[Weekly Wrap] Ross - case closed?

David Ross was today sentenced to more than 10 years' jail for running the biggest Ponzi scheme in New Zealand history.

Friday, November 15th 2013, 3:02PM

by Susan Edmunds

For aggrieved investors, no punishment will ever be enough but the sentence is harsher than that given to the Bridgecorp directors.

Those investors, meanwhile, are hoping the IRD will give them a refund for tax paid on fictitious returns.

Hopefully the jail sentence may draw a line under the mainstream media reporting of the case. It's not been good for the public perception of advisers.

But no amount of regulation will ever be enough to stop another crook coming through. This comes up time and time again, whenever I write a story about regulation. Over and over again, people tell me that anyone who is so wilfully deceiving investors is not going to be stopped by having a few extra boxes to (falsely) tick. Even those within the FMA have admitted that on several occasions.

DIMS came into the regulatory spotlight after the RAM debacle. The FMA has released more information about what will be expected as part of the new FMC licensing regime for DIMS providers. It's hard not to see it as more work for the willing compliers - and just another thing for the dodgy to dodge!

In other news this week, it seems that investors' risk appetite is returning - although there are still concerns that some people may not fully understand the risk they take when they look for better returns, Grosvenor wants to become a default KiwiSaver provider in New Zealand, and we were provided a snapshot of the industry by SiFA.

There was also some action on the mortgage front. The RBNZ issued a financial stability report that basically amounted to the fact that it's too early to know whether LVR restrictions are working - and worriess about the construction market may be misplaced.

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