24 Jan 2019

NZX and FMA to review markets

4:39 pm on 24 January 2019

The stock exchange and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) are going to review the country's capital markets in a bid to improve the range of products and services.

New Zealand's sharemarket has immediately fallen two percent after opening after the Waitangi Day closure. Global markets have been left reeling in the biggest one-day fall on Wall Street since 2011.

The Capital Markets 2029 review will look at the broad financial markets and recommend how to attract more participants in the next 10 years. Photo: RNZ / Rebekah Parsons-King

The review, called Capital Markets 2029, is being asked to look at the broad financial markets and recommend how to attract more participants and boost product diversity in the next 10 years.

"This review responds to concerns expressed about the overall depth and breadth of our capital markets," FMA chief executive Rob Everett said.

The NZX has been giving its rules, fees, and structure a makeover in a bid to attract more companies to list. It will move to a single trading board from July.

However, it's been shrinking in the past two years as companies have been taken over, migrated to Australia, or opted to stay private.

It has also signed agreements with various exchanges around Asia and with the US technology exchange Nasdaq to encourage new listings and share sales.

NZX chief executive Mark Peterson said the industry needed to combine to draw up a vision for the next decade.

The review will be chaired by Martin Stearne, a former investment banker, and currently a member of NZX and Takeover Panel committees. The report is expected to be published in the third quarter.

The last review of capital markets, led by the late merchant banker Rob Cameron, was done in 2008 in the wake of the global financial crisis and the collapse of dozens of local finance companies.

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