A bereavement and the funeral that goes with it will affect loved ones - both emotionally and financially. An overwhelming number of decisions need to be made quickly and often under a high level of stress. Even more difficult, is the added financial impact of having to pay for funeral arrangements - often at short notice.

In the space of less than 5 years, a2 has gone from little more than a rounding error in the NZX50 to one of the largest, fastest growing and most profitable companies. We wanted to give you an understanding of the company and why it has gathered so much attention.

Every day thousands of Kiwis work for charities or volunteer their time to support their local communities and make this country a better place. Unfortunately, the charitable sector can sometimes be viewed as an easy target for criminals. With fraud and cybercrime on the rise, International Charity Fraud Awareness week was observed from 21 October to 25 October 2019 aimed to promote greater honesty and awareness of fraud and financial crimes in the charitable sector and to share strategies for preventing it. 

Everyone has things they care about; a charity involving children, the elderly, animals, the environment, community services, health charities and many more. Perhaps you or your loved ones were supported by an amazing organisation, but you were unable to give back as generously as you would have liked in your lifetime. A bequest in your will is a great way to ensure their vital work carries on to support another person in times of need.

It has been a busy couple of months for our Private Wealth teams as we have had opportunities to attend some great events around the country and help many people put plans in place for their financial peace of mind. 

Trustees Executors is pleased to announce the appointment of Laurence Kubiak as an independent Board Director to support its growth and transformation strategy. An accomplished business executive with extensive global experience, Mr Kubiak has managed and built high-performing businesses in various sectors, including telecommunications, energy and technology.

Issues raised in an International Monetary Fund (IMF) report on New Zealand dating from 2017 have percolated through into the to-do lists of the Annual Corporate Plan 2019/20 and Strategic Risk Outlook 2019 published this year by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA).  

Of note regarding the FMA’s ambit of duties, custodians and wholesale asset managers were singled out for closer regulator attention by the IMF in its Financial System Stability Assessment (FSSA).  

KiwiSaver fees must come down. That is the main message of the FMA KiwiSaver Annual Report 2019 (KAR) released this October by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). The FMA not only wants KiwiSaver fees reduced, but plans to move from words to action on the subject. 

In November nominations will open for the 2020 Plain English Awards, which are organised by the WriteMark Plain English Awards Trust.  This is a golden opportunity for offerors of securities to expose themselves to the scrutiny of the judges in order to see who can win one of the coveted accolades.  

In recent days the British news media have reported that the suspended LF Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF), which has about 3.5 billion pounds worth of assets locked up inside it, will be liquidated, wound up and, starting from January 2020, funds returned to investors.