of financial advisers. It is for that reason that we have invested heavily in the Adviserlink Centre of Excellence."

Adviserlink will maintain a presence in the capital, though learner support and assessment services will relocate to Auckland.

AIA becomes constituent stock on Hang Seng Index
AIA Group has announced it has been selected as a constituent stock of Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index (HSI), with effect from June 7.

AIA will be one of 46 constituents and the first pan-Asian life insurer to be included in the HSI with a 3.59% weighting.

"AIA is very pleased to be included as one of the leading blue chip stocks in the Hang Sent Index, only six months after our initial listing," said AIA Group chief executive Mark Tucker.

"To be acknowledged as one of the leading blue chip stocks in Asia and internationally is testament to the scale and quality of our business, the professionalism of our people as well as recognition of our strong market leading position as the largest pan-Asian life insurer."

NZSA welcomes removal of Whimp ‘hazard'
The New Zealand Shareholders Association (NZSA) has said it is pleased unsolicited offers to purchase shares by entities associated with Bernard Whimp have been permanently injuncted by the Court.

"Whimp is a well known commercial hazard who has now been stopped in his tracks twice in the last few days," said NZSA chairman John Hawkins.

"This is a good example of rapid, decisive action working as it should."

Hawkins said the NZSA had lobbied hard to see the establishment of the new Financial Markets Authority (FMA) despite considerable opposition from some groups.

"Even though it is early days, we see what has happened as tangible evidence vindicating the stance we adopted. It is already a quantum leap ahead of the previous regime."

He said the FMA had demonstrated it had both the will and the tools to shut down unfair and devious behaviour which in the past might have been ignored.

"This early action by the FMA is a small but important first step in restoring confidence in the capital markets," he said.

Companies Office in Facebook first
In what will be a global first the New Zealand Companies Office is to introduce new tools to search companies, directors and shareholders through their Facebook page.

The Companies Register search through Facebook will work in the same way as the search facility of the Companies Office website.

"If you conduct the same company, address, director or shareholder search on the Companies Office website as you do using our new search facility on Facebook you will get identical results," the Ministry of Economic Development (MED) said.

The companies search feature will be available on the Companies Office Facebook page later this month.

Labour leader slams KiwiSaver plans
Labour leader Phil Goff has attacked Government plans to make cuts in the KiwiSaver Member Tax Credits, saying they will hit low and middle-income New Zealanders.

He said the cuts would do nothing to address the economic problems facing the country and would hurt people trying to save for their retirement.

"There's nothing responsible or balanced about cutting our national savings scheme and financial help for families while refusing to touch the $2.5 billion a year John Key spends on tax cuts for the country's top earners," he said.

Blog: National governments seem to have a genetic disorder when it comes to savings schemes. They just don’t seem to get them and always make changes – often to the public’s detriment. [Read More]

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