The NZX-owned Smartshares has appointed David Wong to the newly-created role of head of risk and compliance. Wong joins the $3.7 billion passive funds shop from insurance firm IAG NZ, where he was senior consultant regulatory affairs. He will “provide management and oversight of the risk environment and the changing regulatory environment facing all financial… [Read More…]
Archives for 2019
FMA plans to talk down KiwiSaver fees
The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has no plans to set KiwiSaver fee levels or dig in the margins as it embarks on a sector-wide value-for-money investigation, according to regulation director, Liam Mason. Instead, the FMA has expects to hold a series of “sharper conversations” with KiwiSaver schemes – particularly fee ‘outliers’ – in the wake… [Read More…]
MBIE discloses disclosure regs
Just four months past an indicative deadline and a matter of weeks before transitional licensing begins, the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) has handed down draft disclosure regulations under the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act (FSLAA). The draft regulations, which will apply to all those caught under the FSLAA regime, add flesh to… [Read More…]
Benchmark blues: why the index offers guaranteed disappointment
Passive fund investors will be “disappointed in the long run”, according to a just-released Kiwi Invest analysis. The paper published by the investment arm of the government-owned Kiwi Wealth business argues that passive funds have built a “false economy” on the back of self-interested index managers and benchmark suppliers. “We believe that the research behind… [Read More…]
Crude sex comments cost US$600m
Ken Fisher, the founder and chief executive of the well-known hedge fund manager Fisher Investments, has found himself in a heap of trouble following some sexually unsavory comments he made at an industry event in San Francisco last week. He has already lost a US$600 million mandate as a result. According to the Washington Post… [Read More…]
NZ govt covers $100m green bank costs with $30m on-call capital
The NZ government has set aside up to $30 million to sustain the operations of the recently-created Green Investment Finance (GIF) entity “until it is financially self-sustaining”. Established under legislation last year, the GIF was set up as a ‘green investment bank’ with initial start-up capital of $100 million. According to the just-released statement of… [Read More…]
UPDATED: MMC snaps up Aegis to end six-month platform wait
Auckland-headquartered fund administration firm MMC has emerged as the surprise winner in the battle for the ASB-owned investment platform Aegis. The bank confirmed the Aegis sale last Thursday for an undisclosed price, although industry sources suggest ASB was originally seeking up to $80 million for the aging platform. Law firm MinterEllisonRuddWatts, which advised on the… [Read More…]
Kōura kicks in with flat-fee pricing; Select cuts cloth to suit
Robo KiwiSaver start-up Kōura Wealth has set its pricing at a flat 0.63 per cent across all six underlying funds plus an annual member fee of $30. A product disclosure statement (PDS) published last week, says the “charges cover the fees of Kōura, any external fund managers that we utilise, the Supervisor, the custodian and… [Read More…]
Generate opens PIE for general consumption
The $1.6 billion Generate has ventured beyond the KiwiSaver market for the first time with release of a unit trust version of its ‘focused growth’ fund. Henry Tongue, Generate chief, said the launch was prompted by “simple demand” from the group’s current KiwiSaver investors and supporting financial advisers for a non-locked in product. “Our existing… [Read More…]
ForBar completes admin set with MMC
Forsyth Barr has outsourced registry for its range of six unit trusts to MMC, consolidating all fund back-office functions with the third-party administrator. The stock broking house hired MMC for fund accounting and unit pricing when it launched the portfolio investment entity (PIE) products in 2007 but kept registry in-house until last week. In a… [Read More…]