Has Foss Paid the Price for Botching Financial Markets?

MEDIA RELEASE

Ross Asset Management (RAM) Investors Group

6 October2014:

Has Craig Foss Paid the Price for Botching New Zealand’s Financial Markets?

“We must speculate that the demotion of Craig Foss from Cabinet and his role of Minister of Commerce (and his replacement by Paul Goldsmith), are a direct result of the mess he has made of NZ’s financial markets” says Bruce Tichbon, spokesman for the Ross Asset Management Investors Group.

In particular the recent Ross Asset Management debacle has highlighted the gross inadequacies of the Minister and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA).

Confidence in NZ financial markets is still dramatically low at 59% according to a recent survey, a level that does much to explain our countries poor economic performance. The poor confidence levels are the direct result of the huge financial collapses and frauds in this country that have wiped out many billions of dollars and left over 170,000 investors destitute.

The failure of Minister Foss and the FMA to put in place a proper regulatory environment to help tidy up these messes has massively and unnecessarily increased the suffering of widows, retired couples and small investors who were trying to save for their retirements.

In the case of Ross Asset Management the authorities ignored warnings about our country’s biggest fraudster, and then licenced him as a financial adviser, greatly misleading investors. The Minister has ignored world best practice and failed to put in place a proper regime for unwinding messes like Ross Asset Management in a fair and just manner.

The new Minister of Commerce has much to do to restore NZ to being a country where investors can save for their retirement without being exposed to undue risk caused by poor governance by the authorities. The new Minister must get investor confidence to more than 90%, and quickly, if we as a nation are to have a decent and secure future.

© Scoop Media