SavvyKiwi, the online KiwiSaver comparison tool, is starting to gain traction in both the employer and intermediary sector, according to founder, Binu Paul. Since its launch in 2014, SavvyKiwi has targeted individual subscribers, financial intermediary firms and employers, with most of the growth coming in the latter market. “With SavvyKiwi employer clients the main underlying… [Read More…]
Tax reporting shake-up may bypass ‘locked in’ schemes…
KiwiSaver and other ‘locked in’ super schemes could be exempted from mooted monthly investment provider reporting duties put forward by the government earlier this month. The proposals, part of the ‘Making tax simpler’ program, would require all “payers of investment income” – including portfolio investment entity (PIE) funds – to provide detailed income and personal… [Read More…]
… as IRD double-take on GST-free fund fees
The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has slated two public consultation documents for release this month on proposed changes to the GST treatment of unit trusts. According to the IRD schedule of works, the two draft QWBAs (for ‘questions we’ve been asked’) covering whether “services provided by a unit trust manager are a financial service” would… [Read More…]
Ex BT investment chief pops up at Suncorp
Pat Farrell, the former chief investment officer at BT Financial Group, who left that firm in May, will become the new chief investment officer at Suncorp, following the retirement last month of Nick Basile. The appointment is expected to be announced this week. The role, based in Sydney, oversees the mostly outsourced investments of about… [Read More…]
MIS missing half mystery
About half of the forecast entities have not yet applied for a managed investment scheme (MIS) licence, according to Financial Markets Authority (FMA) figures released last week. In January the FMA told Investment News NZ (IN NZ) it expected about 100 businesses would need an MIS licence to operate post the December 1 deadline set… [Read More…]
New strategies to counter low returns and high volatility
The need to boost investment performance in a low return and volatile market environment is fuelling interest from investors in new strategies which are reshaping traditional active equities management, according to State Street Global Advisors. And a key trend is downside protection. Lochiel Crafter, SSGA’s Sydney-based head of Asia Pacific, says: “In this ‘lower-for-longer’ environment,… [Read More…]
Finance students to face real-world test in Shareclarity university challenge
New Zealand’s best finance students will get to test their academic skills under real-life investment conditions in a competition launched today. The contest, initiated by online equity ‘information platform’ Shareclarity, will give finance students and academics of four NZ universities the opportunity to use their book-learning in a real stock-valuation exercise. Hosted by the Victoria… [Read More…]
Advice reform puts clients first, ditches designations, welcomes robots
All financial advisers will be required to put consumers’ interests first under regime-changing government proposals released today. The client-first principal was among a raft of recommended changes to the Financial Advisers Act (FAA) that dispense with much of the current regulatory architecture, including product-based adviser designations and the distinction between ‘class’ and ‘personalised’ advice. Instead… [Read More…]
Forget the legal niceties, try being nice: FMA counsels
New Zealand firms tend to “lawyer up” more quickly than offshore counterparts, often to the detriment of regulatory conflict resolution, Financial Markets Authority (FMA) general counsel, Nick Kynoch, told a legal gathering last month. Kynoch told the Financial Markets Law Conference that the trigger-finger approach to regulatory disputes “may be beneficial to the private practitioners… [Read More…]
Iwi scheme folds as numbers fail to stack up
New Zealand’s only Māori-controlled KiwiSaver scheme has officially handed in its keys after failing to make scale prior to the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC) December deadline. As reported by Investment News NZ (IN NZ) this April, closure was on the cards for the tiny IwiInvestor scheme – a subsidiary of the Taupo Moana Group… [Read More…]