NZX looks at setting up registry

By PAUL PANCKHURST

The stock exchange may set up a share registry in a revenue-grab that will increase tension with the dominant player in the business, Computershare.

Listed in Australia, Computershare is NZX's biggest shareholder, shown in the last annual report as holding an 8.4 per cent stake.

NZX yesterday said it was investigating whether it could set up a registry as a standalone operation to compete with Computershare and BK Registries.

Registries are the sharemarket's memory, keeping track of who owns what.

The context for the move includes arguments between the registries and NZX over the causes of a string of sharemarket closures.

It also includes tension over proposals by NZX to raise connection fees charged to the registries and over its plan for a "central clearing house" for trading.

NZX is sitting on a war-chest of expansion funds from last year's share float and casts a covetous eye at the millions of dollars of profit reaped by the registries.

The most recent figures on Computershare's website for the New Zealand operation show revenue of A$11.5 million ($13.3 million) for the 2001 financial year and profit of A$3.4 million ($3.9 million).