NZ News

The Financial Planners and Insurance Advisers Association (FPIA) has launched a Web site in an attempt to lift the profile of the organisation.

The Financial Planners and Insurance Advisers Association (FPIA) has launched a Web site in an attempt to lift the profile of the organisation.

Bernard Gresham, member of the FPIA marketing and communications committee, says the site is an ideal information tool for FPIA members and the general public.

“We looked at what we wanted to achieve and a Web site was the most efficient way to achieve our aims,” Gresham says.

“There was no option, really, but to create a site.”

He says the ultimate aim for the Web site is to meet all the internal and external market-ing and communications demands of the FPIA online.

Gresham says hard copy internal communications material should eventually be phased out as FPIA members become used to the Web site.

“For example we could send out our monthly magazine by email to all members, which could eliminate the need for a paper copy,” Gresham says.

He also sees the Web site filling an important role in FPIA branch communication, mem-ber registration, links with related organisations and continuing education.

“Members in remote areas often can’t get to lectures and presentations in the larger cen-tres. We could post the information on-line and perhaps get the member to answer a multi-choice questionnaire about it which could be used to get education credits,” Gresham says.

However, he admits getting the general public interested in visiting the FPIA site may be more of a challenge.

“Step one is to get an easy-to-use Web site in place and the next step is make sure the public uses it,” Gresham says.

“We hope lots of other Web sites, such as those run by the Retirement Commissioner, the Securities Commission and fund managers, will list us as the link to go to for financial advice.”

Once there, the public will have access to educational information, lists of FPIA members (including a brief synopsis of each planner) by region, and promotional material high-lighting the benefits of both the FPIA and the CFP qualification.

Gresham says the site will also be promoted through newspaper advertisements and in FPIA brochures planners distribute to clients.

The site may eventually be the sole Yellow Pages listing for FPIA members, leaving only non-FPIA members as individual entries in the phone book.

“It would be interesting to see if the public differentiate between FPIA members and other financial advisers who just list in the Yellow Pages,” Gresham says.

New Zealand’s Labour government has back-tracked on its pre-election promise to intro-duce an income tax funded superannuation fund in the face of parliamentary opposition.

Both the Alliance and the Green party, whose support Labour rely to remain in govern-ment, have indicated they would not support the proposed dedicated superannuation fund.

The dedicated fund was intended to partially pre-fund national pension payments (New Zealand superannuation) by setting aside eight cents in every dollar of income tax.

However, Finance Minister Michael Cullen says discussions are still continuing on other ways of creating a superannuation fund.

Cullen says implementing the dedicated tax is less important than securing agreement around partial pre-funding and removing the uncertainty surrounding the current pay-as-you-go system.

“What I am most keen on trying to establish is firstly a firm framework as to what future entitlements will be because I believe very much that stabilising that set of instabilities that we have had for a long time, will have a crucial, beneficial impact on private sav-ings,” Cullen says.

Head of the Investment Savings and Insurance Association (ISI), Vance Arkinstall, says he is very “comfortable” with the apparent change of Labour’s plan.

“Whatever path forward New Zealand superannuation takes needs widespread support and clearly the dedicated tax proposal didn¹t have this,” Arkinstall says.

“The ISI is pleased that Dr Cullen is taking a realistic approach and is not forcing it through at any cost.”

While the ISI applauds the on-going consultation Arkinstall says the uncertainty sur-rounding the long-term plans for New Zealand superannuation still need to be addressed.

The ISI will shortly meet with Cullen as well as politicians from other parties to gather a complete political picture of their current views on superannuation.

Arkinstall also says the Government has listened carefully to industry opinions on how employer sponsored superannuation funds should operate in the new tax environment.

Labour recently hiked up the tax rate for those earning over $60,000 from 33 per cent to 39 per cent but indicated it would allow the tax to be avoided if earnings over that amount were placed in an employer super fund, which are taxed at 33 per cent.

However, in order to stop abuse of this loophole the Government has indicated it will lock in the savings till retirement or put a cap on contributions.

“We’re pleased at the way our views on how the employer super tax should be handled have been listened to by the Government,” Arkinstall says.

“We are confident the Government will adopt an approach that is more sympathetic to employer super.”

The board of the New Zealand Investment Trust (NZIT) acted too soon in dismissing its Australasian investment adviser, Coronet Asset Management, according to Peter Irwin, investment trust consultant at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB).

After taking on the job in 1998, Coronet was recently replaced as NZIT adviser by BT and Fisher Funds Management.

Irwin says that while it is right for the NZIT board to be concerned with performance the last three years have been difficult for everyone.

“I don’t see what BT could have done that Coronet didn’t. But having said that, I haven’t yet met with BT or Fisher Funds,” Irwin says.

He says shareholders are tired of change and the board had other options available be-sides dismissing Coronet.

“It’s interesting that the NZIT board has changed managers three times in the last few years but the board, bar one, is still the same,” Irwin says.

Meanwhile, he says a recent tour of the country by two executives from Fleming Over-seas has lifted the profile of investment trusts in New Zealand.

More than 300 people, including a significant proportion of financial planners, met and questioned Fleming assistant directors, Peter Warnes and Andrew Watkins, on a brief visit to New Zealand.

“Peter and Andrew were impressed and surprised by the level of interest shown here,” Irwin says.

He says it was also a good opportunity for New Zealand investors to put a human face on investment trusts and expects more and regular visits in the future.