A controversial Christchurch, New Zealand-based businessman, who was once a director of a Headhunters-linked debt collecting firm, has declared himself bankrupt, Stuff reported. Richard Logan Freeman, a former heavyweight boxer and racing car driver, was put into bankruptcy on June 21. It’s understood he declared himself insolvent after the High Court awarded $350,000 in damages against him earlier this year for making defamatory remarks about earthquake advocate Bryan Staples.
Read more
Nomura Holdings Inc. announced business partnerships at home, Australia and New Zealand as Japan’s biggest brokerage seeks to move past a $2.9 billion hit from the implosion of Archegos Capital Management, Bloomberg News reported. Nomura signed an agreement with three regional Japanese banks to set up a joint venture to provide remote financial consulting services. It also struck up an alliance with investment bank Jarden Securities Ltd. to provide services such as stock and bond underwriting for clients in Australia and New Zealand, it said in separate statements on Monday.
Read more
New Zealand will allow quarantine-free visits by Australians from April 19, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Tuesday, creating a "travel bubble" for the neighbouring nations which have closed borders to the rest of the world to eradicate COVID-19, Nikkei Asia reported. Though most Australian states have allowed quarantine-free visits from New Zealanders for months, New Zealand has continued mandatory quarantine from its neighbour, citing concern about small COVID-19 outbreaks there.
Read more
New Zealand’s biggest bond rally in a year set the tone for moves across other debt markets Wednesday following declines in U.S. Treasury yields, Bloomberg News reported. Kiwi yields posted their biggest drop since the coronavirus wreaked havoc in March last year as traders curbed wagers for interest-rate hikes in the wake of government measures to cool housing prices. Bonds in Australia and emerging Asian economies also advanced while German bund futures signaled a firmer start.
Read more
New Zealand’s government took aim at property speculators with a suite of new measures to tackle runaway house prices and prevent the formation of a “dangerous” bubble, Bloomberg News reported. The government will remove tax incentives for investors to make speculation less lucrative and unlock more land to increase housing supply, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Tuesday. The moves come as surging house prices keep first-time buyers and people on lower incomes out of the market, raising concerns about growing societal inequality.
The New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has suspended the certificates of Pacific Aerospace, after it told the regulator it is insolvent, but operators of aircraft made by the New Zealand aircraft manufacturer may continue flying, Smart Aviation reported. The CAA says the aircraft manufacturer notified it on 10 February that it was insolvent, “and as a result, we suspended Pacific Aerospace’s certificates which had previously allowed it to design, manufacture and maintain aircraft,” the CAA says in a statement.
Read more
New Zealand is clamping down on property investors in an attempt to rein in spiraling house prices, Bloomberg News reported. The central bank said Tuesday that it will reinstate mortgage lending restrictions on March 1 and tighten them further for investors from May 1.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand said on Sunday that it was responding with urgency to a breach of one of its data systems, Reuters reported. A third-party file-sharing service used by the central bank to share and store some sensitive information was illegally accessed, the bank said in a statement. RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr said that the breach had been contained but added it would take time to understand the full implications of this breach. n August, the operator of New Zealand’s stock exchange was hit by cyberattacks.
More than two-thirds of mortgage and personal loans that had principal and interest repayments deferred due to the impact of Covid-19 were now "back to normal", says the New Zealand Bankers' Association, the New Zealand Herald reported. At the same time, nearly 40 per cent of those loans that had reduced repayments were now back on track. In March, in consultation with the government, the Reserve Bank and credit reporting agencies, all New Zealand retail banks offered loan deferrals for up to six months and reduced loan repayments to customers financially impacted by the Covid-19
Air New Zealand Ltd plans to draw on a NZ$900 million ($596.34 million) government loan within days to help it weather the coronavirus pandemic after reporting its first annual loss in almost two decades, Reuters reported. The funding injection will provide some much needed liquidity as the airline burns through cash, but it will come at a cost. Along with interest rates of 7-9%, the loan gives the government the right to seek repayment through a capital raising after six months or convert the loan to equity.