Briefs: AMP exits ASX20, royal commission scrutiny closes Dover, BNZ signs up with Alipay, bank staf
From June 18, AMP will no longer be part of the ASX20 index, following the revelations of misconduct heard by the Hayne royal commission which has seen over $2 billion stripped from its market value. It will be replaced in the index of the 20 largest companies on the Australian securities exchange by packaging company Amcor. Dover Financial Group's founder has pre-empted a move by the corporate regulator to strip the firm of its operating licence by closing the business on the eve of a long weekend - leaving 20,000 investors stranded. The AFR reports that Dover's Terry McMaster, who collapsed during the hearings of the banking royal commission, wrote an email to the company's more than 400 financial planners on Friday afternoon telling them they would no longer be able to provide new financial advice to clients. In addition he said the business would cancel its Australian Financial Service Licence from July 6. ASIC had previously told the company, one of the ten largest financial planning groups in the country, that its licence was likely to be suspended or cancelled. A deal signed between BNZ and Chinese mobile giant Alipay will allow New Zealand businesses to take payments via Verifone terminals. Up till now, businesses wanting to take payments from Alipay customers needed to use a separate terminal. Under the new arrangement, Verifone terminals will generate an Alipay QR code which the customer can scan with their mobile phone to pay. China is New Zealand's second largest international tourism market after Australia, and growing at eight per cent a year. The number of businesses accepting Alipay is also growing rapidly, up from less than 300 a year ago to more than 2500 now, reports The NZ Herald. BNZ is the first big bank to partner with Alipay in New Zealand. Bank staff at CBA and NAB receive much better returns from superannuation funds the banks run for their employees than customers receive. The CBA's GroupSuper pays its members returns on cash investments that are up to 82 percentage points higher than the returns paid to members of the bank's Colonial First State cash investment option, reports The Australian. Likewise, returns for NAB employees investing in the bank's staff super fund are about 6.5 times better than returns for NAB customers investing in a similar product for the public. The New Zealand government's review of the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act included an investigation into credit card interest rates. The review and a discussion paper are due out soon, with recommendations to go to Cabinet later in the year. Westpac Banking Corp has ended its referral relationship with Prospa, the AFR reports, suggesting this is "a sign major banks are preparing to ramp up unsecured small business lending to try to regain some of the market that has been surrendered to start-ups". Westpac and Prospa set up a referral agreement in 2015 under which Westpac referred borrowers that didn't