Items filtered by date: Tuesday, 02 December 2014

MediaWorks Investments says rebranding its TV product, and an obsessive focus on prime time local content and the 25-54 demographic will see the company move back to profitability - potentially this year

A promotional road show by Cadbury owner, Mondelez, will likely serve as a bitter reminder for many New Zealanders of what happened to Cadbury Dunedin, says E tū.

Responding to the rapidly growing demand of the Indian market, Singapore Airlines is now servicing North Indian city of Amritsar.

Independent milk processor Westland Milk has proven consumers’ key role in the company’s developing business strategies now the number three seller in the North Island.

The Kea World Class New Zealand (WCNZ) Awards has today announced six of its 2018 award recipients.

Change in New Zealand industry is a constant and while new technologies are adept at grabbing the limelight, our primary industries are also not standing still.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) today briefed the Finance and Expenditure Select committee on the Australian Royal Commission (RC) into Misconduct in Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry, and the response by regulators in New Zealand.The Australian RC was established on 14 December 2017 in response to a series of known, misconduct incidents widespread within financial services over a lengthy period. The RC is expected to issue an initial report in September 2018 and a final report, with recommendations, by February 2019.New Zealand regulators’ responseNew Zealand regulators have been monitoring the RC since it was initiated, and have discussed matters with Australian regulators on a number of occasions. The FMA has been implementing and supervising conduct regulation in NZ since the passing of the Financial Markets Conduct Act in late 2013. This was followed by the publication of the FMA Conduct Guide in February 2017. Our concern about the RC’s impact on confidence in our financial institutions and the potential for complacency in the New Zealand industry led us to take action. On 30 April, the RBNZ Governor and the FMA Chief Executive met with 16 chief executives of New Zealand banks, including the four major Australian-owned banks. We sought assurance that the issues identified in Australia were not evident in New Zealand.Following the meeting with bank CEOs, the RBNZ and the FMA, with the support of the Commerce Commission, wrote to 10 locally-incorporated New Zealand banks with major retail operations on 3 May, initiating a “review of conduct and culture by New Zealand financial services entities”. Banks were given a deadline of 18 May to respond. Notwithstanding that insurance has not featured in the RC at this stage, we wrote similarly to 15 major life insurance companies on 23 May, asking that they respond by 22 June.In our monitoring work to date we have not seen evidence of widespread, systemic issues to warrant a commission of inquiry in New Zealand. However, the work we have initiated may test this view.Assessment of bank responses11 banks provided their responses by the 18 May deadline. A joint working group of FMA and RBNZ staff is reviewing the responses. The Commerce Commission is also reviewing matters relevant to its remit.Initial observations· The submissions are generally extensive and for the most part appear relevant to our request.· Preliminary assessment has identified some variance in detail and the extent of work already completed and expected to be conducted in the future.· Some responses indicate a proactive approach to conduct risk, while other banks have not yet begun to fully embed conduct risk, governance or oversight into their operations. We will be following up with all the banks on these aspects.· The responses also cover: a description of internal and external reviews conducted in recent years future programmes of work to address a number of areas and provide additional assurance examples of issues identified and their remediation processes.

Following the initial assessment, we will be requesting further information and verification where necessary. A high bar will be set in meeting our expectations and demonstrating a sufficient level of assurance in regard to good conduct and culture. Currently we consider it is appropriate to prioritise our work on banks and life insurers, we haven’t made any decision as to whether to expand that focus in the future. It is important to note that a number of relevant legislative frameworks are already under review, and both the FMA and RBNZ have significant existing work programmes across a number of relevant sectors. As we progress our inquiries, we will also identify any areas within the framework for regulation of retail financial services where we consider there are regulatory or supervisory gaps or inefficiencies. We expect to report on these findings in October/November. This timing partly reflects the timing of the initial report from the RC, by 30 September, 2018.

UD Trucks has started sales of its flagship heavy duty all-new Quon in New Zealand. The all-new Quon further strengthens the company’s product lineup, responding to detailed customer needs and meeting demand from New Zealand’s booming exports in agriculture, forestry and fisheries and other products.

 Rolls-Royce has tripled the capacity available to fix problems with the Trent 1000 engine that powers Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, in a sign of the intense pressure the aero-engine maker is under from customers angered by disruption to flight operations.

Small Business Minister Stuart Nash has encouraged Wellington businesses to take advantage of new government initiatives, especially in the digital space, to make their jobs easier and free them up to focus on their products and services.