Family trust saga led to Lochinver sale, CMC Markets pays out after UK complaints, but not in NZ, Change, consensus, and identity: the conservative tilt to politics

In NBR Print today: Clauses in a Stevenson family trust stopping Lochinver Station from being sold had to be overturned by the High Court before the station could be put on the block, Sally Lindsay reveals. Trustees of the WA Stevenson Memorial Trust went to the High Court in Auckland to vary the trust’s deed so the largest single farm station in the North Island could be sold.

Currency traders facing large losses after the shock Swiss move to abandon a euro currency peg are challenging an arbritrator’s decision to reject their complaints against derivatives firm CMC Markets. Similar complaints against the firm in the UK have been decided in clients’ favour, they say, and New Zealand arbitrator Financial Services Complaints has failed to properly investigate their cases. Tim Hunter investigates.

The financial advice sector has seen a substantial overhaul but not enough has been done. Muddy legislation has caused confusion for the public about whether they are receiving sales or advice, while advisers want simplification. Calida Smylie pin points the issues.

The year in politics saw New Zealand’s political scene become more conservative, reports Rob Hosking. The drivers of change are now primarily offshore and economic rather than domestic and political.

Japanese investment fund head David Semaya says poor urban planning has created an investment paradox in “portal” cities such as Auckland. “The past 10-15 years of booming markets has created huge wealth for certain people who then look for the most attractive asset classes and these have included property,” he tells Nevil Gibson. One of the unintended consequences is young people are priced out of the market.

The role of supplements, including palm kernel expeller (PKE), is misunderstood by critics of the New Zealand dairy industry, writes Jacqueline Rowarth. The New Zealand Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre (NZAGRC) has calculated the average emissions per kg of milk solids produced decreased approximately 19% between 1990 and 2012 because of improved efficiencies brought on by the likes of PKE supplement feeding.

This week the US Federal Reserve is tipped to make history by raising interest rates for the first time in almost a decade. Jason Walls investigates what this means for New Zeaalnd markets.

Evidence gathered over the last few months makes a strong case for enforcement action over the float of Intueri Education Group [NZX:IQE] last year, writes Time Hunter.

Shoeshine reckons the A2 Milk Company [NZX:ATM] capital raising is a glaring example of retail shareholders getting short-changed yet again.

The Official Assignee continues to require bankrupts to complete a form which demands considerably more information than the regulations require, reports Jenny Ruth. That’s despite a High Court judgment in November last year which specifically says the 20-page form, and an earlier version, goes beyond what the regulations require.

As the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) shifts into the long process of legal preparation and political debates, the deal’s members are weighing its ratification chances in the US, reports Nathan Smith.

Board diversity is a hot topic but the newest argument veers off the path from usual conversations about gender and age, writes Chelsea Armitage. A global recruitment company believes business boards in New Zealand are overpopulated by governance and compliance officers and lack creative minds.

All this and more in today’s National Business Review. Out now