[The Wrap] Gotta love disruption; New life for old war horse; What we weren't meant to tell you about

There's been a theme of disruption to financial services this week, and it's one worth keeping an eye on. While new ways of doing things have been in the news, so to is the future of an old warhorse. And of course the week wouldn't be complete without more discussion on the proposed new code of conduct for financial advisers.

Friday, July 27th 2018, 2:31PM

Pie Funds entry into the KiwiSaver space is one of those stories which highlights the on-going disruption taking place in financial services. But it's not the only story of this ilk during the week.

Over on our mortgage site, tmmonline.nz we report on new developments at John Bolton's peer to peer lending business, Squirrel.

These stories are more than a reminder to advisers and others that financial services is in a constant stake of change now.

On the other side you could argue that this story, about the future of AMP, signals more changing of the guard. Despite the troubles its Australian parent having it appears that plans to divest itself of the New Zealand operations are steaming along. Interestingly, it appears from the grape-vine that the potential new owner maybe a life company out of China.

It's not the first offshore player who has looked at the New Zealand insurance market recently. US-based Blackstone made a significant cash injection into Partners Life, and Canadian-based Fairfax Financial Holdings made an, unsuccessful bid for Tower Insurance.

For advisers the Code Working Group still continues to be a hot topic. Our story this morning, and the comments made on it, are well worth a read.

There are some clearly unresolved questions around the definition of advice and what qualifications will be needed in the future. To get an idea where things may head have a look at this story,

Also this week, apparently we were not meant to tell you but we did, that a group of advisers met with the CWG to provide some input into its development. My guess is that this initiative will lessen the chances of Financial Advice NZ getting a seat at the table. It's probably fair to assume that since the request was made nearly a month ago and the Minister hasn't made a decision then he sees no real need to add another committee member.

We may find out next week when the association has its first formal meeting with the Minister Faafoi.

Also, next week looks to be another interesting one as the Parliamentary Select Committee considering the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Bill (FSLAB), is due to report its findings.

Tags: Opinion