Briefs: Board changes at Genworth and COG, NZ crackdown on merchant fees looms

Jerome Upton has resigned from the board of Genworth Mortgage Insurance Australia after serving eight years as a director. Upton was a designee of Genworth’s major shareholder Genworth Financial Inc. He will be replaced by Rajinder Singh, who has been Genworth Financial’s chief risk officer of global mortgage insurance since 2014.
Bruce Hatchman has resigned from the board of commercial finance broker and lender Consolidated Operations Group. Hatchman served on the board for six years, including a period as chair. COG chair Patrick Tuttle said a replacement has been identified but not yet confirmed.
As predicted, New Zealand’s Labour Party has promised that, if returned to government in the upcoming election, it will regulate the merchant service fees charged to retailers and other small businesses by banks, enabling small businesses to retain more of their sales revenue. Labour's small business spokesman Stuart Nash said a Labour-led government would tighten regulations around merchant service fees charged by banks to retailers. “Retailers are estimated to pay on average $13,000 more than their Australian counterparts each year on merchant service fees. This needs to change," he said.