Search Results for: coronavirus

While APRA has asked big super funds and other institutions – and for them to ask their service providers – about their plans to deal with the pandemic – unnecessarily, one would have thought – the funds and their advisers are already onto the case as much as you could expect them to be. No-one… [Read More…]

Aon will repay all global staff hit by a coronavirus-related emergency 20 per cent salary cut imposed from May to the end of June. In a recent note, Aon says the 20 per cent pay cut that affected most of the group’s 50,000 employees (including those in NZ) would be reimbursed plus 5 per cent… [Read More…]

More than half of people saving for retirement could change investment settings based on how companies act during the coronavirus era, according to a new State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) study. The SSGA survey found that 55 per cent of almost 3,500 savers it polled across five jurisdictions would re-evaluate their investments in light of… [Read More…]

The NZX-listed Smartshares funds saw traded value more than triple year-on-year in the first half of 2020. According to bespoke figures supplied by the NZX, over $1.2 billion of Smartshares exchange-traded funds (ETF) units changed hands in the six months to June 30 compared to just $360 million in the same period last year –… [Read More…]

NZ financial market participants remain in a marginal risk-on mood despite a record run-up in prices, a new Harbour Asset Management survey has found. The inaugural Harbour survey found 40 per cent of the 80 respondents would recommend adding riskier assets to portfolios with the remainder almost equally split between doing nothing and pulling back…. [Read More…]

Even before the global economy went viral this March, the Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) was softening up the market for negative interest rates – or least the idea of it. For instance, the RBNZ touted the prospects of a below-zero official cash rate (OCR) in a paper on unconventional monetary policy published in May… [Read More…]

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) will establish a new top table executive role with oversight of the local investment industry. With funding set to increase by about $7 million this financial year, the FMA is now able to splash out on senior staff including the imminent director of investment position. In a recently released job… [Read More…]

Fund manager business risks have spiked upwards during the coronavirus crisis with further fall-out likely as the shockwaves reverberate, according to a new Mercer NZ paper. The ‘Riders on the storm’ report, authored by Mercer NZ head of consulting David Scobie, says the COVID-19 market disruption has put a strain on fund management business models… [Read More…]

Russell Investments has embarked on a “massive study” on the lessons for active management in the pandemic era. Dr Leola Ross, Russell investment strategy research director, told the group’s NZ virtual annual conference audience last week that all investors should review their market beliefs in the wake of COVID-19. “We’re figuring out our own expectations… [Read More…]

The world’s fourth-largest company run by the richest person on the planet has seeded a US$2 billion fund to help turn back the tide of climate change. In a release last week, Amazon said the new Climate Pledge fund would back “visionary companies whose products and services will facilitate the transition to a zero carbon… [Read More…]

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has wrapped a surprisingly great idea in faulty packaging, according to a leading industry lawyer. David Ireland, Kensington Swan partner, said the FMA plan, released in a new consultation paper last week, to split full financial advice licensing into three streams spoilt only by the naming conventions. Under the FMA… [Read More…]

Value investors are finally seeing “green shoots” in a style that has lain fallow for over a decade, Russell Investments chief investment officer, Peter Gunning, told a NZ audience last week. In the first of a webinar series replacing the annual Russell NZ conference this year, Gunning said the value factor had flickered into life… [Read More…]

AXA Investment Managers, which has been in the sustainable investment space for many years, is ramping up its impact investing – the pointy end of ‘sustainable’ – which aims to make a difference to society while still turning a good profit. AXA IM is about to put together a new $500 million impact fund. The… [Read More…]

Almost all impact investors hit both monetary and non-financial targets in 2019, according to the 10th annual global survey of the sector. The Global Impact Investing Network (GINN) survey of close to 300 investors worldwide, including one in Australia, found that the “overwhelming majority of respondents reported meeting or exceeding both their impact expectations and… [Read More…]

Schroders Australia will bolster its multi-asset team with Angus Sippe set to join as portfolio manager in the September quarter. As reported here, Schroders deputy head of multi-asset, Simon Stevenson, announced his retirement last week after 13 years with the global investment firm. Stevenson will officially retire at the end of 2020, Schroders multi-asset head,… [Read More…]

Up to 25 local fund managers have thrown their support behind moves to strengthen a semi-formal industry lobby group. The as-yet-nameless body, which significantly expands on an existing boutique manager discussion group, brings together non bank-owned investment firms to liaise with government and regulators as well as collaborate on common issues. Simon Haines, the Nikko… [Read More…]

The coronavirus lockdown has accelerated digital transformation among NZ financial services firms, according to a Wellington-based software business. Tim Packer, YouDo head of business and software development, said while most financial firms in NZ were exploring digitisation prior to the outbreak, the almost two-month COVID-19 disruption has made the search more urgent. Packer said the… [Read More…]

If adopted as-is the in-transit financial institution conduct legislation could force AMP NZ out of the intermediary game, the wealth manager says in a submission. According to the AMP Wealth Management submission, the draft Financial Markets (Conduct of Institutions) Amendment Bill would create onerous compliance duties on ‘intermediaries’ as loosely defined in the legislation. Under… [Read More…]

The NZ financial system plumbing remains in good shape in spite of a minor blockage in the share trading back end during March, according to the Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ). In its latest ‘Financial stability report’ published last week, the RBNZ says most components of the background NZ market system functioned smoothly during the… [Read More…]