A word about…finance

The world of finance can be extremely confusing and complicated to the everyday person especially when this is not a primary part of a person’s business life. This introduction to finance lightly touches upon a few topics, very briefly. An effort has been made to distil out some basic facts that may be of interest to people who are not working in financial arenas frequently. The report begins with an outline of some business structures for rural businesses. It progresses to look at two pieces of relatively recent legislation, which overhauls the law regarding financial contracts and security. These are the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003 and the Personal Properties Security Act 1999. The report continues with a look at some of the aspects of loan documentation and the clauses contained in the fine print of these. A section covers guarantees and what they involve, followed by the initial stages of the mortgagee sale process. The final section of the report looks at the role the Commerce Commission holds regarding financial matters, and some of the law it polices. The Banking Ombudsman Service, and the Financial Services Federation are also mentioned.