Briefs: Quadrant sells Heartland stake; NZ suggests tax shift, bankers back financial adviser stand 08 May 2015 4:04PM Banking Day staff Briefs, Australia's Quadrant Private Equity has announced the sale of its 8.75 per cent stake in New Zealand regional bank Heartland for NZ$53.4 million to broker First NZ Capital. Quadrant had the stake after it sold its Seniors Money reverse mortgage operation last year to Heartland for a mix of cash and shares. Quadrant made a profit of almost NZ$15 million on the share sale. New Zealand's Inland Revenue Department has published a white paper proposing possible changes to rules around non-resident withholding taxes, which Revenue Minister Todd McLay said was designed to target avoidance by multi-nationals. "Inland Revenue's audit activity had uncovered instances where large multinationals were using sophisticated techniques to defeat the tax rules," said McLay. The paper did not refer specifically to Australian banks avoiding taxes, but referred to potential changes in the way the big four Australian-owned banking groups could claim interest costs on related party transactions for tax purposes. The Australian Bankers Association has backed the Federal Government's blueprint to professionalise the financial advice industry. The ABA said yesterday that it supported the main elements of the Parliamentary Joint Committee's recommendations and the government's proposals contained in its consultation paper, published in March. The aim is to raise the professional, ethical and education standards in the financial services industry through measures such as setting a minimum qualification for financial advisors, requiring advisers to sit a new mandatory exam, new professional year requirements and other continuing professional development. New analysis from Genworth Australia shows that although only 11 per cent of prospective first home buyers intend to use brokers to apply for their home loans, some 65 per cent of recent first homebuyers applied for their home loan through a broker. The analysis also revealed that one in three homeowners (33 per cent) who took out their home loan with a lender other than their main financial institution did so due to advice from their broker. Broker applicants were also significantly more likely to hold their home loan with a lender other than the major banks (54 per cent compared to 30 per cent of lender applicants).