Key willing to meet on NZX’s concerns

Key willing to meet on NZX’s concerns

Nov. 15 (BusinessDesk) – Prime Minister John Key says he is willing to meet with NZX Ltd. chief executive Mark Weldon over his concerns that the Financial Markets Authority’s powers could seriously disadvantage the local exchange over foreign competitors.

Justice Minister Simon Power is declining comment on the NZX submission on the Financial Markets Bill because to do so would breach protocol that says Ministers should not comment on legislation when it is being considered by a select committee.

The commerce select committee is due to report back on the Bill to establish the new super-regulator, the FMA, in February.

NZX is especially concerned that the FMA is only required to monitor registered exchanges in New Zealand. That could leave NZX operating under a regime that would not apply to competitors such as its Australian equivalent, ASX, which attracts substantial daily volumes of share and derivative trading from New Zealand investors.

The proposed regime was “incoherent” in places and “deeply and fundamentally flawed” in others.

The Bill has also attracted criticism from the chair of the Capital Markets Development Taskforce, Rob Cameron, and the New Zealand Business Roundtable, which believes the FMA process will make desirable private dispute settlements more difficult.

(BusinessDesk)

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