Finance

By Paul McBeth Oct. 22 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand Refining, operator of the country’s only oil refinery, added an extra US cent to its margins from recent upgrades, and anticipates further gains from a bigger project to be completed next month. The Whangarei-based company has lifted margins 13 US cents per barrel from a series of initiatives aimed at lifting …

By Paul McBeth Oct. 23 (BusinessDesk) – New Zealand’s reputation as a responsible member of the world’s financial community is undermined by holes in the financial services provider register, which is still open to abuse by unscrupulous foreign firms, industry groups say. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment is revisiting the register in a legislative review of the 2008 …

By Jonathan Underhill Oct. 23 (BusinessDesk) – The Reserve Bank may keep the official cash rate unchanged next week to avoid inflaming Auckland’s housing market and to keep some capacity up its sleeve should global growth stumble, even though the kiwi dollar has gained when the bank had expected a decline. Governor Graeme Wheeler will keep the OCR at 2.75 …

By Paul McBeth Oct. 23 (BusinessDesk) – Vital Healthcare Property Trust, the listed hospital owner and developer, has bought two parcels of land which it plans to develop to expand Lingard Private Hospital and Toronto Private Hospital, both in New South Wales, Australia. The property investor spent A$7.8 million for a 2,700 square metre property next to its Lingard site …

By Jonathan Underhill Oct. 22 (BusinessDesk) – The Australian government’s response to the financial system inquiry could drive up interest rates at New Zealand’s biggest lenders as their Australian parent banks seek higher returns because of the requirement that they hold more capital. The Australian Federal Government has largely accepted the recommendations of the inquiry set up in late 2013 …

By Pattrick Smellie Oct. 23 (BusinessDesk) – The tax department is using big data analysis to “reliably predict customers who are highly unlikely to file GST returns on time” and try to help, while its investigators will be singling out “high-income individuals, in particular high-income new immigrants” for special attention in the year ahead. The Inland Revenue Department annual report …

It is common thought that the nature of work is changing, as technologies and social behaviour evolve. One aspect of this which has caused concern for some is that of casualisation. We see widespread commentary on the increasing proportion of lower paid jobs which are part time, casual, or even “zero hours” contracts. For those who are running businesses this …

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund is actively seeking new domestic investment opportunities where it believes it has “hometown advantages” but chief executive Adrian Orr said they’re difficult to find at the scale it needs. The NZ Super Fund’s 2014/2015 report released today shows it had $4.4 billion of its $29.54 billion portfolio invested in New Zealand compared to $3.7 billion a year …

By Suze Metherell Sept. 23 (BusinessDesk) – Craig White, a former director of OPI Pacific Finance, has been sentenced to 250 hours of community work and A$100,000 in reparations after pleading guilty to two Securities Act charges laid by the Financial Markets Authority. White pleaded guilty on Friday to two charges under the Securities Act including distributing an advertisement and signing off …

By Pattrick Smellie Sept. 23 (BusinessDesk) – Christchurch City Council is rolling out the welcome mat for Guoxin International Co, one of China’s largest infrastructure development companies, which is committing to raise a US$2 billion fund for investment projects in the city as it enters the mature phase of its post-earthquake reconstruction. While the letter of cooperation and friendship signed between Guoxin …