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Seeking a New Zealand view on corporate governance
Responses to the Commission's questionnaire on corporate governance are flowing in. The aim is to identify the issues of corporate governance that are important for New Zealand. We encourage people from all types of business to take part in this process.
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US SEC Commissioner to visit New Zealand
Commissioner Roel Campos of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission will give a guest lecture in Wellington in February 2004.
Commissioner Campos will speak on "Sarbanes Oxley and the regulatory environment in the United States".
The guest lecture is a forerunner to the annual meeting of the Asia Pacific Regional Committee of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions which is meeting in New Zealand for the first time from 19 - 21 February.
The Chairmen and Enforcement Directors of securities regulators from the Asia Pacific region will attend the meeting. It will be chaired by Ali Abdul Kadir, Datuk, of the Securities Commission in Malaysia.
Seats for the Roel Campos lecture will be available on a first come, first served basis from mid January. Details will be published on www.seccom.govt.nz.
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ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Statutory managers recover assets
- NZ regulators to be assessed
- Exemption for AX issuers
- Change for retirement villages
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| We expect to report to the Minister of Commerce before Christmas on agreed corporate governance principles which have come from the market and which market participants will aspire to in their business.
Corporate governance policies and practices in New Zealand are, by and large, of a good standard. The reflection of this in an agreed set of principles for New Zealand will enhance our standing overseas.
"We have brought together and summarised the large amount of work on corporate governance that has been produced both in New Zealand and overseas in recent months," Chairman Jane Diplock said. "This is presented in a background reference paper which accompanies the questionnaire. It focuses on nine specific issues."
Why be involved?
"We believe it is important for New Zealand to have a clear set of principles which entities can choose to apply to their business," Jane Diplock said.
This will signal to the world that New Zealand entities take governance seriously and are prepared to aspire to published principles.
We encourage all types of entities to contribute to the process. State owned enterprises, co-operatives, local authorities, district health boards, and trusts are all very significant in our economy.
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It is important that they, as well as large companies, aspire to good corporate
governance, and that they contribute to the development of these principles. We recognise that not everyone will agree
on everything. Indeed, there are likely to be some areas where there may be considerable disagreement. However,
from this process we believe an appropriate set of agreed principles can be developed.
Relationship with NZX Rules
The current consultation is quite separate from the consultative work carried out by New Zealand Exchange Limited in
developing its Listing Rules. We realise that many listed companies have been through a similar exercise recently and
may wonder why they should bother to take part in the current process.
"We sincerely hope they will make the effort to tell us what they think and thereby make an important contribution to the process," Jane Diplock said. "The resulting principles will, we trust, be adopted by companies as a tool to enhance confidence in and the standing of their businesses."
The documents
The reference paper and the questionnaire are available in hard copy (phone 04 471 7659) or can be printed
from our website www.seccom.govt.nz.
The closing date for responses is 7 November 2003.
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NZ to sign international MOU
New Zealand is to sign the International Organisation of Securities
Commission's international MOU on information exchange.
After vigorous scrutiny of our regulatory and legal regime, IOSCO accepted New Zealand as a MOU signatory at its annual conference in Seoul this month. The MOU, the first multilateral arrangement of its kind among financial services regulators,
sets a new international benchmark for cooperation and the exchange of information.
New Zealand joins 23 other nations as signatories, greatly expanding our capacity to co-operate and exchange information with other countries.
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