Pattrick Smellie

1 week ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Pattrick Smellie |Rebecca Stevenson |Victoria Young

Over-regulation of the banking sector may be costing New Zealand between $10.1 billion and $14.4b in lost economic activity annually, say two of the most vocal critics of current banking regulation and competition settings.In a further submission to the finance and select committee inquiry into banking competition, former investment banker Andrew Body and lawyer Simon Jensen have used a complex but credible international model, known as GTAP, to arrive at their conclusion.“This is the result...

1 week ago | businessdesk.co.nz | David Chaplin |Cameron Bagrie |Tina Schirr |Pattrick Smellie

Every year, the much-anticipated Mercer's annual "Periodic Table" of investment returns reveals a different plot with the same perennial ending.In the latest edition released last week, for example, David Scobie, Mercer New Zealand principal, wraps up the investment lessons of calendar year 2024 as below:“The unpredictability of capital markets over the short term is a feature that tests investors repeatedly and resonates as we experience the heightened volatility of early 2025.

1 week ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Denise McNabb |Pattrick Smellie |Rebecca Howard

The Inland Revenue Department’s blitz on delinquent taxpayers since receiving a $29 million Budget boost to its coffers for tax compliance enforcement has reaped more than $600m in undeclared tax from taxpayers across all sources in the six-month period to December.While the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) can’t name the tardiest of payers, citing client confidentiality, its segment lead for significant enterprises, Tony Morris, revealed last week that half of that extra cash came from fewer...

1 week ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Pattrick Smellie

Of the seemingly endless list of previously unimaginable oddities the second Trump administration has thrown up, one interesting item is how its actions appear to be assisting governments that had otherwise looked to be in trouble.In Canada, the Liberal Party, under Mark Carney's new leadership, appears likely to win the elections called for April 28, whereas under its previous leader, Justin Trudeau, it appeared to be toast.Carney’s muscular response to US President Donald Trump’s weird...

2 weeks ago | businessdesk.co.nz | Pattrick Smellie |Rebecca Stevenson |Victoria Young |Andrew Body

The Government is closely watching for the Commerce Commission’s decision on regulation of bank interchange fees that credit card companies, banks and fintecs fear will stifle banking competition, recently appointed Minister of Commerce Scott Simpson says.In an interview with BusinessDesk, Simpson made clear there was no capacity for intervention before the commission’s decision, believed to be imminent.