Is listing the answer to our capital woes?

The Capital Markets Taskforce has reported to general acclaim and it probably did come up with some good ideas.

I will get around to reading its findings at some point but at 121 pages it's a bit too much to handle this late in the season.

There are other distractions for financial journalists right now. For example, the fascinating counter-offer by National Australia Bank for the Australasian assets of Axa Asia-Pacific.

Or the inevitable post-Hanover merger slump in the share price of Allied Farmers.

Even the reported demise of an ancient personal financial tool, the cheque, I find more interesting to contemplate than the big picture ideas manufactured by the Capital Markets Taskforce.

I won't miss the cheque if it does disappear but someone will have to come up with a new excuse for late payment.

'The cheque is in the mail' remains the classic way to delay the fulfilment of financial obligations. There is less scope for plausible deniability by claiming 'The internet was down'.

But this is probably not one of the "black holes" in the regulation of financial products that NZX chief, Mark Weldon, was referring to in this story detailing his 'takeouts' from the Taskforce report.

Weldon, a member of the Taskforce, proposed that these "massive holes" in financial regulation would be filled if everybody listed on the NZX.

Funny that. This is generally called 'talking your own book' and shouldn't go unchallenged.

There are many good reasons why companies or financial product providers choose not to list on the NZX. For one, it can be prohibitively expensive -in upfront and ongoing fees to the NZX as well as increased compliance costs.

The NZX, which is essentially a monopoly, shouldn't have the right to bully everyone into listing under the guise of a public good.

- David Chaplin