The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has published a commentary on initial coin offers (ICOs) and cryptocurrency services, alongside online resources for investors.

The FMA said it wanted to facilitate responsible innovation, and ensure that the regulatory regime remain relevant and agile. The FMA said this was supported by the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013, that sets out one of its principle purposes is to “promote innovation and flexibility in financial markets”.

The FMA said it regularly engages with other regulators and industry bodies (both locally and internationally) on innovation and market flexibility. The FMA said its work in this area was part of an “ongoing effort to better understand, and share our views, on the risks and opportunities associated with technological change and innovation.

FMA said investors must understand the risks involved with cryptocurrencies and associated services before they invest.

“Most online exchanges are unregulated and operate exclusively online, with no connection to New Zealand. This means it is hard to find out who is offering, exchanging, buying or selling. It also makes it unlikely investors will recover their money if things go wrong. Using cryptocurrencies may make investors a target for scammers.

“Consumers need to be aware that cryptocurrencies are volatiles, their value can change quickly and they aren’t widely accepted in the same way as legal tender. The currency held in digital wallets is at risk of being stolen, just like a real wallet.”

| An NZ|Advisor release  ||  October 26,  2017   |||

New Zealand’s recent election and the political uncertainty which has followed is having a major impact on business sentiment, with seven in ten businesses indicating politics will influence their ability to grow in the next 12 months.

This is one of the key findings from the latest Alleasing Equipment Demand Index, and it comes after the rapid emergence of Labour leader Jacinda Ardern, who has been confirmed as the country’s youngest Prime Minister in a coalition Government.

Upper corporate businesses were most sensitive to the political environment, with 77.5 per cent expecting politics to have some impact on their business. For SMEs, the figure was 70.4 per cent against a national average of 71.2 per cent.

The SME constituency have traditionally been the heartland of the National Party, and this segment showed less sensitivity to politics as they pondered the possibility of a Labour Government. Of upper corporates, 77.5 per cent anticipate an impact on their business, opposed to 70.4 per cent of SMEs.

At industry level, hospitality is the most wary of the potential impact that politics could have, with 76.9 per cent expecting politics to impact them in some way. A quarter of manufacturing businesses expect a significant impact from the political environment, while the figure from the agriculture, fishing and forestry sector was 22.8 per cent. This fell away to 11.1 per cent in the transport sector, and 9.1 per cent in construction.

Daniel Blizzard, chief executive of Alleasing, said it is clear the recent New Zealand election has been a focal point for businesses across the country, with many concerned with how the results would impact their operations.

“Seven in ten businesses have demonstrated concern regarding the impact the election result will have on their business,” noted Mr. Blizzard.

“‘Jacindamania’ has had a major influence on business sentiment, and now that Ardern is Prime Minister in what could be a volatile coalition, we expect the business sector will be watching the new Government’s movements closely, particularly at the beginning of 2018.”

Although there could be a period of political volatility, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and (OECD) is forecasting that the New Zealand economy will continue its strong growth trajectory. This could relieve some pressure on the new Government as it settles into the Beehive in Wellington.

Under the National Party, the New Zealand economy has gone from being one of the most regulated in the OECD, to one of the most open according to the 2017 Index of Economic Freedom by the Heritage Foundation.

New Zealand businesses are now more exposed to international competition than ever before. While the ability to compete with these businesses is a key driver for a number of firms to upgrade to the latest technology (16.4 per cent), a greater number of firms are concerned with their ability to compete against their local competitors. This was cited as the biggest issue for 22.4 per cent of executives should they not upgrade.

Alleasing’s Daniel Blizzard notes that among New Zealand businesses, the manufacturing sector is the most sensitive to international competition.

“While 16.4 per cent of New Zealand business said failure to upgrade technology exposes them to international rivals, the figure among manufacturers is 28.6 per cent,” Mr Blizzard said.

“With Chinese manufacturers leading the way in implementing automation and industry 4.0 technology, this sector’s concern is understandable.

The Index reveals that some businesses are reacting to these pressures, with 47.6 per cent of businesses planning to increase their asset base this (December) quarter. Of those businesses, 23.5 per cent intend to acquire automation equipment, drones, artificial intelligence and big data.

“New Zealand businesses are beginning to embrace transformation. This is a good start because the opportunities that come with implementing Industry 4.0 technology will increase productivity and attract more capital to the country.”

To date, Alleasing Index data continues to track the percentage of businesses planning to acquire assets in the next quarter in-line with trends in Statistics New Zealand data on Gross Capital Formation over the first two quarters of 2017.

Matching the Index forecast for third quarter of the 2017 calendar year, Trading Economics is also forecasting a slight dip in Capital Formation for this period.

| A Alleasing release  ||  October 24,  2017   |||

DIY defeat in which Blindness to symbols blended with analysis-induced paralysis.

Political buffs everywhere will refer to the fall in 2017 of the National Government as an example of how flourishing terms of trade and other positive economic indicators are insufficient to compensate for a failure to quickly get on top of emotive domestic issues.

The National Government fell through becoming paralysed by its own over-analysis.

It could never get a clear vision of its overriding objective which was to stop its older adherents bolting to Winston Peters and his New Zealand First alternative party.

Similarly, National had to lock in its farmers.

Yet with its inability to put out clear policies, notably on water, National allowed Winston Peters to insert himself in the policy vacuum and declare himself the champion of farmers

Again, in taxation, National was unable to put across the obvious dual message to the effect that yes, capital gains tax was a good idea, but oh dear! It simply had had the opposite effect of the one intended in countries that had it. They might have quoted Spain, for example

In a curious example of reverse laws in physics, the more advisers and “consultants” the Nationals recruited to its cause from at home and abroad, the less the grasp it gave the impression of having on the issues

Neither was it able to recognise its own strengths in order to de-fuse the anticipated accusations of absence of much caring-sharing in regard to minority groups. It’s allegiance with the now extinct Maori Party was one of these hidden symbolic advantages.

It was in its absence of comprehension of political symbols that from the outset of its third term that the governing-alone National Party was most manifestly out of its depth.

The caucus, the Parliamentary party in toto, did not know how to handle a celebrity prime minister, and especially one who would not be taking them into the next election

Without anyone to counter his own exuberance, the caucus allowed Mr Key to launch his personal flag-changing campaign which was to alienate the growing proportion of its elderly supporters, and to near universal surprise, a sizeable chunk of the younger ones as well.

A pride of the National government was that under the tutelage of old Wall Street hand prime minister John Key, it understood pretty much what was going on in United States politics.

In the event it gave the impression of having little comprehension at all.

It seemed as surprised as its contacts in United States media and politics that Donald Trump became the new president.

It was revealed for example that the National government had signed off on a large donation to the Clinton Foundation.

Worse was to follow.

The National government now followed through on its pledge as a temporary member of the United Nations Security Council to back a measure against Israel.

This had the effect of alienating its support among New Zealand’s accelerating congregations in evangelical churches in which anything to do with the holy land is regarded with extreme sensitivity

As the election drew near and grappling now with the excesses of house prices and unable to explain how this was due in part to regulatory constraints, many introduced by Labour, the National Government now stood mutely by as it found itself on the receiving end of the biggest own goal in New Zealand political history.

Former prime minister, by now Sir, John Key now sold his Auckland property.

New Zealand is quite different from the United States and Australia in that great wealth is not necessarily admired.

Attitudes to large scale individual capital formation can quickly change from sneaking regard, furtive envy, to outright resentment

Which is what happened now as the general election drew near .

Neither can the National Party point to Fifth Column-style enemies of the type that are supposed to be neutral.

Certainly not the mainstream media.

The old legacy media nowadays is neither to the right nor to the left.

It is though intensely pc, something which National finds it hard to grasp, and thus accommodate itself to.

In the end it was a DIY defeat.

National fell into all the bear traps dug for it by Winston Peters.

Then added its own.

| From the This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ||  Monday 23 October 2017   |||

With what3words, Chris Sheldrick and his team have divided the entire planet into three-meter squares and assigned each a unique, three-word identifier, like famous.splice.writers or blocks.evenly.breed, giving a precise address to the billions of people worldwide who don't have one.

In this quick talk about a big idea, Sheldrick explains the economic and political implications of giving everyone an accurate address -- from building infrastructure to sending aid to disaster zones to delivering hot pizza. 

You can view the address by Chris here

| A TED release   ||  October 19,  2017   |||

Following others in the financial services industry, Mastercard unveiled its own blockchain distributed ledger for cross-border payments.

Mastercard is launching its own blockchain network to enable partner banks and merchants to make cross-border payments faster and more securely.

The Mastercard blockchain service can be used to clear credit card transactions, eliminate administration tasks using smart contract rules and thus, speed transaction settlement.

"By combining Mastercard blockchain technology with our settlement network and associated network rules, we have created a solution that is safe, secure, auditable and easy to scale," Ken Moore, executive vice president for Mastercard Labs said in a statement.

On Saturday, Mastercard will also sponsor the Money20/20 Hackathon, where the company will make the Mastercard Blockchain API available for participating developers.

Blockchain is a public electronic ledger – similar to a relational database – that can be openly shared among disparate users and that creates an unchangeable record of their transactions, each one time-stamped and linked to the previous one.

Mastercard's blockchain is a private, permissions-based network, meaning only those authorized to participate in transactions can see them.

The credit card giant is another among several financial services organizations that have deployed blockchain-based cross-border payment networks.

Earlier this week, IBM announced it had partnered with a Polynesian payments system provider and an open-source FinTech payment network to implement a new international exchange based on a blockchain electronic ledger.

A new blockchain solution from IBM and Maersk will help manage and track the paper trail of tens of millions of shipping containers across the world by digitizing the supply chain process.

Jeffrey Neuburger, partner with Proskauer Rose LLP, an international law firm specializing in corporate finance, characterized IBM's blockchain deployment as "a major milestone for implementation of blockchain in major financial institutions."

IBM partnered with KlickEx Group, a United Nations-funded, Pacific-region financial services company, and Stellar.org, a nonprofit organization that supports an open-source blockchain network for financial services, to create the new cross-border payments service.

That partnership is likely to be a "watermark event in the growth of blockchain and digital currencies," Neuburger said.

"A lot is riding on the success or failure if this. Particularly interesting because the participants created their own digital currency for this implementation, and it will be interesting to see how regulators, among others, will receive this," Neuberger said.

Mastercard's blockchain is integrated into the company's payment network that includes 22,000 financial institutions to move funds that have been committed on the blockchain.

Mastercard's financial services and merchant customers will be able to connect into its blockchain network using an API, alleviating them from having to build out their own distributed ledger server nodes. Once a part of the blockchain network, banks and retailers can add their own internal nodes to scale capacity, Mastercard said.

"When it comes to payments, we want to provide choice and flexibility to our partners where they are able to seamlessly use both our existing and new payment rails based on the needs and requirements of their customers," Moore said.

| A ComputerWorld release  ||  October 21,  2017   |||

Leading economic researcher BERL challenges all businesses to become Living Wage employers to make a real difference to New Zealanders and their communities. On its 60th anniversary celebrations, BERL chief economist Dr Ganesh Nana told invited guests, economists and business people at a gala function in Wellington tonight that BERL had a commitment to the wellbeing of current and future generations. “Corporate visions are great for websites and for glossy marketing collateral. We need to walk the talk. In this light, I am proud to announce that BERL has recently been approved as an Accredited Living Wage employer. “We applied because, yes, it is closely aligned with our vision and yes, because we want to walk the talk against a low-wage, low-skill business model. “And yes, it’s good corporate citizen behaviour but, primarily and most importantly, it is the right thing to do. “I recently stumbled on a Mood of the Boardroom survey that indicated 91 percent of respondents were prepared to pay the Living Wage. I congratulate those already doing so. But tonight, I challenge those 91 percent – and indeed all other businesses – what are they waiting for? Stop waiting for others to take the lead. Walk the talk and commit to a Living Wage business and a high wage economy. “BERL is proud to be a Living Wage employer - in support of moving out of low-wage, low-productivity, low-profitability spiral and towards a high wage, high productivity and high profitability economy.” He says neo-liberal economics is dead so let’s take this opportunity to set a platform for a high wage economy. He remains sceptical and unconvinced of the magnitude of the gains from the experiment of the past three decades. Much of BERL’s work around the regions of Aotearoa provides the evidence in relation to the tradable export sector and the quality of its infrastructure, education and labour market inefficiencies and disconnects, and lagging research and development spending. “Exports are still struggling to breach the 30 percent of GDP threshold, let alone the 40 percent aspirational target and there are many examples of the costs of deferred maintenance as investment in new transformational processes and technologies continue to be in the ‘we can’t afford it’ basket. “Yes, there have been gains from the experiment, but as a true academic researcher I am obliged to weigh up those gains against the costs. I see entrenched disparities in New Zealand, and growing disparities around the globe. These disparities sow the seeds for an unstable future – an instability the consequences of which we in New Zealand will not be able to avoid. “Neo-liberal economics is not dying, rather, it is dead; In the sense of business decisions being driven by market price signals, the neo-liberal economic model is well and truly dead in the water – belly up, being towed by a life-raft known as taxpayer largesse. “In the New Zealand context, the neo-liberal model is an illusion increasingly reliant, not on the market, but on Working for Families supplementing workers’ incomes. “As the welfare net broadens to now capture many that are indeed employed in the market economy, the inability of that market economy to deliver incomes for workers to be able to live (and to provide for their families) becomes ever more stark. This implicit support for a low wage business model does little to encourage a high productivity, high profitability economy. “To break that low wage, low productivity, low profitability spiral requires courage and leadership. Businesses committing to and adopting the Living Wage is a first step,” Dr Nana says. For further information contact Dr Ganesh Nana on 021 1376530 or Make Lemonade editor-in-chief Kip Brook on 0275 030188. Editors: Please contact us if you wish to receive a copy of Dr Nana’s full speech to the 60th anniversary event tonight. Please contact us if you want any of your newsroom staff to attend the event.

| A MakeLemonade release  ||  October 18,  2017   |||

HRL Holdings will buy New Zealand-based Analytica Laboratories for NZ$30 million (A$27.4m) reports The Australian.

The consideration is comprised of NZ$19m upfront consideration in cash (70%) and scrip (30%), and cash earn-out up to NZ$11m.

Upfront consideration of purchase price and additional growth capital will be funded by an institutional placement of A$15 million.

| A News.com.au. release   ||  October 18,  2017   |||

A disruptive economic model created by SheEO.World designed to actively support a small number of women-led ventures with no-interest loans launches in New Zealand today writes Lew Kai Ping for bizEDGE.

Theresa Gattung is behind the local launch of SheEO which aims to bring together 500 local female Activators who contribute $1,100 each ($1, 000 invested to create a perpetual fund and $100 as a program fee) to create a funding pool of $500,000.

The launch kicks off with 50 signed-up Activators whose contribution will be used to support five female-led companies.

Activators have until November 24 to be part of the NZ campaign.

The second part of the model is about the Ventures and the five selected Ventures not only receive funding but also access to a network of buying power and expertise to help them grow their businesses.

“Traditional funding models haven’t worked well for female entrepreneurs and SheEO is all about women funding women to succeed,” says Theresa Gattung, SheEO New Zealand lead.

“We are replicating a proven business model which has dramatically increased revenue, growth and impacted selected SheEO Ventures in other countries. The success of the new system is seeing strong interest from all around the world and New Zealand is the first country outside North America to introduce SheEO,” says Gattung.

New Zealand Venture applications open today October 18 and close on November 24, 2017.

Vicki Saunders, SheEO global founder, says, “I have watched time and again for decades, as investors (mostly men) have put their money into businesses that increase inequality, and perpetuate the cycle of putting more money into fewer hands - five men have the same wealth as a billion people right now – it’s insane - and it literally pulls apart communities

“I didn’t want to simply level the playing field by bringing more women into that broken model, I wanted to create an entirely different one.”

After decades of watching the stagnant numbers - only four percent of venture capital going to women, and less than one percent of corporate procurement going to women-led businesses – SheEO’s model is a breath of fresh air for women innovators and all of the Ventures we supported last year have experienced double-digit revenue growth and we want to build on this momentum to help more female entrepreneurs,” adds Saunders.

“The vast majority of female entrepreneurs do not have mentors. That’s why beyond the funding component, selected Ventures have the opportunity to tap into the Activator’s networks, buying power and expertise to grow their businesses as well as a personalised, guided development program,” says Saunders.

David McLean, Westpac CEO, and major supporter of SheEO in New Zealand says, “By helping to enhance these businesses, it creates a positive financial impact not only on these companies but on the country as well.”

| A bizEDGE release  ||  October 18,  2017   |||

Blockchain start-up Blockfreight has ambitions to serve 360 million shipping containers on blockchain networks by the year 2020, the company’s Australian Founder and CEO, Julian Smith, tells Logistics & Materials Handling.

After many years working on the development of applications for large corporations, universities and government agencies, software engineer Smith became increasingly interested in Bitcoin technology, an interest that eventually led him to the logistics space.

“Bitcoin is a way to digitally track and transfer virtual assets, but a similar type of technology can be used to track and transfer physical assets,” Smith said. “This method has great potential in the logistics space, reducing fraud and increasing efficiency and consistency – effectively leading to a more effective movement of goods between parties on a global framework.”

At the beginning of 2017, Smith founded Blockfreight in San Francisco to commercialise and build a reference implementation for enterprise, designed to act as a blockchain partner to the container logistics industry. He now spends his time between New Zealand, Australia and Blockfreight’s US offices.

To date, Blockfreight has completed a research period and is entering beta trials of its Blockchain technology on global freight, findings and case studies of which Smith will share at the upcoming Supply Chain Management Australia 2017 event, to be held in Sydney in November.

As a firm dealing with a developing technology, Blockfreight is delighted to be investing in Australia, with a three-year commitment to a Melbourne research and development lab, Smith noted.

“I believe Australia is a leading adopter of technology in the Asia-Pacific region and globally,” he said. “This is evidenced by the spectacular growth of vendors such as WiseTech Global, and is also the product of a relatively low population and its distance from major markets.”

“We put a particular emphasis and focus on opportunities for technology-led cost and process efficiencies.”

| A Logistics&MaterialsHandling release  || October 17,  2017   |||

New Zealand's top 200 technology companies now have combined revenues of more than $10 billion - and export receipts of $7.3 billion making the sector our third biggest earner of overseas income writes Tim Murphy for Newsroom.

A report prepared by the Technology Investment Network (TIN) released Tuesday night found the technology, high-tech manufacturing and biotechnology sectors now contribute about 10 percent of all New Zealand exports. The 8.5 percent increase in export revenues in the year came despite currency challenges resulting from a higher Kiwi dollar against all major trading nations.

The top two businesses, Datacom Group and Fisher & Paykel Appliances are billion dollar companies by revenue, with Datacom edging its rival to take top rank this year with $1.15 billion in revenue.

The rest of the top 10 are Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, Xero Gallagher Group, Orion Health, Douglas Pharmaceuticals, Tait Communications, NDA Group, Temperzone Group and Magic Memories.

Datacom had the largest revenue growth, at $103 million this year ahead of Magic Memories at $89 m and Xero at $88 m, the report said.

| A Newsroom release  ||  October 18, 2017   |||