The Australian Custodial Services Association turned 25 this year. It is one of those behind-the-scenes organisations which work away for the benefit of the whole industry without seeking much limelight. Well, it shone at the AIST’s ASI conference last week. In a “special interest” session at the conference, Rob Brown, ACSA’s chief executive, supported by… [Read More…]
Archives for 2019
Front, back and sides: Sargon cuts into NZ robo-advice and trustee markets
Australian-owned fund infrastructure firm, Sargon, plans to attack the NZ market from both the front-end and back-office with a robo-advice system lined up beside its online trustee offering unveiled last week. In a release, Sargon chief, Phillip Kingston, confirmed the Australian financial services conglomerate, would roll out the Decimal robo-advice service in NZ – pending… [Read More…]
Pie lifts lid on soft-closed small-cap funds
Pie Funds Management has re-opened three ‘soft-closed’ products following a review of capacity constraints. Paul Gregory, Pie head of investments, said the internal review found the three formerly closed-to-new-investor funds – Australasian Growth, Australasian Dividend and Growth 2 – could cope with further flows. But the almost $100 million Pie Australasian Emerging Companies Fund remains… [Read More…]
NZ Funds stalwart finds Findex; ForBar buys in the Bay
Veteran NZ Funds Management executive, David van Schaardenburg, has left the boutique investment and advice house for a new career at Australian-owned financial services shop, Findex. After 22 years in various roles at NZ Funds, van Schaardenburg joined Findex NZ in August as senior partner wealth with a mandate to develop its “investment advice capabilities”,… [Read More…]
Age-based fee relief, new aggressive fund for Milford KiwiSaver
Milford Asset Management has made further tweaks to its fast-growing KiwiSaver scheme, dropping the annual administration fee for members at opposite ends of the age range and launching a new high-growth investment option. Murray Harris, who moved from head of wealth management to a new KiwiSaver-focused role at Milford in April, said the scheme had… [Read More…]
Smart beta: how the landscape is about to change big time…
Over the next few months the challenge for the major smart beta providers in Australia and New Zealand will change dramatically. It’s not necessarily bad news for investors, though. But it’s not so good, either. The two biggest players in the market, who have been joined at the hip for years, are parting company next… [Read More…]
… as factor investing edges up a notch or two
Factor investing – or tilted indices as the strategy used to be known – is becoming increasingly popular with retail investors, largely due to the growth in ETFs. But it is not as simple as it seems. Factor strategies may seem cheap, but there are risks attached. Institutional investors have understood the world of ‘factors’… [Read More…]
Flat returns, rising costs but grant cut keeps Foundation North on track
Foundation North, one of Australasia’s largest charitable trusts, has turned in an above-benchmark performance over the latest 12-month period after failing to beat the index last year. The $1.4 billion Foundation North, which invests in a multi-manager portfolio devised by Cambridge Associates, reported a net-of-fees return of 6.7 per cent against 5.3 per cent for… [Read More…]
Bumper conference crowd for FSC in disruptive year
The Financial Services Council (FSC) will see a record turn-out of more than 500 delegates at its annual conference set down for next week, according to chief executive, Richard Klipin. Klipin said the ‘Towards Wellbeing’ conference would bring together the financial services sector along with “regulators, lawmakers, stakeholders and consumers… in a showcase event”. “There’s… [Read More…]
Going up in the world: how the Indian ‘growth recession’ could end well
For a NZ economy languishing with a GDP under 3 per cent, a 5.7 per cent growth-rate sounds like more than half a world away. And yet half a world away a real growth rate of almost 6 per cent is viewed as a downer, according Mugunthan Siva, managing director of Sydney-headquartered India Avenue Investment… [Read More…]