News in Brief

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Financial Advice NZ Reveals 10 Business Partners 

Financial Advice New Zealand has announced the names of its ten new Business Partners for its partnership programme which it says is an investment in the sector by the sector.

The association launched the initiative in April this year and recently reported it had received excellent support (see: Business Partnership Programme Gains Support…).

The business partners include:

  • SHARE
  • Mortgage Link
  • Insurance Link
  • Fidelity Life
  • Chatswood Consulting
  • Platinum Asset Management
  • Plus Four Insurance Solutions
  • Kepa
  • Mortgagerates.co.nz
  • Partners Life

Banks Commit to Removing Sales Incentives for Frontline Staff

In the latest development following the regulators joint banking conduct and culture report last year, the FMA and Reserve Bank of New Zealand have announced that all banks had committed to remove sales incentives from frontline staff and their managers.

“Our review highlighted concerns about sales incentives for frontline banking staff,” says FMA Chief Executive, Rob Everett.

“Other banking jurisdictions are also focused on this issue and the commitment to remove these incentives in New Zealand is a significant shift for banks.”

He said they will now move to monitoring the banks’ progress against the plans they’ve provided.

“The real test of the success of these commitments will be the type of behaviour that is rewarded in the future.”

Reserve Bank Governor, Adrian Orr, added: “Culture comes from the top and boards and senior managers at our financial institutions need to be leading by example. Our review of bank plans shows there is still work to do at the system-level, but there is a much bigger concern and question about the culture being instilled and fostered at governance level.”