Treasury denies data from MRP float pre-registration leaked to broker; says cold-calls and emails to investors after pre-registering just coincidental

Treasury has denied that potential Mighty River Power investors who were approached yesterday by a Christchurch brokerage shortly after pre-registering for the shares were approached as a result of their registration.

An investor called Radio Live last evening to complain about being emailed by Christchurch brokerage Milestone Financial Services (Canterbury) Ltd shortly after the investor had pre-registered for the shares. The investor was concerned the information given to the government through the 0800 number had then been passed on to a private brokerage.

Treasury said the contact was an "absolute coincidence".

"The reported contact from a broker shortly after an individual pre-registered via the call centre is an absolute coincidence," a Treasury spokesperson said in an email to Interest.co.nz.

"The pre-reg data collected through the call centre and website is protected and secure," the spokesperson said.

"New Zealanders have our assurance that their information is secure. For clarity, Reach (service provider) advises that: The data is stored in a highly encrypted form with no access by brokers or other parties. The data centre is designed to provide bank-level security. All data is encrypted at field-level before being sent and stored in a database that is in turn encrypted.

"The databases are stored in dedicated servers that are isolated by four levels of additional security. It appears that, following pre-reg launch, brokers have independently emailed clients they have details of to note the offer and check if clients were interested."

Milestone comments

Milestone said the comment on Radio Live was "inflammatory and totally spurious."

It said in a statement it had received emails from clients asking about Mighty River Power and had decided "as a service to clients" to send an email to its newsletter database explaining how to pre-register.

"Any link between the lady leaving her details on the Government 0800 number and subsequently receiving an email from us is purely coincidental," Milestone said.

"We have had no contact with the Treasury, the call centre or any of its staff prior to sending the email," it said.

"No Milestone adviser has been pro-actively ringing clients about Mighty River Power as there is insufficient information to provide any advice on the topic at this stage. The Christchurch Milestone office yesterday sent an email out to CLIENTS and only CLIENTS providing details on how to pre-register interest on the Mighty River Power shareoffer website. This email did not provide any advice on the offer and only advised on the process on how to pre-register and what to place in the relevant boxes."

Milestone said it was not receiving any leads or information for the Mighty River Power share offer from any third party, including the pre-registration website.

I have emailed the Radio Live complainant to ask if their details were already with the brokerage, but have yet to receive a reply.

I'll further update this article when I have that response.

(Updated with Milestone comment)