The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) is continuing their investigation into the sale of private homes to Loss Attributing Qualifying Companies (LAQC) involving a mail out of over 45,000 letters to LAQC directors. The issue at hand was first brought up by the IRD in a media release in the July of 2004, when the IRD voiced the concerns and objections to the possible practice of the selling of private residential property to a LAQC and renting it back, in order to claim a ... Read More

According to a report released by Forsyth Barr, stocks traded on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) are currently trading at a median of 33.2% below their true value. Even measured via a long run average prior to 2003, the NZX has been trading at a below value median of 8.2%, but this figure took an uncharacteristic sharp turn downwards in late 2007 to reach its current level of 33.2%. The NZX index has fallen over 1000 points since May, 600 of those ... Read More

The government’s proposed bank deposit guarantee scheme is planned to be instituted before the November 8th election. While previous government statements placed the timeline for the scheme as being before Christmas Day. This announcement seems to be a warning or an indication of intent so far, as there were a number of details omitted by Michael Cullen concerning the Bank Deposit Scheme. Predominantly the missing details are those surrounding the involvement and requirements from the Australian government and banks in regards. However, previous ... Read More

The Reserve Bank has cut the Official Cash Rate (OCR) to 6.5%. On Thursday 23rd of October, the Reserve Bank Governor, Alan Bollard, stated that the OCR is cut by 100 basis points, or 1 %, bringing the rate to 6.5%. While this move may seem counter-intuitive considering New Zealand’s recent level of high inflation, the aim of the move was to counter-balance the oncoming times of credit tightening and fears. Governor Alan Bollard said in a statement, that New Zealand is ... Read More