[Weekly Wrap] A couple of bloopers this week

A couple of firms had unfortunate incidents this week; a bank rethinks the role of advisers and we have a special reason to give a fund manager a few bob (even if you are not an AFA).

Friday, August 8th 2014, 3:55PM

One of the things that is not unusual to hear about is the costs and burden of regulation, particularly for an IFA. The IFA has tried to quantify this and put a number on it. As we report here it is more than $23,000 a year. My guess is that this is quite a big hit, particularly for many small, one man bands.

Meanwhile, we broke a story this week about how Westpac is changing the way it remunerates mortgage advisers with the reintroduction of trail commissions. There are a number of things I like about it. One is that they want to think about what we have called mortgage brokers as mortgage advisers. That fits with a theme we have been using on The Mortgage Magazine (TMM).

Another thing I like is that they are trying help advisers build sustainable businesses and reward them for servicing clients, rather than just acquiring them.

The third is a recognition of third-party distribution. Regular readers will know that I have argued for sometime that New Zealand banks seem to have focussed on direct distribution over intermediaries for some time now, most notably with home loans and KiwiSaver.

One shock this week was van Eyk suspending redemptions in some of its funds. It's not a good look for a company which is built around research and now plays in the funds management and advice space. While van Eyk are no longer active in the research space in New Zealand they did acquire the Perpetual advisory business, formerly owned by PGC, and used this to sell the funds in question.

Some people have also noted the issue is with an underlying manager, which has ties to PGC majority owner George Kerr.

This story was intriguing as while the FSC rolls out its fair tax campaign one of its associate members makes a payout to IRD over tax issues.

As a little something else you can support ANZ Investments David Boyle lose his hair!

Boylee is shaving off his hair for a charity called “Play It Strange”. Play it Strange was established in November 2003 to encourage young New Zealanders develop interests and skills in songwriting and musical performance.

After attending its 10 year anniversary Boylee says he was impressed with the stories that came from the parents and how Play It Strange helped their children find their confidence and self worth while unleashing their individual creative talent.

You can find out more about Play it Strange here.

And to donate to this worthy cause use this link. The big day is September 3.

And as a final note. Many thanks to all those readers who left comments on the Peter Hensley obituary. Clearly he was held in high regard and will be missed.

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