Campaigners against the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiations want the negotiating texts made public to help ensure the process fails, says Trade Minister Tim Groser. “Those people who are opposed to the agreement want access to the texts so they can blow it apart,” he said in an interview with BusinessDesk ahead of a speech today to the ABAC Business Leaders …

Xero, the cloud-based accounting software developer, has appointed former Microsoft chief financial officer Chris Liddell as its new chairman and ex-PayPal executive Peter Karpas to lead its North American unit. The Wellington-based company’s appointment of Liddell as chair is effective from today, with ex-KiwiBank chief Sam Knowles resigning as chair and director. US-based Bill Veghte, who runs HP’s enterprise group, …

New Zealanders spent less on their credit and debit cards in January, snapping three months of gains, with apparel showing the sharpest decline. The value of electronic card spending on retail fell 0.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted $4.54 billion in January, according to Statistics New Zealand. Core retailing, which excludes spending on fuel and auto-related items, dropped 0.8 percent …