Friday 6th June
ING chief quits

Hi

ING chief executive Marc Lieberman has unexpectedly resigned and is to take up a position running the European operations of a large United States financial services operation. Click here to read our exclusive interview.

Good Returns was first to bring you the news that George Gould's company was in the process of buying Vestar. Well today we have a great follow-up story explaining what his company plans to do with Vestar and what role Vestar founder Kelvin Symes has in the business. I highly recommend you have a read of this piece.

Following the Budget, we reported on the bill the government was presenting to the industry for the privilige of being regulated. This bill was a surprise to most industry leaders and they had no idea about the amount or how the money would be raised from you – an industry participant.

This week we have sought further information from the minister on this and you can read all about it here. (A Blog was written on this topic earlier which has had quite a few posts. If you would like to add to the debate click here).

Another of the big stories was yesterday's announcement by the Reserve Bank on interest rates and its take on the state of the New Zealand economy.

The first wave of changes to home loan rates following the announcement are coming through. Changes recorded so far are cuts to rates from ASB, Bank Direct, Sovereign and Westpac. To keep up-to-date with what is happening visit the Good Returns Mortgage Centre.

Things are going to get interesting in the life insurance sector over the next few weeks. Good Returns understands there will be some interesting moves on premiums from one company next week, while ING Life is about to roll out some new product.

In Insurance News this week we have the latest column from Russell Hutchinson, and more details on how the new PIE tax regime impacts on life insurance. This week's Blog is worth a read too...it's about commissions and trips.

How ‘bout those commissions A story this week on commissions and soft dollar incentives paid to risk advisers caught my eye. The story, it’s here, is based on the independent report prepared for Tower shareholders in respect to GPG’s partial takeover offer. [more]

Our People section is busy and will continue to be so for some time. Appointments recorded this week include a new analyst at BT, three new directors at Planet Financial Services and changes at Equity, following Viking's purchase of the firm.

The deposit taking sector continues to generate news including Kiwibank's launch of PIE products, Bridgecorp's Rod Petricevic getting a big bill and investors showing confidence in Geneva Finance.

Other news includes a piece revealing that the government is going to have one last attempt at trying to reach an agreement with its Australian counterpart over the use of franking credits.

And our News Round Up includes: SSgA achieves ETF milestone; Sirius Wealth launches specialist portfolio; Guardians of NZ Super receive Auditor General's approval; Macquarie Reflexion Trust is 'sound'; GPG not to extent partial offer for Tower; St Laurence net profit up 21.9%