[Weekly Wrap] A bit of financial planning nostaliga

This week has had a tinge of nostaliga with some of the old names of financial planning coming into the news.

Thursday, April 17th 2014, 10:46AM

The first I wanted to mention was NZ Financial Planning hitting the news, NZFP has roots which go back to the start of financial planning in New Zealand and a number of its advisers have been influential figures on the industry. NZFP is cutting its ties with AMP which is interesting as its a move opposite to what seems to be happening out there. It is particularly interesting too in that they plan to build their own administration platform. Read what is happening here.

An additonal twist to the story is that one of its founders Greg Moyle has been the subject of many comments on Good Returns following a court judgment over the handling of a trust where he was adviser and trustee. Some of the discussion has been very useful and it is good to see many readers have downloaded the judgment.

Reading though the comments though it seems he has taken a bit of a hiding from his peers.

The second old-timer bit was the passing of Northplan founder Kelvin Syms. Northplan morphed into Vestar and ended up being sold for a hefty sum back in the days when finance company debentures where hot.

How the world has changed. It's not for me to comment on Syms other than to say he was a founding member of the financial planning community and I learnt from his obituaries that he was a rock n roller.

The third was that it was nice to see former FMA chief executive Sean Hughes comment on my blog about his successor - Rob Everrit. (You can read what he said here). And the next issue of ASST Magazine has an interview with Everitt. Keep your eyes out for it on your mailbox.

This regulation theme just won't disappear at the moment. Today we had a change of tack and returned to AML/CFT now a new guide is out on how to deal with it. One suggestion, from IFA president Nigel Tate, is that advisers should audit each other.

Meanwhile, SiFA member Robert Oddy says if the government's intention is to get rid of independent financial advisers then it should say so rather than inflicting death by a thousand cuts. (Those weren't his words, but probably sum up what he was saying - and others are feeling).

In other news:

Six long years waiting. Next week Guardian Trust is due to make the final payouts on two funds it closed in 2008
Teachers get financial literacy tools
And in mortgage news we show what's happening with the pricing of home loans and report that another bank is being added to Welcome Home Loans.

Have a great Easter

Philip and the GR team

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