David Chaplin

In news that will shock some goldbugs, the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has proposed that virtually all precious metal investment profits would be taxable. The proposal, contained in an IRD exposure draft released last week, says precious metal investments would be deemed as “acquired for the purpose of disposal” and therefore subject to income tax…. [Read More…]

Morningstar is pitching its index services to New Zealand fund managers in a direct swipe at the recently-repriced S&P/NZX indices. Heather Brilliant, head of Morningstar Australasia, told an industry audience gathered at the research house’s NZ fund manager of the year awards in Auckland last week that index data “should be a commodity”. Brilliant said… [Read More…]

Devon Funds Management has launched a new product aimed at the burgeoning demand for income in a low-yield environment. The Devon Diversified Income Fund follows on the back of similar successful product issues in the space by fellow NZ boutiques, Mint and Milford. From inception in April 2010, the Milford Diversified Income Fund has grown… [Read More…]

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) will take a hard line with investment firms handing in sketchy, last-minute licence applications, according to top regulator, Rob Everett. Everett said with all managed investment scheme (MIS) entities due to be licensed under the new Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC) regime by December 1 this year, the application window… [Read More…]

Investment firms aren’t living up to the high expectations of either institutional or retail clients, according to a new CFA Institute survey. The survey of 502 institutional and 3,300 retail investors in up to 10 jurisdictions found investment firms are “falling short” of requirements, particularly around fees, transparency and performance. Retail investors reported about a… [Read More…]

Traditional measures of active funds’ risk levels don’t capture crucial elements of skill or performance attribution, according to Harbour Asset Management portfolio manager, Shane Solly. In a recently-penned article, Solly says the standard fund risk indicator – tracking error – is not up to the job of fully explaining how managers derive returns. “Tracking error… [Read More…]

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZS) has called for international governance standards to apply to local listed companies. In its submission to the NZX review of corporate governance reporting requirements, the NZS says the “New Zealand market is falling behind international standards”. “We are unconvinced by many of the arguments for why these international standards… [Read More…]

Listed firms need to better disclose their exposure to carbon emissions, according to Ian Woods, AMP Capital Australia head of environmental, social and governance research. In a paper published this month, Woods says carbon disclosure at the individual firm level is the “critical first step” investors rely on when judging climate change risk in their… [Read More…]

Andrew Ang, sometimes referred to as the father of factor investing, the hottest new investment style for the past few years, came home to Australia last week. It was his first visit back since exiting academia in New York last July to become the global head of factor investing strategies at BlackRock. Here are some… [Read More…]

The exit of Peter Neilson from the Financial Services Council (FSC) has sidelined proposals to create a unified industry body. Following the departure of Neilson – made redundant over a week ago – the FSC launched a full strategic review, putting merger talks with employer superannuation and KiwiSaver organisation, Workplace Savings NZ (WSNZ), in jeopardy…. [Read More…]