Barbara Chapman.
Business Insider wonders whether ASB boss Barbara Chapman might be feeling a little left out.
Not because she is the only local head of a Big Four Australian bank whose pay is a secret.
Not because she avoids having it ranked against her counterparts at ANZ, Westpac and BNZ.
Not because she escapes censure from those who worry about chief executives receiving obscenely large salaries.
Rather, Chapman could be forgiven for feeling aggrieved that she is not considered "key management personnel" by parent firm Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
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Australian law, Business Insider learned this week, requires public firms to disclose the remuneration of all "key management personnel" in annual reports.
Dive deep into the annals of Westpac and you will find David McLean (A$1.7 million paid for 8 months' work) listed as one such key person. On the roll of ANZ's head honchos, you will find NZ chief executive David Hisco (paid A$4.55m).
And among National Australia Bank's list of key management personnel is BNZ boss Anthony Healey (paid A$1.58m).
On asking ASB about the disclosure of Chapman's pay, Business Insider was told such key management personnel at Commonwealth Bank are its directors, the CEO and certain group executives.
Among them are the likes of the chief financial officer, and the bosses for marketing and strategy, and wealth management also make the cut.
So, too, does Commonwealth Bank's head of human relations (as was the case when Chapman held that role in 2011).
But Chapman no longer makes the grade, despite the fact that the bank she heads this year made a record profit of $859 million for its parent.
The Companies Office will soon purge itself of up to 4000 firms for failing to comply with new rules.
In the wake of rampant abuse by overseas criminals setting up shell companies in New Zealand, local firms are now finally required to have a director who is based either here or in Australia.
New companies have needed such a person since May, but those already on the register had until the end of October to install a resident director on their boards.
The rules should help limit cases of locally-registered companies popping up in connection with activities such as illegal arms deals and international money laundering schemes.
The regulations were a long time coming and Business Insider thinks the Government was painfully slow to act on the problem, in the face of overwhelming evidence.
Since the rules came into effect, Registrar of Companies Mandy McDonald has given notice to almost 4000 firms that aren't complying.
These companies have until just before Christmas to raise an objection or install a resident director. If not, they will face removal from the register.
What should have been a brief skirmish between liquidators and Sir Bob Jones' firm is looking more like a full-blown battle, with a judge saying the property mogul's company has "adopted stalling tactics".
"Robt. Jones has contributed unnecessarily to the time spent on the proceeding," said Associate Judge Roger Bell in a recent court minute obtained by Business Insider.
"This is not just a reflection of Robt. Jones' failure. It also bears on Robt. Jones' strategy for this proceeding. Only Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator would be delighted. Robt. Jones' tactics are attritional: to string the case out, to play for time by interlocutory skirmishing, to make the liquidators run up costs and to delay as long as possible a hearing on the merits," the judge said late last month.
Robt. Jones' tactics are attritional: to string the case out, to play for time..
Fabius Maximus was a Roman politician and general whose strategy on the battlefield prompted the term "Fabian tactics" -- wearing down your opponent through a war of attrition.
The stoush in question, filed with the High Court in 2013, involves about $750,000 that Robt. Jones Holdings received from Northern Crest Investments, and whether the money should be set aside by that firm's liquidators.
Northern Crest, part of the crumbled Blue Chip empire, leased a floor in a central Auckland office tower from Robt. Jones Holdings but left the premises in August 2008, half way through a six-year lease.
Robt. Jones Holdings, New Zealand's largest private CBD office building owner, got a High Court judgment in September 2009 against Northern Crest for about $300,000, which was paid after liquidation proceedings were brought.
Liquidators from PKF Corporate Recovery & Insolvency, appointed in 2011, identified around $750,000 of payments from Northern Crest to Robt. Jones Holdings they believe are voidable.
Robt. Jones Holdings is challenging the attempt to set aside the $750,000.
Business Insider is struggling to keep count of the charges police have laid against ex-Financial Markets Authority analyst Benjamin Anthony Kiro.
Kiro is accused of forging an academic record from Australian universities, using a false curriculum vitae to obtain employment at the FMA, as well as not investing money given to him for that purpose.
The 35-year-old originally faced 11 charges and was due back in the Auckland District Court on Wednesday after a further eight were laid against him.
That same day, police arrested Kiro and filed another three charges, bringing the running total to 22.
Business Insider is also struggling to keep up with the number of places Kiro allegedly claimed to have worked.
Kiro is now accused of falsifying a Fonterra contract, an offer of work from AMP Capital and a letter of employment for BT Financial Group.
Kiro was denied bail yesterday and remains in custody.
He is due to appear in court again next month.
Reserve Bank says leaving banks to their own devices hasn't worked.