Trade Me sharemarket proposal crazy

The Government should back off from letting people trade shares on the Trade Me website, says National Party Finance spokesman John Key.

The National Business Review today reported that talks about the proposal – involving both Prime Minister Helen Clark and Finance Minister Michael Cullen – have occurred.

But Mr Key says the Government should stay away from the plan, describing it as crazy.

“We just spent the last 10 years cleaning up the Wild West image of the capital markets.

“Allowing total deregulation of share trading is not the way forward.
Raising capital through an auction website would be an extremely risky business for everyone – companies and investors.

“The Stock Exchange already has a secondary market, and investors also have the option of Unlisted.

“Michael Cullen and Helen Clark should be extremely cautious before exposing New Zealand investors to potential shysters.

“If they see a totally unregulated capital market as the way to provide security for investors, their economic credentials are frankly lacking.

“If this is the economic transformation agenda the Prime Minister’s been talking about, we are all in trouble.

“There’s a vast world of difference between buying a second hand motormower and buying a share script, and I would have thought Dr Cullen would have realised that.”

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