Weekly Wrap: Gongs, goings and joinings

The big story of the week is the proposed merger between the Professional Advisors Association and the Life Brokers Association.

Combined they would make the largest organisation representing life writers in the country. The deal makes good sense to me should it go ahead. So far the reaction has been positive, but no doubt someone will object to the idea! We have more on this, along with comments from the respective chairman, here.

On Monday subscribers to ASSET Magazine should be getting the March issue of the mag. The lead story investigates the stouch between the IFA and the PAA and is an article all advisers should read. If you are not a subscriber then please send an email or call 0800-345675 to secure your copy.

The other event of note during the week was the Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year Awards. ING took out the top gong for the second year running and also took quite a few of the sector prizes too. Good Returns was at the event attended by many of the senior people in the industry.

The dominant business story of the week has been the Reserve Bank's decision to lift the official cash rate. This has meant home loan rates are again on the increase. You can track what is happening in the Mortgage Centre.

You can feel KiwiSaver coming now. There is starting to be much more talk about scheme and more and more letters are turning up in the mail about it. It was interesting to see Alan Bollard's comments yesterday that the Reserve Bank is predicting take up levels will be low.

As we have reported in SuperTalk earlier others, including arch critic Gareth Morgan, have a contrary view. It's also good to see advisers thinking about KiwiSaver - I'm coming across more and more who are looking at it and the opportunities it provides their businesses.

If you want to know more about KiwiSaver there is a two-day conference in Wellington next week.

The Big Shake Up! If you want to Sell more, Sell better, Live longer and happier lives and Make your business more valuable then go to the PAA Conference in Napier next month. Conference details.

Last Friday Anthony Quirk ended his seven-year stint as head of Tyndall Investment Management. We have more on his departure in the People section, but we also have his final monthly market commentary in Features. In this piece he reviews what has happened in the markets in the past seven years.

Sticking with market-type stories we also have some comment from BT's economist Chris Caton where he discusses the recent "correction" in international share markets.

For those readers interested in the deposit taking sector (TDs, finance companies etc) we have news on a second payment by the receivers of National Finance 2000 to investors, also some commentary on rate changes. Following the OCR increase some banks have made some pretty bold moves. All the details in www.depositrates.co.nz