6 Nov 2017  -  The Tappoo Group of Companies’ unique business strategy and its significant growth in re-exports was recognised during the Prime Minister’s International Business Awards as the company won the Re-Exporter of the Year Award. The Award recognises companies that have utilized Fiji’s strategic location in the Pacific and well established sea and air connections to manifest the country’s position as the true hub of the region. The company must have incorporated innovative business strategies in its growth plan that led to its significant progress both in re-export value and volume.DSC_3224

Established in 1941, the Group continues to strive for excellence and has successfully stamped its mark in the local and regional markets.

“We have recently ventured into re-exporting business and it has shown strong signs of growth. We are targeting the Pacific market together with New Zealand and Australia,” said the Executive Director of the Group, Kamlesh Tappoo.

The Group is the re-exporter of a number beverages to Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Samoa, Tonga and the Cook Islands. Exports to PNG and Vanuatu were under the Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) agreement.

“We believe that we have successfully established an export market to PNG. We now aim to expand into other countries in the South Pacific region and subsequently to more develop neighbouring countries,” Mr. Tappoo said.

Investment Fiji Chief Executive Officer, Godo Mueller- Teut applauded the Group’s commitment towards enhancing Fiji’s position as the trading hub of the pacific.

“Re-exporters play a crucial role in the growth of the Fijian economy. They not only bring in wealth for the nation and create employment opportunities, but also make Fiji the centre of trade in the region. In 2016, Fiji’s total re-exports were valued at more than $814m, which represents 42 per cent of total exports.

Fiji has a positive balance of trade with the Pacific Island countries where re-exports were valued at more than $174m or 21 per cent of total re-exports last year,” Mr. Mueller- Teut said.

Mr. Mueller- Teut has urged the local businesses to take advantage of Fiji’s central location in the heart of the Pacific as it presents unique opportunities for them to expand their export footprints, especially in the regional markets.

| A FijiSun release  ||  November 5,  2017   |||

6 Nov  -  A New Zealand insurance underwriting agency is providing an exclusive cover for manufacturers which are facing major challenges in relation to recall of contaminated food and beverage products. About 40 manufactured food products have been recalled so far this year, up from 25 for all of last year, Delta Insurance casualty manager Dinesh Murali says. Delta Insurance is a New Zealand based insurance provider and has an office in Singapore. They provide a range of specialty commercial insurance products. The New Zealand manufacturing sector is experiencing strong growth and is a standout on the international stage. Annual merchandise exports from New Zealand are almost $49 billion, according to Statistics NZ. Murali says manufacturing for the construction industry has grown by 9.5 percent while meat and dairy has jumped by 8.36 percent in the last year. “Our New Zealand climate and abundant natural resources make food manufacturing a good strategic choice. We have a particular strength in food manufacturing, but we have also seen growth across non-food manufacturing as well. “Across all manufacturing segments we regularly outsource manufacturing processes and source components from overseas suppliers and this supports an efficient global supply chain. More competition means increased innovation and creating products in new and more efficient ways. But this also poses new challenges and risks in relation to quality control. “Outside the food sector, we are also seeing a major trend where manufacturers are embedding technology into items such as equipment and machinery with these products becoming connected to the “internet of things. This gives rise to risks such as cyber security which was not previously a concern for these items. “Given the increased and evolving risks, Delta is providing manufacturing-risk cover for Kiwi companies which we believe is the most comprehensive coverage solution in New Zealand. “This cover under one umbrella targets both food and non-food manufacturers and insures a range of manufacturing-specific risks including coverage for product recall due to product defects and food contamination, cover for pollution arising from manufacturing process and crisis management cover. It can also be packaged with other coverages such as cyber liability. “If Kiwi manufacturers choose not to take this cover then they run the risk of potential losses being uninsured which would affect their balance sheet and could, in a worse-case scenario, result in the financial ruin of their business. “Beyond the direct financial impact, they could also suffer significant reputational damage if they do not have the resources and expertise to be able to manage some of these critical issues, such as product recall of contaminated products,” Murali says. For further information contact Delta Insurance’s casualty manager Dinesh Murali on 027 7007951 or Make Lemonade editor-in-chief Kip Brook on 0275 030188.

A Delta Insurance release  || November 6,  2017   |||

The New Zealand Bankers Association announced today that the China Construction Bank (New Zealand) Ltd has joined the association, bringing the total number of member banks to 17.

New Zealand Bankers Association chief executive Karen Scott-Howman says: We are delighted to welcome CCBNZ to the Bankers Association. China is one of New Zealands most important trading partners. Having Chinese banks here helps support this trading relationship.

CCBNZs participation in the New Zealand banking industry promotes further competition and diversity in our banking sector, says Scott-Howman.

China Construction Bank (New Zealand) chief executive Jun Qi says: CCB is one of the largest global banks by market capitalisation and total assets. It operates in 30 countries. Since our inception, CCBNZ has aspired to be the first-call Chinese bank in New Zealand. We can leverage our extensive CCB network in China and worldwide.

CCBNZ offers its customers a range of financial services, with an active focus on supporting economic cooperation and trade between New Zealand and China.

As the voice of the banking industry, the New Zealand Bankers Association supports a strong and stable banking system that benefits New Zealand. Member banks work together on a range of non-competitive industry issues.

Other New Zealand Bankers Association members are ANZ New Zealand, ASB Bank, Bank of China, Bank of New Zealand, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Citibank, The Co-operative Bank, Heartland Bank, Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Kiwibank, Rabobank New Zealand, SBS Bank, TSB Bank, and Westpac New Zealand.

| An Emirates Neews Agency release  ||  November 3,  2017   |||

2 Nov -  The proposed Employment (Pay Equity and Equal Pay) Bill looks set to become law in the coming months. Max Whitehead, Managing Director of Whitehead Group, says that despite the Bill’s best intentions, it is practically inevitable that the Bill will place unbearable strain on some employers, especially small employers.

“The consequences of this could be a large shift in the workforce away from employees to contractors and will likely result in fewer jobs being available overall,” says Mr Whitehead. “There is also a chance for exponential inflation as the “wage envy revolution” gains momentum.”

Mr Whitehead says the Bill also runs the risk of encouraging men into a preferential position as the legislation brings with it much risk for employers, but only if the employee is female.“Our advice to employers is to brace themselves for soaring wages and ensure that they have legal advice ready for when this legislation takes hold and the floodgates open. Claims for backpay can extend up to six years, a burden many won’t be able to bear.”

Mr Whitehead expects a range of claims under this legislation in all sectors before precedent is established. “For those in higher earning brackets, we say get ready for extensive bargaining and make sure that when the increased salary wave hits you are ready to ride it.”

| A Whitehead Group release  ||  November 2,  2017   |||

2 Nov - A recruitment agency specialising in finding cryptocurrency and blockchain talent has opened in Sydney.  Crypto Recruit has set up shop with the belief that it is the first in the world to offer such niche IT recruitment services, said founder Neil Dundon. “The idea was to get some first mover advantage in the market,” Dundon told Business Insider.

“Nowadays there seems to be general pub talk [about cryptocurrencies] — people are just talking about it all the time and it’s just mental at the moment. So three or four months ago I had the idea: why don’t I couple my passion for cryptocurrency and blockchain… with my skills in recruitment?”

The venture is in its early days so Dundon, who has 13 years experience in the IT recruitment and education sector, is currently busy developing a network of recruiters around the world to find blockchain talent.

But he’s already fielded much interest from the tech industry.

“There really are very few blockchain developers in the world at the moment,” he said.

“There is demand out there at the moment. I’m getting very positive feedback on it. But it’s in it’s infancy stages, so I’m really there to build a brand and help these blockchain projects from a staffing perspective.”

With such a shortage of skills, recruitment for cryptocurrency and blockchain developers can sometimes be a matter of hiring graduates or developers with different backgrounds then upgrading their skills.

And those willing to learn can “make a premium” on top of standard technology salaries, according to Dundon.

“A lot of these projects raised a lot of money from their initial coin offerings and they need to move quickly. So just by the very market forces alone, and the speed to which they have to develop, there can be a premium on top.”

Dondon, who established the Bondi business after becoming a cryptocurrency investor himself earlier this year, already has three employees based both in and out of Australia.

“There’s a whole paradigm shift in front of our eyes and a lot of people aren’t even realising it.”

| A BusinessInsider release  ||  November 2,  2017   |||

1 Nov -  Suntory Beverage & Food (SBF) has entered into an agreement to sell its Cerebos Food & Instant Coffee business in Australia and New Zealand and its Asian Home Gourmet Singapore business to US giant The Kraft Heinz Company for a total of AU$290 million.  Cerebos’s Food & Instant Coffee business includes iconic food brands in Australia and New Zealand such as Fountain, Gravox, Saxa, Foster Clark’s, Gregg’s, Bisto, Raro and Asian Home Gourmet. These cover a range of products including sauces, gravies, herbs and spices, salt, condiments, Asian sauces, desserts and cooking ingredients.

However, SBF will retain its Cerebos Fresh Coffee business in Australia/New Zealand led by Terry Svenson, CEO of Cerebos Australia and New Zealand. The new business unit, called ‘Suntory Coffee’, will target the rapidly growing global fresh coffee market.

Although Svenson stated that the manufacturing efficiency of the Food & Instant Coffee business has significantly progressed in 2017, he explained the reasons behind the decision to sell it.

“Food & Instant Coffee is not a core focus category for SBF and we believe this business can be maximised under different ownership. The Food & Instant Coffee business will now have opportunities to leverage Kraft Heinz’s operations to grow the business further,” he said. “In the meantime, the transaction also enables our Fresh Coffee business to benefit from SBF’s continued investment and focus on its beverage portfolio, so we can capitalise on our market-leading positions to maximise growth opportunities.”

The acquisition of Cerebos Food & Instant Coffee marks Kraft Heinz’s aim to expand its already well-established platform in Australia and New Zealand. As the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world, it possesses several well-known brands including Heinz, Kraft, Wattie’s, Eta and Golden Circle, which sell beans and spaghetti, sauces, soups and dressings.

Bruno Lino, CEO of Kraft Heinz Australia and New Zealand, said: “The transaction provides an exciting opportunity for Kraft Heinz to expand its portfolio into complementary categories, stretching the footprint of Cerebos’s brands into new categories and markets.

“In addition to the iconic local brands, Cerebos has a strong team that will play an important role in our future growth. This transaction reinforces our commitment and long-term plan to the Australia and New Zealand markets in addition to our significant investment in the Kraft brand for 2018. We will continue investing in our brands, factories and our employees to meet consumer needs and expectations,” he said.

The combined businesses will be led by Lino. The sale is expected to be completed in early 2018, subject to regulatory approval.

Read more: http://foodprocessing.com.au/content/business-solutions/news/kraft-heinz-acquires-cerebos-anz-assets-for-290-million-573165650#ixzz4x8dwzT8S

|A FoodProcessing release  ||  November 1,  2017   |||

The NZ$36 billion New Zealand Superannuation Fund and Fidelity Life, New Zealand’s largest Kiwi-owned life insurer, today announced a proposal for the Fund to take a minimum NZ$100 million, 41.1% cornerstone stake in Fidelity Life. The transaction is subject to a number of conditions, some of which require action from shareholders.

Fidelity Life Chair, Brian Blake, says securing the NZ Super Fund as a major shareholder will provide new capital which will enable the company to accelerate its growth strategy.

“Fidelity Life has experienced strong growth in recent years and this has outpaced our ability to fund the future rate of growth we’re aiming for without additional capital.”

“If our shareholders provide the necessary approval for the investment to proceed, the new capital will allow us to deliver on our future strategy providing strong, sustainable returns and growth over the long term,” said Mr Blake.

Fidelity Life is privately held by more than 150 shareholders. The proposed investment is to be made up of $75 million of new shares issued to the NZ Super Fund at $115 per share; and the acquisition of a minimum of $25 million of existing shares. As part of the acquisition of existing shares, eligible minority shareholders (including all New Zealand resident shareholders) will have the opportunity to sell some or all of their shares to the NZ Super Fund for $130 per share. This offer does not extend to the Company's majority shareholders. The NZ Super Fund will acquire shares from the Fidelity Family Trust at $115 per share.

“The NZ Super Fund is a great fit with Fidelity Life. We were both founded by Kiwis for Kiwis and are focussed on protecting the future for New Zealanders. The proposed investment represents a strong vote of confidence in Fidelity Life by New Zealand’s pre-eminent investor,” said Mr Blake.

NZ Super Fund Chief Investment Officer Matt Whineray said: “This is a rare opportunity for the Fund to take a significant direct stake in a New Zealand life insurance company. The additional capital we are providing will support Fidelity’s long-term growth plans.”

Independent advisers Simmons Corporate Finance have concluded that the value of the Fidelity Life shares involved in the proposed transaction is in the range of $110-$130 per share and that the total value of the company is between $198 million and $220 million.

“This is an exciting future step for Fidelity Life. We have come a long way since we were founded in 1973. We have more than 100,000 customers and our products are distributed via a network of 2,700 independent financial advisers and through strategic alliances. This new capital will enable us to build digital capability to support innovation, productivity and improved support for customers, advisers and our partners,” said Nadine Tereora, Chief Executive of Fidelity Life.

Fidelity Life’s Board is recommending shareholders support the investment. Shareholders, including the Fidelity Family Trust, will vote on changes to Fidelity Life’s constitution needed for the proposal to proceed at the company’s Annual Meeting on 12 December. If the constitution is altered and other conditions are met settlement will occur after then.

Shareholders can expect to receive their voting papers with the Notice of Meeting on 9 November.

About Fidelity Life

Fidelity Life is a New Zealand-owned insurance company with the purpose of protecting the New Zealand way of life. The company believes independent financial advice matters in ensuring Kiwis get access to the insurance protection they need. Fidelity Life distributes its products through a network of 2,700 independent financial advisers, as well as through strategic alliance partners, and employs around 300 staff across six offices. For more information please visit www.fidelitylife.co.nz

About The New Zealand Superannuation Fund

The $36 billion NZ Super Fund is a global investment fund that was established by the NZ Government to help pre-fund universal superannuation. A long-term, growth-oriented investor, the Fund has returned 10% p.a. since inception in 2003, and currently has around $5 billion invested in NZ, including significant stakes in Kaingaroa Timberlands, Datacom, Kiwibank and Metlifecare. For more information please visit www.nzsuperfund.co.nz

| A FidelityLife release  ||  October 31,  2017   |||

31 Oct:  Building consents for new homes fell in September 2017, following a recent run of increases, Stats NZ said today. “The seasonally adjusted number of new homes consented fell 2.3 percent in September compared with August, after rising in each of the previous four months,” prices, accommodation, and construction senior manager Jason Attewell said. “Home consents have trended upwards recently, and are at a level last seen in 2004.”Some 2,770 new homes were consented in September 2017, up 6.0 percent compared with the same month in 2016.

On an annual basis, 30,892 new homes were consented in the September 2017 year – up 3.0 percent compared with the September 2016 year, despite a large fall in Canterbury. The national increase was driven by townhouses and apartments, with slight falls for retirement village units and houses.

The regions consenting the most new homes in the September 2017 year were:

Auckland – 10,317 new homes (up 2.9 percent from the September 2016 year) Canterbury – 5,122 new homes (down 18 percent as the post-quake rebuild continues to wind down, but still at a historically high level) Waikato – 3,596 new homes (up 1.7 percent) Bay of Plenty – 2,596 new homes (up 4.8 percent).

Note: We have improved the way we calculate the seasonally adjusted number of new homes consented. We now include an adjustment for the timing of Easter. As a result, the seasonally adjusted increase in the number of new homes consented in August 2017 has been revised down from 10 percent to 5.9 percent. For more information, see Building consents issued seasonal adjustment and trend changes in September 2017 on DataInfo+.

| A SyaysNZ release  ||  October 31,  2017   |||

The Sunday Times Business Section Cover Story today headline "Banks brace for DISRUPTION".  The accompanying article, wrtten by Rob Stock,  takes a look at the advent of "open banking", technology. This is technology  that could spell the end of the massive profits the banking giants have been raking in,he writes.  Embraced in Europe, with a former ASB banker leading the way,  here in New Zealand the banks appear to have responded with a deafening silence.    

Open banking is the term used for interface systems like Revolut, which offer payments, money management and banking services, without being a bank.  Well worth a read  . . .

Continue to the full article and a video What might "open banking" feel like?What might "open banking" feel like?  ||  October 29,  2017   |||

Richard Silverman penned this article on whats behind Ripple and it's future.   The CEO of Ripple, Brad Garlinghouse has many reasons to feel good, being in a conference in Toronto with money maverick Ben Bernanke and crypto-genius Vitalik Buterin.

– Yes, Ripple network itself is expanding quickly as it is among few digital currencies that has intrinsic value and has started more and more to be used in real world business, having licenced more than 100 banks and financial institutions to use its blockchain technology. XRP is the only digital asset with a clear use case – it’s the best digital asset for payments.

-Ripple’s Interledger Protocol(ILP) standardize how to instantly settle transactions across different ledgers and networks. ILP can be thought of much like the protocol HTTP used in web address that become a global standard for online information exchange. At last, value can move as quickly around the world through internet just as information does, with a few clicks.

-According to Coinmarketcap, XRP now has a market cap of more than $7,7 Billion, and it is third behind the digital money giants, Bitcoin and Ethereum.

-Ripple is the only digital asset specifically designed for financial institutions. It’s pricing model is one part software license, one part professional services and one part transaction fees.

-The Ripple ecosystem with its huge financial strength used like strategic weapon which enables it to further development of its platform; while engaging the best blockchain experts, hackers, developers, software engineers,and it is constantly evolving, updating; regarding usability, reliability, security and scalability of the XRP Ledger.

-SortedDirectories amendment. This new feature is expected to be enabled in early November, but nevertheless it is advisable to upgrade the nodes as soon as possible, as non-upgraded nodes can’t participate in the consensus process or vote on future amendments. This new update will be deployed to all Ripple servers in real time upgrade which should take around four hours without disturbing the efficiency of current operations. This is another reached important milestone for Ripple.

OPPORTUNITIES

Behind the Ripple is this great idea and vision of the global market with its Internet of Things and Internet of Value enabled by XRP.

It is estimated that by 2020 there will be 50 billion connected devices, including cars, fridges, thermostats, … this is INTERNET OF THINGS and happening now with accelerating speed. And this is just a first wave in what will be a tsunami of micropayments powering the INTERNET OF VALUE. We’ve shared our vision of an Internet of Value in which money moves like information moves today. Key to realizing that vision is lowering the cost of payments, especially cross-border payments, also very important for emerging, unbanked markets.

Actually there are $18 Trillion of cross-border payments made every year with a combined cost of about $1 trillion a year. Ripple solution through its blockchain technology allows assets to be transferred from one party directly to another without middleman, validated, permanent, completed instantly, irrevocably.

Foreign Payment Transactions is area where banks should completely embrace blockchain derived technology like Ripple, which will allow banks to move away from batch-and-file to smooth real time transactions.

Making cross border payments faster, cheaper, and reliable will bring major benefits to consumers, businesses, banks… It will also connect billions of people around the world to transact, give rise to entirely new businesses and industries, increase financial inclusion for millions underbanked consumers…

The CEO of Ripple, Garlinghouse believes big digital currencies will have a peaceful coexistence.

In his interview to Fortune’s The Ledger among other worth noting arguments, he stated:

“We took a rather contrarian view at the time that we’re not anti-bank, we’re not anti-government, we’re not anti-fiat currency”.

“In 2017, people have realized there isn’t going to be one crypto to rule them all. You’re seeing vertical solutions where XRP is focused on payment problems, Ethereum is focused on smart contracts, and increasingly Bitcoin is a store of value. Those aren’t competitive. In fact, I want Bitcoin and Ethereum to be successful”.

“If Ripple as a company went away, XRP would continue to trade. To me that’s the definition of decentralization”.

Ripple’s goal in distributing XRP tokens is to incentivize actions that build trust, utility and liquidity. The Ripple Net Accelerator program is designed to allocate up to $300 million to create incentives to accelerate adoption. It’s our vision of solving a liquidity problem for banks. We engage in distribution strategies that we expect will result in a strengthening XRP exchange rate against other currencies.

With more and more banks using the Ripple protocol, the supply of Ripple will eventually have to be enough to support the total transaction volume of all the players using the system. Since XRP could feasibly replace SWIFT as a payment system due to its lower cost and higher speed, SWIFT figures can be used as an estimate. SWIFT handles about $5 Trillion each day. This is one of the biggest opportunities for Ripple.

WEAKNESS

Unlike many other popular cryptocurrencies, XRP is not mined. The company is centralized in many ways. There are whopping 100 billion coins in existence, and they were created by the company Ripple. Ripple has been fast growing and is currently at a market cap of just about $7.7bn. This means that the current circulating supply of about 38.5 billion XRP is trading at around $0.2 each.

It’s very important for Ripple as a company to be very transparent in XRP markets so every quarter they publish a report that specifies how much they sold in the open market and to institutional buyers.

XRP supply, unlike other cryptocurrencies, is partly controlled by the company Ripple who currently owns more than 60% of all existing XRP coins. The fear is that the company will capitalize on its position and flood the market with Ripple coins, from time to time as it suits them, causing a massive oversupply in the short run. For holders of the coin, it could be devastating. This could be not just weakness but also a threat.

– Currently we are permanently removing that uncertainty by committing to place 55 billion XRP into a cryptographically-secured Escrow account by the end of 2017. We’ll use Escrow to establish 55 smart contracts of 1 billion XRP each that will expire on the first day of every month from months 0 to 54. As each contract expires, the XRP will become available for Ripple’s use. We’ll then return whatever is unused at the end of each month to the back of the escrow queue. This technology-escrow enables Ripple to promise a predictable supply of XRP and enablesinvestors to instantly verify such a promise. For comparison, Ripple has sold on average 300M XRP per month for the past 18 months.

THREAT

Investors should be considering what role Ripple might play over the course of the next several years?

The number of institutions that have partnered with Ripple has exceeded 100 and is growing almost daily and very rapidly.

Yet the price of Ripple has steadily fluctuated around $0.2 for the past months. Why is that?

There are still a lot of potential roadblocks on the way to XRP being traded at lets say higher price than $5.

-First of all, the biggest threat is competition, development of more innovative payment systems that would be similar or even better, technologically more sophisticated, offering an even more attractive alternative using a different coin as a bridge currency, so the amount of money being transferred via Ripple will decrease substantially, or even wipe out XRP usage completely.

-Unfavourable government regulations, or even ban of the cryptocurrencies.

-Many banks and financial institutions have started developing their own cryptocurrencies for the use of interbank transactions.

Still we like the quite feasible idea that the maximum supply of XRP will one day drive a majority of financial transactions which is a powerful incentive to buy XRP coins.

| An Ethereum News release  ||  October 26,  2017   |||