Archives for 2019

Enforceable undertakings (EUs) remain an effective regulatory tool despite copping flak in the wake of the Australian Royal Commission (RC) into financial services, according to Karen Chang, Financial Markets Authority (FMA) head of enforcement. Chang said RC Commissioner Kenneth Hayne criticised the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) for favouring EU-lite instruments rather than the… [Read More…]

Northern Trust, the big global custodian bank and fund manager, has launched in Australia what it calls an ‘integrated trading solution’. The firm has produced a white paper which discusses the trading issues. It’s better to outsource, they say. The paper makes the case for outsourcing securities trading, as well as other aspects of value-add… [Read More…]

Harbour Asset Management has been cleared to disclose a small parcel of peer-to-peer loans as a single platform holding rather than the full list of underlying borrowers. In an exemption notice issued last week, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) approved Harbour’s request to bypass rules requiring fund managers to disclose all portfolio securities every quarter…. [Read More…]

For the global real estate-backed manager, Heitman Capital Management, investing back into Australia and New Zealand adds value across the client base because it gives the firm a better understanding of the local market, too. And real estate debt strategies are a good place to be right now. David Maki, Heitman’s co-head of private real… [Read More…]

The NZX-owned Smartshares has teamed up with the world’s largest asset manager to launch a new batch of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) next month. It is understood the suite of BlackRock i-Shares ETFs includes a few environmental, social and governance (ESG) flavoured offshore equity funds, a passive global bond product and ‘thematic’ funds covering innovative technology… [Read More…]

The just-passed Financial Services Legislation Amendment Bill (FSLAB) will mark time for the one-man band advice business in NZ, according to Richard Holden, director of newly-expanded advisory group, Milestone Financial. “It will be very difficult operating [under FSLAB] as a one-man band,” Holden said. “I couldn’t imagine doing it.” After missing its original March deadline,… [Read More…]

New data from Australian research firm, Strategic Insight (SI), reveals the true horror of the December quarter for retail funds with total assets under management slipping by $3.3 billion. According to the SI figures, NZ retail funds under management (FUM) sank to under $97.3 billion by the end of 2018, dipping below the $100 billion… [Read More…]