Hello

Last week we brought you Russell Hutchinson's opinion piece on commissions. This has triggered lots of comments from readers. You can read what advisers are saying here.

In out People news we have Tony Vidler moving into a new role at Fidelity Life.

Today AMP has put out its half-year results and to round out the week we have more on regulation.

Insurance News

Standards for some advisers could be higher than first thought
The Code Committee has confirmed some issues around pending financial adviser regulation, but has suggested some advisers will have to meet higher educational thresholds than first thought. More

Surrenders hit AMP's life book
AMP New Zealand's operating earnings for the six months to June 30, fell 15% to A$23 million (or 9% in New Zealand dollar terms), largely due to higher surrenders resulting from the re-pricing of the term risk book in 2008, aggressive competition, and the weak New Zealand economy. More

Mortgage News

The past week has seen many changes to rates. We detail the changes in this story here and include a table showing which lenders moved rates and by how much.

The best news for borrowers is that a couple of banks dropped floating rates. The bad news is longer-term rates have risen sharply and now no longer look like being such good deals.

Perhaps the bigger talking point is the huge variation now showing between the OCR and longer-term rates. We have illustrated it well in this graph. No doubt it will add fuel to the debate over bank margins.

BNZ has also created news this week with the revelation that it is getting rid of all its mobile managers. We look at what this means for borrowers in this Blog: Bank continues unusual behaviour.