NZX held its annual Listed Issuer Forum in Auckland yesterday, which was attended by a record number of senior executives from listed companies. Around 100 people from some 60 issuers attended the event.
Topics covered included:
- Overview of Issuers’ disclosure and compliance responsibilities, presented by NZX Regulation
- The Financial Markets Conduct Act and its impact on Issuers, presented by Jeremy Muir, Partner, Minter Ellison Rudd Watts
- Continuous Disclosure Workshop, presented by NZX Regulation
- Governance and Directors’ responsibilities, presented by the New Zealand Institute of Directors
- NZX Update, presented by Tim Bennett, CEO, NZX
In his presentation, Tim Bennett provided an update on NZX’s role; what is happening in the markets; and what NZX is doing to support market development and customers. Some of the highlights are below:
On NZX’s role: “NZX performs three key roles in New Zealand: providing returns to our shareholders, market development – taking a three to five year view – and fulfilling our important obligations to run fair, orderly and transparent markets.
“We are taking a significantly more balanced view of our roles than in the past, but it’s important to understand that these roles are complementary – if we don’t develop our markets for the long-term, or ensure there is trust in the markets, we won’t be able to meet the expectations of our shareholders.
On performance of the market: “It has been a fantastic year for the market to date with the index up 24%, driven by the interest rate cycles and New Zealand’s strong economic growth, especially compared to Australia.
“New Zealand is essentially back on the global investment map, starting with the launch of Fonterra’s Trading Among Farmers late last year, followed by Mighty River Power, Z Energy, and the Meridian IPO currently underway, along with a number of other smaller listings.
“We firmly believe the drivers of these changes are structural, driven by growth in KiwiSaver funds under management. This is now being supported across the financial services industry by investment into equity capital markets roles, advisors, and in fund management.
On market development: “NZX is focused on a range of market development initiatives including derivatives, liquidity enhancement, pipeline development and a new growth market. Combined, these will deepen and broaden the market to provide more investment opportunities, support fund managers and brokers, and increase activity in the market and coverage of issuers, which will be to the benefit all issuers.
On listed issuer services: “Across NZX we are focused on improving our issuer services – we are promoting much more of a customer service culture, including internal service levels, and a formal issuer survey at year-end.
“In addition, we are facilitating greater investor engagement, including through NZX’s Pilot Research Programme, which aims to increase research coverage on listed companies. This was evidenced this week with the launch of a range of independent research on Meridian to the public.
“In our regulation team, we have increased resourcing, and there is a much greater focus on providing valuable guidance for our issuers.”