Radio New Zealand - Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa

Government supports super-regulator of markets

Updated at 8:15 pm on 18 February 2010

The Government is to strengthen the policing of financial markets in a bid to boost damaged investor confidence and says it supports the creation of a super-regulator.

It was one of 60 recommendations designed to boost investment from a government-appointed Capital Markets Taskforce which gave its report in December last year.

Commerce Minister Simon Power said on Thursday the Government supports the idea of a super-regulator. This would combine the enforcement arms of agencies including the Companies Office and the Securities Commission.

Mr Power ruled out part-sales of state assets, which the taskforce says this is vital to boosting the sharemarket.

Taskforce member Cathy Quinn and chair of law firm Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, says the Government intends to sell state assets in the longer term.

But Mr Power says the Government is sticking to its election promise not to sell assets in its first term and if the policy was to change, it would be campaigned on and a mandate sought.

The taskforce also recommended listing state assets as a way of boosting the sharemarket and encouraging more people to invest.

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