ING & ANZ duped "investors" can take their own action

Unfortunately this is about financial skulduggery again.

This time regarding ING and ANZ fund's products that have been frozen had investors put in financial limbo until they can decide whether to accept ING's latest offer of 60 or 62 cents in the dollar and five years in an ANZ call account at 8.3% , take matters into their own hands and take legal action or continue to hold units in their respective funds.

This is because it seems the Commerce Commission/Securities Commission doesn't have the balls/motivation to do anything about it in a sufficiently expedient manner.








Depending on the level of duplicity or what most would consider fraud, that your advisor/ING or ANZ sold you these higher risk products in the first place, if any, will motivate you to take your own action.

Most will probably opt to take the money and run but not me.

If you have been falsely sold a product and you have documentation then you have a case, you don't have to wait for various lobby groups or any Commission to do anything on your behalf.

Depending on your level of investment you can take a case to the disputes tribunal up to $7500 with scope to increase that figure if agreed upon between the two parties. It will cost you 50 bucks.

A breech of the Fair Trading Act is where you should start but consult a lawyer and if you cant afford one go to your free community lawyer through the Citizens Advice Bureau

If your investment is a large one you have a case against the defendant but it will cost you to go to court.

If you got your advice from ANZ your beef is with them NOT ING and if it is an "independent" financial adviser, you go after them. Straight from ING, you go after those bastards.

Too many of these pricks have got away with shoddy and corrupt financial practices in the past and it is time someone took a stand and made an example of these ***ts.


Timetable for ING/ANZ investors

* Investors have until Monday, July 13 to decide on ING's proposal.

* Investors who went through the ANZ Bank have until July 31 to make a formal complaint.

* Investors who accept the offer should gain access to their money by August 28.

* Those who don't accept the offer will continue to own units in the funds.

* Investigations by the Commerce Commission are ongoing but won't be completed by the decision deadline.

* Complaints have also been made to the Securities Commission asking it to delay the offer until the Commerce Commission has ruled but the commission said yesterday it had no ability to stop the offer going ahead because the offer is not misleading or deceptive.


Related Links

Citizens Advice Bureau
Disputes Tribunal
Fair Trading Act


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c Share Investor 2009

Morgan's book "After the Panic" timely

Media - Video | Text

It is a little too late when you look back having lost your life savings to get it back, but anything that improves investor education and puts the spotlight on dodgy financial practices so you don't perpetuate the same mistake has got to be a positive thing.

Gareth Morgan, the well known economist/socialist has finally come back on track, pulled his finger out of his backside after his embarrassing book on so-called "global warming" and produced a book the average investor should read called After the Panic: Surviving bad investments and bad advice.
His book names collapsed companies and those individuals who are responsible for some of the finance companies that have been buried, along with nearly NZ$ 2 billion of investor money buried along with them.

I am not sure if it includes names of "financial advisers", the financial world equivalent of global warming zealots, but these individuals take a large part of the blame.

The book provides documents from said finance companies that reinforced their "stability" to the investor public while behind the scenes trusts were re-organised, bank accounts were siphoned, money was given to mistresses and tickets to Australia were purchased -my emphasis.

This excerpt from the book is but one example:

"You can have peace of mind when investing with Provincial Finance as you're dealing with an experienced, dedicated finance company," Provincial Finance said in a prospectus in 2005.

"... when you invest with Provincial Finance you'll enjoy high levels of personal service, regular, easy to understand performance reports, attention to risk, and a good rate of return over the term of your investment".

Disclosure was only the beginning of the dodgy dealing of finance companies of course, there was also the massive inter-related party lending to bolster the books, the selling of property that didn't exist, money siphoned from company accounts to pay for lavish personal expenses and a whole host of small crimes and massive mis-demeanor's.

Gareth has written a book of its time and inexperienced/experienced prospective investors alike, in any asset class, should have a read of his book, if only to see where the bodies are buried.

You can be sure though, just as some of these individuals who have participated in this financial rape of the greedy, the hapless, the elderly and the mis-advised, came out of the ashes of similar shell games from the financial collapse of the sharemarket in the 1980s, they will rise again sometime in the future to do it all again.

Gareth's book looks like another tool that investors can use to stop them from becoming financial prey, again.

Related Video

Gareth Morgan Interview - One News

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c Share Investor 2009

The Continued Fascism of New Zealand Governance

Since when did people like me vote in a fascist in November that has first decided that he wont give Auckland voters the right to decide whether they want their council's combined and then yesterday and again today tell us that even if New Zealand citizens decided to give the anti smacking bill a good beating in a referendum then he would ignore the result because he thinks it is working.

Regardless of which side of each debate you fall on- the anti smacking bill is clearly a failure and the coming supercity is debatable- we must have the right to decide in a free democracy important life changing events.

We have processes and democratic rights which must be upheld and while the previous administration trampled all over these in the last 9 years, more than any other Government in New Zealand history, I certainly didn't vote for more of the same.

I will be reassessing my vote in 2011. In its current guise it wont be for Labour and if John Key ignores my referendum tick then it wont be for him either.

Doesn't leave me with much does it?

c Political Animal 2009

Charlies Group: A Triumph of Style over Substance

There was much fanfare, overwhelming hype and plenty of free publicity when Charlies Group [CHA.NZ] listed on the NZX through the back door in 2005 and that has been the way the company has operated for the last 4 years.

They had Marc Ellis as its largely titular head and Stefan Lepionka in the back room squeezing the juice and running the business side.

Shareholders who got in at the entry point have lost millions and are unlikely to get it back and many of these same people would have participated in the 42 below IPO a few years back expecting Charlies to pay back the same way that deal finally did.

We have learnt that the company is looking at raising capital in some way to enable them to continue to function as a going concern and their original idea to build up the company to sell it off to a major beverage player has failed because they cannot get what they think it is worth in the current economic climate.

Burger Fuel Worldwide [BFW.NZ] which is contemplating capital raising itself, is another one of those flash harries that investors got hyped up in and ended up largely kissing goodbye to the 2 million that was raised from them in that particular IPO in 2007.

These companies all share a sense of style over substance and should be avoided at all costs by those without money to lose and that should be pointed out clearly before virgin investors plunk down their cash.

The fact that these sort of IPOs were pitched to those without much financial nous and got caught up in the hype is a testament to Kiwis lack of financial skill and those that were raising funds were counting on when they targeted the financially illiterate for their hard earned moola.

Fare enough for Ellis & Co to take a big risk in business but to pitch there IPO without spelling out there was a fair chance the business would fail is, once again, a triumph of style over substance.

Footnote: Charlies have just issued a press release to the NZX softening up shareholders for more money.


Charlies Group @ Share Investor

Takeover Documents

Charlies Group Ltd: Asahi make takeover offer
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Charlies Group: A Triumph of Style over Substance
Charlies juicing through Shareholder cash

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c Share Investor 2009