A record 800 guests descended on Auckland's Langham Hotel last night for the finance industry's annual knees-up, the Infinz Awards.
Winners included First NZ Capital Securities, which was named Sharebroking Firm of the Year, and BNZ, which received the Institutional Banking Innovation Award for its community finance initiative for low-income earners.
Craigs Investment Partners' Stephen Ridgewell was Research Analyst of the Year, and the initial public offering of cinema software provider Vista Group was named Equity Issue of the Year.
In a keynote address, Finance Minster Bill English said the mixed ownership model programme, which saw state-owned power firms listed on the sharemarket, was a "major plank" in the Government's strategy to boost economic growth through creating more vibrant capital markets.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare was named Market Leaders Best Corporate Communicator.
