Crypto assets will never catch on with institutional investors until post-trade standards match those of traditional financial markets, a new report claims. According to a Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) white paper, the plethora of platforms trading the so-called crypto assets or “security tokens” require “appropriate rules and regulations” to govern post-trade risks. “Furthermore,… [Read More…]
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Senior Trust managers back new crypto-investment venture
In a first for the NZ market a new company is seeking up to almost $100 million to invest in cryptocurrencies via a Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC) regulated share issue launched this week. The launch comes amid a low-ebb for the crypto market and an alleged exchange fraud in NZ that has disappeared upwards… [Read More…]
Crypto damage controls up for review in UK
UK regulators are weighing up a range of a measures to rein in potential risks posed by ‘cryptoassets’. Christopher Woolard, Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) executive director of strategy and competition, told a UK symposium that government agencies were mulling new control settings in the wake of a report on the cryptoasset sector. Woolard said the… [Read More…]
Sovereign funds favour equities, factors (but crypto-curious)
More than half of sovereign investors are overweight equities despite concerns about valuations, inflation and geo-political tensions, according to new research by Invesco. The sixth annual Invesco ‘Global Sovereign Asset Management Study’ found equities has overtaken fixed income as the biggest asset class across the 126 entities, representing a collective US$17 trillion, included in the… [Read More…]
RBNZ ponders how the kiwi could go crypto
Adopting an official crypto-kiwi would have significant effects on both sides of the financial system ledger, a just-published Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) paper has found. The RBNZ think-piece, authored by senior economic analyst Amber Wadsworth, concludes moving to a central bank-controlled digital or crypto-currency (two slightly different concepts) would have far-reaching consequences across all… [Read More…]
Cryptos, robos face regulatory fire
UK and US regulators fired respective warning shots last week at fintech darlings robo-advice and crypto-currency. In its first review of the UK online advice sector published last week, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) found serious flaws in “disclosures and suitability processes” of 10 targeted firms. The FCA examined seven automated online discretionary investment management… [Read More…]
IRD keeps fee GST decision on ice; applies heat to cryptos
NZ’s fund management industry will have to wait at least a few more months for clarity on how GST applies to fees. A spokesperson for the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) said the tax authority was “still considering our response” to industry feedback on two consultation papers closed off in March last year. Released in February… [Read More…]
FMA gives heads-up on crypto-coin regulation
Most so-called ‘crypto-currency’ products and services offered to retail consumers in NZ would likely fall under the aegis of the regulator, according to Garth Stanish, Financial Markets Authority (FMA) director capital markets. Stanish said the rise of crypto-currencies and related offers such as so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) had both regulators and consumers scratching their… [Read More…]
Auto, crypto and the 3-D future: why Ark is on board
The autonomous taxi industry could generate annual revenue in “excess of US$10 trillion by the early 2030s”, Ark Invest founder, Catherine Wood, told a Nikko Asset Management roadshow audience in NZ last week. Wood said self-driving vehicles, expected to be on the market by 2020, would spark the rapid development of cabbie-less taxi networks that… [Read More…]
Experimental projects target digital revolution for US public, private markets
US share trades could settle in almost real-time under a system being developed by global financial markets infrastructure giant, the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). In a proposal tabled last week, DTCC outlines how a radical digitisation of capital markets infrastructure using new technologies including blockchain could take US share settlement times from the… [Read More…]
Digital central bank money tipped for world dominance
Central bank-issued digital currency (CBDC) will appear “in relatively short order”, according to an influential global monetary think-tank, as governments grapple with private money networks and new distributional challenges. Following the recent launch of a digital money research wing, the Official Monetary and Financial Institutions Forum (OMFIF) says over the last few months the CBDC… [Read More…]
Let’s GST again (like we did in 2013)
Wait long enough and most things come back in fashion, even tax moves. And last week the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) put a new twist on an old classic in a policy paper addressing the still unresolved issue of how to treat GST in fund manager fees. In the bureaucratic dance first set in motion… [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…]
Back-office business builds blockchain bible
Global financial market infrastructure firm Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) has laid out a chapter-and-verse governance model for the nascent blockchain universe. In a just-published white paper produced with consultancy giant, Accenture, DTCC establishes eight commandments for running ‘permissioned’ blockchains – also known as distributed ledger technology (DLT). Unlike the headline-grabbing blockchain antics of… [Read More…]
Industry body spreads the word on custody as ops come to the fore
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…]
Regulator expands on sector review plans…
NZ licensed fund managers will have to show how they plan to handle a liquidity squeeze under a proposed ‘stress test’ outlined by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) last month. “The review is likely to focus on how [managed investment scheme] MIS managers would respond to such an event, their decision-making processes, the tools they… [Read More…]
… as FMA stays cool on NZ fund liquidity risks
The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) is keeping a watching brief on the Woodford Investment Management fund freeze fiasco unfolding in the UK but sees little flow-over effects for NZ. Woodford shuttered its flagship £3.7 billion Equity Income Fund in May citing liquidity concerns as a flurry of investors head for the exit. The fund freeze… [Read More…]
US exceptionalism showcased in Fidelity insto survey
It’s USA v the rest of the world in institutional investment management, research from Fidelity Investments has found. A new take on the 11th annual Fidelity Institutional Asset Management global investor survey published last year reveals a large gap between US and other regions across almost all canvassed issues including technological threats, cryptocurrencies, socially responsible… [Read More…]
Calastone sets May migration date for blockchain blast-off, NZ included
When Calastone flicks the switch on its swish new blockchain fund transaction system next May clients would reap “numerous and immediate” benefits, according to acting head of the Australasian arm of the business, Ross Fox. Fox said Calastone’s well-signaled move to a “permissioned” blockchain managed fund transaction service would deliver both efficiencies and open up… [Read More…]
Trade Me punts $4m on digital distributor
The battle for digital distribution of financial services products in NZ stepped up a notch last week after Trade Me revealed it paid about $4 million for a 16 per cent stake in the start-up fund platform, Sharesies. Sharesies, which has signed up about 20,000 members who have collectively invested $20 million in mainly NZX… [Read More…]