Veteran Nikko Asset Management NZ senior portfolio manager, James Lindsay, has left the business after more than two decades. George Carter, Nikko NZ chief, said the business would reallocate resources across its Australasian equities team following Lindsay’s departure. Carter said the local shares team, headed by Stuart Williams, would eventually increase from the current four… [Read More…]
Archives for 2019
Mirror-image products see NZ Funds unlock KiwiSaver
NZ Funds has cut-and-pasted its KiwiSaver offering to create a new unlocked product suite. The NZ Funds WealthBuilder range is an exact replica of the Auckland boutique’s KiwiSaver products “down to the last basis point of fees”, according to chief executive, Michael Lang. Lang said the new set of funds, which officially launch on November… [Read More…]
Dual adviser hire boosts JMI Wealth
JMI Wealth has added two new advisers to its growing team, sourcing one from BNZ and another from the dwindling AMP-owned AdviceFirst group. Jason Watson, JMI Wealth head of advice, said the two recent adviser hires bring the group’s total advisory force to nine, representing an increase of 50 per cent over the last year…. [Read More…]
Pension funds go defensive
The latest bfinance quarterly report on the global trends in mandates from big pension funds, published this week, is possibly the most important for several years. Funds are de-risking but they are doing so in different ways. Australian funds tend to be taking a different course in private markets, for instance. The report, ‘Manager Intelligence… [Read More…]
Study finds dirty data the big ESG turn-off
Shoddy data is the single-biggest stumbling block to a wider adoption of environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies among institutional investors, a new study by State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has revealed. The SSGA survey found that for “nearly half of respondents, the current state of ESG data — single sourced, low correlation and confusing… [Read More…]
Academics slate Morningstar for US fixed income mix-up
About a third of US fixed income funds are more risky than their Morningstar ratings suggest, according to a new study. The research by a trio of US academics found the highly-influential Morningstar ratings systematically ‘misclassified’ bond funds due to an over-reliance on manager-supplied data. Roughly 30 per cent of US bond funds fed data… [Read More…]
How property and infrastructure handle in low-rate conditions
For the first time in probably forever the NZ term deposit (TD) market has gone backwards as the low-rate headwinds hit gale-force intensity. According to the latest Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) data, local resident TD holdings fell by more than $720 million over September, reversing a trend that stretches back to antiquity or thereabouts…. [Read More…]
Link enters UK pensions market, grows fund solutions
Link Group has forged a strategic global partnership and taken a minority shareholding in UK workplace pension provider Smart Pension. The deal has potential benefits for Link’s ambitions in pensions administration elsewhere in the world, including Australia and New Zealand. Link is also expected to announce this week an expansion of its fund solutions division… [Read More…]
Bagnall quits ACC to launch new investment firm
Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) fund chief investment officer, Nicholas Bagall, has stepped down after 26 years in the role. Bagnall is leaving to launch a new global equities investment firm, Te Ahumairangi Investment Management, that will count the ACC as a “cornerstone client”, according to a release today. In the statement, ACC board chair, Dame… [Read More…]
MMC opens front-end options with Invsta investment
MMC has followed up its surprise purchase of the ASB-owned Aegis investment platform early in October by taking a small slice of Auckland-based fintech firm, Invsta. Under the deal, Invsta will offer front-end technology – in particular onboarding and web portal tools – to MMC’s broader client base. Mint Asset Management is the first MMC… [Read More…]