[Weekly Wrap] Gearing up for strong year

• Tweet

We've started 2014 by asking representatives of several sectors of the industry what advisers might expect from the coming year. The responses have been uniformly positive.

Friday, January 17th 2014, 2:29PM 1 Comment

by Susan Edmunds

Today, Jeremy Muir said there should be some relief from regulatory upheaval over the next 12 months - something that will probably come as welcome news to advisers who have dealt with year upon year of change.

While the rules are likely staying put this year, we were told to expect that 2014 would be the time for advisers to start making the most of technology available to them, and using things such as social media to their full potential. Commentators also said there were likely international companies looking to buy their way into New Zealand adviser groups.

The economy in general is set to flourish over the coming year and several industry commentators say advisers can expect to benefit from the likely out-performance of the New Zealand economy over the next 12 months.

The IFA also suggested this week that this year could be the time for professional bodies to seek more recognition from the Government, and perhaps even take over some regulatory responsibility.

But while advisers can look forward to what might be an easier year, there's a reminder that they still need to cover the basics - PAA president Bruce Cortesi says regular client reviews are a vital part of any business.

Something that I thought was really interesting this week was a satirical video made by a group of advisers in Europe. Proving that advisers have some of the same concerns the world over, it claims that banks hand out stock-standard financial advice to everyone, and urges people to seek an independent opinion. Check it out here.

On the mortgage front, we can expect all the good news about the economy to translate into a higher OCR soon. Whether that's this month or still a little while away is up for debate.

In insurance, Russell Hutchinson argues that blaming advisers for policy lapses is too simplistic, and Unimed has moved much of its investment, seeking higher returns.

Comments from our readers

Sign In to add your comment