The directors of collapsed Dominion Finance and North South Finance have entered not guilty pleas in the Auckland District Court to charges they misled investors.

There was 7.3pc increase in house listings last month, but a big glut of unsold real estate is still weighing heavily on the market.

"Mistakes have been made which the board and management acknowledge," Alloway told shareholders.

Hanover Finance has called in the lawyers to pursue Allied Farmers over allegedly attempting to "evade various contractual obligations to Hanover."

The Ashburton-based auditor of Sth Canterbury Finance, Byron Pearson, has been censured and fined $38,000 by the Institute of Chartered Accountants.

The FBI is planning further raids on hedge funds suspected of involvement in an insider trading scam, as a three-year investigation enters its final stages, with prosecutors aiming to make arrests and lay charges within the next few weeks.