The Reserve Bank has released a Bulletin article reviewing the outcomes of the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) latest Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) for New Zealand. An FSAP is a comprehensive review of a country’s financial system against international standards, with a particular focus on the quality of financial sector regulation. The Bulletin article explains the considerable amount of preparatory work that the Reserve Bank and other New Zealand agencies undertook to support the IMF’s two missions to New Zealand in 2016. The results of the IMF’s assessment were released in early May 2017. They included more than 100 recommendations, many of them directed at the Reserve Bank given its broad range of financial system responsibilities. The Reserve Bank is actively considering the recommendations in its areas of responsibility and the extent to which these would support the Reserve Bank's statutory purpose of promoting and maintaining a sound and efficient financial system. Many of the specific FSAP recommendations dovetail with on-going policy and supervisory initiatives. Examples include the bank director attestation review, the review of registered bank capital requirements, legislative reform for the financial markets infrastructure regime, the review of the Insurance (Prudential Supervision) Act, and the five-year anniversary review of the macro-prudential policy framework in 2018. More information· Bulletin - Outcomes of the 2016 New Zealand Financial Sector Assessment Programme· Financial Sector Assessment Programme· IMF Financial System Stability Assessment (PDF 1.6MB)
| ARBNZ release || July 20, 2017 |||
Emirates Team New Zealand’s (ETNZ) win of the America’s Cup is a tremendous sporting victory, but it is also a victory for brand New Zealand, particularly when it comes to shifting international perception of who we are as a country. While the common associations with beautiful scenery and amazing food are positive, we know that as a country, we have so much more to offer the world.
The America’s Cup has helped position us as a smart and innovative nation, filled with entrepreneurs and world-leading tech companies. That’s’ because off the back of ETNZ’s incredible win, there’s an extraordinary story to tell about some of the New Zealand companies whose technology has played a role in helping return the Auld Mug to our shores.
Exclusive Mfat report lays out case for pavilion in 2020, writes Nicholas Jones in The New Zealand Herald 20 Jul 2017
Emirates’ sponsorship of America’s Cup winners Team New Zealand was cited as part of a case for participation in a Dubai expo that will cost taxpayers $53 million, documents show.
Other factors cited for giving “serious consideration” to committing to Expo 2020 included growing defence and security links with the United Arab Emirates — which Dubai is part of — and the economic value of Emirates’ daily flights to New Zealand.
An October 2016 scoping update from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Mfat) said the UAE was a political partner in the region, not only from a trade and economic perspective but increasingly in defence and security.
“The UAE has a strong commitment to New Zealand, evidenced by its increased engagement, including development partnerships in the Pacific on renewable energy, investment (e.g. Precinct Properties and significant progress toward a new food security fund), and spon- sorship of Emirates Team New Zealand since 2004,” states the report, released to the Herald with other documents under the Official Information Act.
The Emirates Group is owned by the Dubai Government’s investment corporation.
The National Government put $5m into the recent Team NZ campaign. National criticised the thenLabour Government for agreeing in 2007 to put $38m into Team NZ.
The documents outline the incredible scale of the Dubai expo, which will run from October 2020 to April 2021.
New Zealand’s pavilion could host more than 4.5 million visitors.
The expo will be attended by about 25 million visitors, with up to 75 per cent expected from Germany, Britain, Russia, China, India and Africa.
The UAE will spend close to $12 billion on supporting infrastructure, including the world’s largest airport, 500 new hotels and five new amusement parks.
Act leader David Seymour has been critical of the expo spending, and said the reasons given to support it would make Robert Muldoon “cackle from the grave”.
“His ghost lives on with these silly ideas that all the New Zealand economy really needs is a few very clever politicians to spend our money in the right places,” Seymour said, adding that extreme wariness was needed when considering any cost-benefit analysis.
“You can prove anything if only you let the ever-widening circles of flow-on effects go wide enough.”
Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee said the reference to the Team NZ sponsorship and other commercial and regional links were given as examples of the breadth and strength of the NZ-UAE relationship, and how the UAE has sought to strengthen those ties.
“Participation at Expo 2020 presents a unique opportunity to showcase New Zealand’s innovative products and services . . . our participation at Shanghai in 2010 was a huge success.”
The documents released by Mfat officials also said accepting the invitation would aid efforts to secure a free trade agreement with the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC).
Progress on getting the deal over the line has stalled after fallout between Qatar and other council members, but Brownlee said the Government’s focus on concluding an FTA hadn’t changed.
A Treasury panel pushed for a “small size” option to go to Cabinet, similar to New Zealand’s presence in Aichi in 2005 which cost $8m. The “modest” option of $53.24m was selected because it would enable hosting of visitors. New Zealand budgeted $30m for Shanghai.
Mfat officials noted the combined economic value to New Zealand of the five daily Emirates A380 flights is estimated to exceed $700m a year.
In an impact analysis, officials estimated being at the expo would mean a greater likelihood of more international flights coming to New Zealand, bringing forward the arrival of these flights from about 2025 to 2020.
Estimated benefits included an extra 1 per cent a year in inbound foreign investments from the GCC region and a boost to the number of international students and tourists from the region.
The analysis assumed not being at the expo would see the annual economic growth rate for foreign investment from the GCC drop from 4.95 per cent to 2.48 per cent for five years.
| Arelease || July 20, 2017 |||
Following a two-year hiatus, the Google Glass augmented-reality headset has made a comeback, and is being targeted exclusively at businesses.
Google suspended sales of Glass at the start of 2015 in order to rethink its development.
But yesterday, the team behind the wearable made an announcement on Medium that after a two-year testing period, the headset – now named Glass Enterprise Edition – is being made available to all businesses.
This could see Glass become a competitor to other augmented-reality headsets already on the market, such as Microsoft's HoloLens, which is already favoured by the architecture and design industries.
"Glass, as you might remember, is a very small, lightweight wearable computer with a transparent display that brings information into your line of sight," project lead Jay Kothari wrote in the post.
"In a work setting, you can clip it onto glasses or industry frames like safety goggles so you don't have to switch focus between what you're doing with your hands and the content you need to see to do your job."
The updated design appears much the same as the original, but Kothari says the battery life is improved, and that it is lighter and more comfortable to wear for long periods of time.
Kothari also revealed that a two-year testing period had seen over 50 businesses across the manufacturing, logistics, field services and healthcare industries implement Glass into their working process.
Among them were DHL, Boeing and Volkswagen, which all reported positive feedback from workers – something that prompted Google to make it a widely available business tool.
"We first saw signs of Glass' potential for businesses in the Glass Explorer days," said Kothari. "We're looking forward to seeing more businesses give their workers a way to work faster and in a more focused way, hands-free."
Augmented-reality tools are already being used in some architecture and design practices. Greg Lynn, who used Microsoft HoloLens to design his contribution to the US Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2016, told Dezeen that the technology was set to "change the way architects work".
Glass has proved controversial since it was previewed in 2013. After it was unveiled, the UK government considered banning drivers from using the augmented reality eyewear behind the wheel of their car.
In March 2014, the headsets hit the headlines again when a woman was attacked in a San Francisco bar for wearing the device and the technology was accused of "killing" the city.
| A deZEEN release || July 19, 2017 |||
Taking place in Brussels between 25-28 September, the printing specialist will display up to three narrow- mid-web in line UV flexo printing presses including the M5X, the M1 and the M6 lines.
Visitors to the stand will also learn about the range of web-fed solutions Bobst offers in the different segments of the label industry.
These include developments in CI flexo, gravure printing and lamination, which are suited for customers looking for efficiency in short run production.
As well as the inline flexo presses showing incremental innovations to continuously increase the equipment performance, Bobst also has a brand new development in store.
“It relates to packaging and we are keeping it under wraps,” said Matteo Cardinotti, managing director of Bobst Firenze and head of narrow & mid-web multi-process product line. “But mum’s the word until Labelexpo, when all will be unveiled during a dedicated event that will take place on the Bobst stand on the evening of the first show day, on 25th of September.”
| A Packaging World release || July 19, 2017 |||
AFT Pharmaceuticals now licensed in 124 countries worldwide
Asia drives new dairy industry
Hawaiki picks McKay to build Northland cable landing station
Government launches plan to close gender pay gap
NZManufacturer July 2017 Edition released
Earth is becoming 'Planet Plastic'
UPDATE: Fletcher dumps Adamson in face of investor dissatisfaction; Binns stays mum
Fletcher Building chief executive steps down
Kitset plane no flight of fancy
Nine-hour turnaround at port for 266m container vessel
NZTech expansion another sign of rampant tech sector growth
Chocolate business booming for Whittaker's but not expanding to Dunedin
The substantial growth of the country’s umbrella tech organisation NZTech is indicative of the rapid expansion of the nation’s fastest growing industry, says its chief executive Graeme Muller. NZTech has its eighth annual meeting in Auckland today and NZTech now represents more than 400 organisations across the New Zealand technology landscape who collectively employ 100,000 people. “Our members are startups, local tech firms, multinationals, education providers, financial institutions, major corporations, network providers and high-tech manufacturers. Our goal is to stimulate an environment where technology provides important social and economic benefits for New Zealand,” Muller says. “There is significant growing awareness of the importance of technology for New Zealand’s future prosperity, not just as a sector, but its impact throughout our economy. “NZTech will continue to raise the profile of the tech sector as a place to work, a place to create and export ideas and as a critical pillar of the New Zealand economy. “Technology is critical for the future prosperity of New Zealand. The tech sector now employs six percent of the country’s workforce. It is the fastest growing segment of our economy generating eight percent of our GDP and nine percent of our exports. “However, it is the actual use of technology that will truly drive prosperity for New Zealand. Better use of the Internet could result in $34 billion in economic growth, better use of IoT could be worth more than $2.2 billion across nine use cases alone and smarter use of data could be worth $4.5 billion.” Board chair Mitchell Pham says NZTech’s rapid expansion can be seen in national alliances with the new AI Forum, FinTechNZ, IoT Alliance and NZTech startups communities. “Our existing regional connections such as with Canterbury continue to strengthen, while new ones being fostered and developed include the Bay of Plenty and Waikato,” Pham says. “The government continues to be actively involved with the tech sector as we work together to develop our international positioning as a leading digital nation,” he says.
Planning is already underway to expand NZTech's Techweek festival in 2018 to attract hundreds of international investors and tech talent to New Zealand's showcase tech and innovation event next May.
| A MakeLemonade release || July 20 2017 |||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242