Business

Prospective buyers complained they were not advised properly about the pre-approval process and wanted to "recover their losses" on a house they bid for. (File photo) Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly A couple who made an unconditional bid at auction for a house, without realising they did not have home loan preapproval, have been given $20,000 in compensation by their financial adviser. The women complained about the adviser to Financial Services Complaints Ltd, a financial ombudsman service that deals with complaints that cannot be resolved directly. It does not identify the people who complain nor the organisations they complain about. The couple already owned a home in South Auckland and a Whangārei rental property but were looking to purchase another investment property. In Februa...

Retail investors are losing confidence in local investment markets. Photo: 123RF Retail investors are losing confidence in local investment markets, but have increased expectations in overseas markets. A survey by Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) showed confidence in domestic markets fell to 73 percent from 77 percent. At the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, that confidence was at 83 percent. Confidence in publicly listed companies also faded to 76 percent from 80 percent last year and 86 percent in 2021. In contrast, investor confidence in overseas markets climbed from 64 percent in 2020 to 81 percent in 2024. CAANZ reporting and assurance leader Amir Ghandar said inflation was the main driver for the drop in sentiment. "Anxiety around interest rates, fut...

Z Energy. (File image) Photo: RNZ / Richard Tindiller Both sides are claiming legal wins as they move towards a trial in a landmark greenwashing case. Consumer New Zealand teamed up with the Environmental Law Initiative and Lawyers for Climate Action New Zealand Incorporated to file a joint claim against Z Energy in November 2023.. They argued the oil company breached the Fair Trading Act with its claims about saving emissions in its Moving with the Times advertising campaign. The large-scale campaign, run across 2022-23, touted Z Energy as "in the business of getting out of the petrol business", citing reduced emissions and a commitment to bio-fuel fuel production and electric car charging stations. The complainants said the fuel supplier's claims misled the public and its subsequent g...

Holly Bennett, the kaiwhakahaere or managing director of government relations firm Awhi. Photo: Supplied One company director says she knows she is breaking the law when she files her annual return with incorrect address information - but it is important to protect her safety. Proposed company law changes announced on Thursday include introducing the option for company directors not to have their home addresses listed on the Companies Register, and instead use an address such as that of their lawyer and accountant. The requirement to list directors' residential addresses has been contentious for many years. The requirement was driven by a desire to encourage transparency, but there have been numerous attempts to find alternatives due to safety concerns. Holly Bennett, the kaiwhakahaere ...

Port Orly beach on the island of Espiritu Santo in Vanuatu. Photo: 123RF Solomon Airlines is adding a new direct flight from Auckland to the popular Espiritu Santo island in Vanuatu. It comes three months after Air Vanuatu suddenly went into liquidation, leaving hundreds of holidaymakers stranded. Rosalind Cox runs Tamanu on the Beach Resort in Port Vila. She believed the demise of the national carrier gave the island's tourism industry a new lease of life - but it was a long time coming. "We've known over the last two years of so many people that have been impacted by disrupted flights from Vanuatu, that it became a bit of a joke really that whether people were actually going to make the destination. "Not great for how it looks for the country, but it needed to happen." She said touris...

Photo: JOAN CROS / NurPhoto via AFP A former McDonald's worker was shocked to discover that the company had calculated she had been overpaid more than $18,000 in holiday pay. The fast food company is paying out holiday pay to tens of thousands of staff who had their entitlements calculated incorrectly. In November 2019, Unite Union announced it had reached a deal with McDonald's to go back 10 years to reimburse employees over a payroll botch-up. McDonald's is one of hundreds of companies caught up by payroll systems incorrectly calculating holiday pay. Unite Union national secretary John Crocker told RNZ this week that some staff had had their payouts reduced by calculations that they had been overpaid, too. In a statement, Crocker said: "We urge all current and former McDonald's employe...

Photo: RNZ An official cash rate cut might be cause for celebration for under-pressure borrowers - but there is a reminder that it has been prompted by "extraordinary weakness" in the economy that may still be yet to fully hit. Council of Trade Unions chief economist Craig Renney said he felt like he was "taking crazy pills" after the OCR announcement on Wednesday. He said people celebrating the cut were not acknowledging the dire economic conditions that prompted the Reserve Bank to pull it forward by a full year. The bank now expects unemployment to peak at 5.4 percent, representing an extra 10,000 out-of-work compared to its May forecast. It expects the country to have been in recession through the middle two quarters of this year, and for gross domestic product to remain smaller for ...

(File image) Photo: Suppled / Foodstuffs New Zealanders are likely losing tens of millions of dollars a year from supermarket pricing errors, the Commerce Commission says. Grocery Commissioner Pierre van Heerden said the commission was still hearing about too many examples of misleading or inaccurate pricing. He called on the major supermarkets to improve and publicise their refund policies, which he said would create an incentive for them to improve the accuracy of their pricing. Customers should be able to trust that the price advertised was what they would pay, he said. "Kiwi consumers expect and deserve better. The continuing level of pricing errors happening across the major supermarkets is simply unacceptable, and I don't believe the major supermarkets are doing enough to fix thes...

In a file picture taken on 2 January 2009, heavy smoke billows from the chimney of the a factory in Pietarsaari, Finland. Photo: AFP Australian-owned company NZ Steel was the biggest beneficiary of a government scheme to shield exporters from paying for their carbon emissions last year, followed by Methanex. NZ Steel reported to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that it made 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions from its Glenbrook Steel Mill in 2023. It claimed 1.8 million free carbon credits from the government in 2023, under a system called industrial allocation. Even at 2023's lowest carbon price of $37 a tonne, the free credits given to NZ Steel (owned by Bluescope) would be worth $66 million, based on its 1.8 million tonnes allocation. The freebies under the Emissi...

Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly. Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver Companies can look forward to sweeping legal reforms aimed at reducing costs and and making it easier and safer to do business. Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly said: "To rebuild the economy and increase the value of our exports, we need to ensure our companies are not hamstrung by out-of-date laws and onerous red tape, while also making sure there are safeguards in place to deter bad actors and dodgy business practices. "The changes announced today will help deter poor and illegal business practices and reduce the burden of compliance for businesses." Bayly said the Companies Act had not been substantially updated in 30 years and did not reflect the modern business environment. "The gover...