A review of things you need to know before you go home on Monday; no retail rates changes, Sharesies shamed, ANZ wants RAM deal confidential, equities rise, swaps firm, NZD firm, bitcoin tops $50K, & more

Here are the key things you need to know before you leave work today.

MORTGAGE RATE CHANGES
None announced so far today.

TERM DEPOSIT RATE CHANGES
None here either.

COMPETING WELL BY IGNORING THE DETAILS
The Financial Markets Authority has issued a formal warning to Sharesies Limited and Sharesies Nominee Limited for failing to have sufficient anti-money laundering procedures, policies, and controls in place. This lack may have contributed to its turbocharged growth, an avoided cost load others couldn't get away with, even though no-one is suggesting Sharesies was actually used for money-laundering activities. They are now backfilling this capability. You do have to wonder if they would have got the start they did if they had had proper systems in place before bursting on the scene.

UPDATED: NEW CARBON PRICE UPPER LIMITS
The Government has announced new upper limits to the carbon price ETS. See here. The 2021 price is $50. The 2022 price has risen from $51/NZU to $70. For 2023 to goes to $78.40. In 2026 it goes to $110.15/NZU. (An NZU is one tone of CO₂ equivalent.)

ROSS ASSET MANAGEMENT INVESTORS SETTLE CLASS ACTION CASE WITH ANZ
ANZ New Zealand says it has reached an agreed but 'confidential' settlement with a group of former Ross Asset Management (RAM) investors who brought a class action against the bank. RAM was tipped into liquidation in December 2012 after an investigation of its finances found only $10.24 mln in funds and not the $449.6 mln investors believed was being held. RAM was found to be a Ponzi scheme. ANZ was its bank. Legal action had sought more than $50 mln from ANZ, which now says the parties acknowledge they were all misled by RAM's David Ross. All matters relating to the settlement are confidential, and the parties will not be commenting further, ANZ says.

ANOTHER AUSSIE INSURER OUTPERFORMS BANKS
The NZ arm of health insurer NIB has reported New Zealand premium income rising +9.8% to NZ$278 mln. Their "underwriting result" (profit from insurance activities, excluding investment income of their reserves) was up +3.6%, mainly because they didn't get the usual kick-along from their travel insurance business. Price increases were a key to managing a rise. The Kiwi operations of this Aussie insurer are chaired by Tony Ryall. Returns on investment are substantial, which may be why they don't report them for New Zealand. For the whole Australian-based group, they reported a net profit after tax (NPAT) of AU$16a mln of which net investment income was AU$52 mln. Return on invested capital (ROIC) of 19.1% was similar to pre-pandemic levels - and much better than banks report.

MAKING GEM SING
Latitude Finance (operating in New Zealand as GEM, which they bought off GE Money) has reported a good H1 to June 30, 2021 with strong "volume momentum". This is a private equity-controlled business being pumped up for a float or trade sale 'soon'. Given that the overall finance company sector isn't growing that well these days, Latitude has jumped into BNPL. But they seem to managing handsome increases in New Zealand from personal loans and car loan, which they claim are up +46% year-on-year.

LIQUIDATOR WEIGHS CLAIMS AGAINST FE INVESTMENTS
The Auckland-based non-bank deposit taker FE Investments, which went under last year owing investors $55 mln, may face action from the liquidators.

BACK INTO SHRINKAGE
There were reports out today for August factory PMIs in Australia and Japan - and both are contracting at faster rates, both with their recent expansion now in their rear-view mirrors. In both cases, the delta variant of the pandemic is doing the damage.

PRESSURE STAYS INTENSE IN BOTH NZ & AUSTRALIA
There were another 818 new community cases in NSW today with another 698 not assigned to known clusters, so they are out of control. Their lockdown has been extended and they are now under curfew too. Victoria is reporting another 71 new cases today, so it is surging there too and their lockdown is extended, also with a curfew. Queensland is reporting just 2 new cases in a bright spot. ACT has 16 new cases. Overall in Australia, more than 30% of eligible Aussies are fully vaccinated, plus 21% have now had one shot so far. But vaccine hesitancy is a growing issue there. There were 3 new cases in New Zealand at the border, and 35 more in the community. 99 of our cases are in Auckland, eight in Wellington. So far, 23% of eligble Kiwis now have both shots, another 18% the initial shot.

GOLD FIRM
Compared to where we were when we opened this morning, the gold price is up slightly at US$1788 in early Asian trade and a firming of +US$7 from then.

EQUITIES GO RISK-ON
Asian markets have roared back in early trade today. Tokyo has started with a +1.7% list, Hong Kong with a +2.1% jump and Shanghai with a +1.2% rise to open the week. The ASX200 has started with a modest +0.4% rise in eraly Monday afternoon trade. The NZX50 is near the end of its Maonday session heading for a good +1.0% gain, impressive as it is on top of a weekly gain last week which the others can't claim. Z Energy (ZEL, #22) is caught up in a AU$2 bln takeover which helps. Mainfreight (MFT, #4), Precinct Properties (PCT, #20) and Meridien (MEL, #5) are bolstering the NZX50 today. Chorus, (CNU, #13) is struggling. On Wall Street, the S&P500 futures suggest a +0.3% rise at their opening tomorrow.

REARRANGEMENTS
Last week, the capitalisation of the NZX50 rose by +1.4% to $132.8 bln is a gain that wasn't matched in any major equity market elsewhere. For the year, this capitalisation is up +10.6% or +$12.7 bln. For the week, Spark (SPK, #2) overtook Auckland Airport (AIA, #3) and Fletcher Building (FBU) dropped one place down to 6th. We have updated the profiles for Fletcher Building (FBU), Spark (SPK), EBOS (EBO), Auckland International Airport (AIA), Skellerup (SKL) and Mercury (MCY) as their annual results were released.

SWAP & BONDS RATES QUIET
We don't have today's closing swap rates yet. They are probably holding, especially at the one year term. We will update this when the end-of-day data comes through. The 90 day bank bill rate is up +2 bps to 0.39% in a small bounce-back. The Australian Govt ten year benchmark rate is doup +3 bps from this morning at 1.10%. The China Govt ten year bond is slightly firmer at 2.88%. But the New Zealand Govt ten year is unchanged at 1.60% and now above the earlier RBNZ fix of 1.59% (-2 bps). The US Govt ten year is now at 1.28% and up +2 bps from where we opened this morning.

NZ DOLLAR TURNS UP
The Kiwi dollar is now at 68.5 USc, up +20 bps from today's open. Against the Aussie we are holding up at 95.7 AUc. Against the euro we are unchanged at 58.5 euro cents. The TWI-5 is now at 72.1 and a minro firming from both this time Friday, and where we opened this morning.

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BITCOIN ABOVE US$50,000 AGAIN
The bitcoin price is now at US$50,134 with a +3.0% rise from where we opened this morning. The last time we were abover US$50,000 was in May 2020. Volatility in the past 24 hours has been moderate at +/- 2.2%.

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