News Round Up: May 28

Financial services companies paying lip service to gender equity; CFA marks 50 in style; Govt needs to address overseas pension inequities; FSC expresses disappointment over KiwiSaver delay.

Monday, May 28th 2012, 6:00AM

New research from Finsia shows that financial services companies need to make good on their stated commitment to promote gender equity.

While the majority of men (63.9%) and nearly half of women (48%) respondents said that the promotion and advancement of women into senior roles was a priority in their organisation - suggesting that the financial services industry in New Zealand understands the business case for gender diversity - other findings in the research indicate that the reality has yet to catch up with the rhetoric.

About 70% of women are not convinced that their organisations are transparent about their remuneration systems and parity of pay between genders.

The research findings were announced in conjunction with the Bank of New Zealand, which is also launching a new industry body, Women in Financial Services Forum, in partnership with Finsia.

CFA marks 50 in style

The CFA Institute will mark its 50 years of teh Chartered Financial Analystprogme this week, by ringing the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange. It will also open the New Zealand Stock Exchange on May 29.

It will hold similar functions at 25 other exchanges making it making it the greatest number of stock exchanges worldwide opened or closed by one organisation on a single day.

The ceremonies set the stage for the following weekend, when more than 149,000 registered candidates from 168 countries will take the Level I, II and III CFA exams. The events usher in a year of celebration for CFA Institute, which offered the first CFA examination in June 1963.

Govt needs to address overseas pension inequities

The Retirement Policy and Research Centre says it is time to address some injustices and implement changes in the treatment of overseas age pensions that have been recommended by the Ministry of Social Development and the Retirement Commission.

As people are increasingly mobile, more overseas-born citizens are immigrating to and retiring in New Zealand. When they have an overseas state pension, they may be affected by New Zealand‟s direct deduction policy.

Even if they qualify for New Zealand Superannuation (NZS), some or all of their overseas pension may be deducted. Dr Claire Dale, co-author of a recently published paper from the RPRC says “it is clear that while no person should get two full basic state pensions, New Zealand‟s current policy works unfairly for many of the 50,000 plus people affected.

FSC express disappointment over KiwiSaver enrolment delay

The Financial Services Council (FSC) has expressed disappointment at the Government decision to defer a plan to auto-enrol all New Zealanders into KiwiSaver.

FSC members manage $80 billion of New Zealand's savings and chief executive Peter Neilson said the country already had a significant pension gap with Australia.

"The average Aussie worker will retire on a pension much higher than the equivalent in New Zealand. We need greater numbers of New Zealander's enrolling in KiwiSaver and contributing a higher proportion of their wages if we are to narrow the pension gap."

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