Morningstar has tested the standard ‘4 per cent rule’ of how much an investor needs in retirement for Australia and New Zealand and found that in the Antipodes expectations are “probably a bit too high”. And the local share market is more volatile, requiring a lower bottom end of the drawdown range for a retiree… [Read More…]
NZ profiled as solid home for global investment
BNP Paribas has talked up New Zealand as an international investment destination in the latest issue of its ‘Quintessence’ magazine. The globally-distributed publication extols the virtues of the NZ investment scene, citing strong governance, recent regulatory upgrades, solid debt ratings, and burgeoning capital markets (spurred on by KiwiSaver) as selling points. According to the report,… [Read More…]
China catches cold: why investors need to chill
The spectre of a Chinese meltdown has been the hot investment topic of 2016 but is the story a little over-cooked? Nick Dravitzki, Devon Funds Management portfolio manager, reports some cold facts from an icy Middle Kingdom The daytime temperature in Beijing in January struggles to get into positive figures and as the evening… [Read More…]
NZ managers cautious as markets go from bad to not bad enough
The early 2016 stock market falls have been bad, but not quite bad enough, to signal an all-out plunge back into growth assets, according to Stuart Millar, ANZ Global Wealth head of portfolio management. Millar said ANZ, the country’s largest fund manager with about $23 billion under management, scaled back its exposure to growth assets… [Read More…]
SuiteBox savours win, earns seat at financial top table
Pioneering New Zealand financial technology firm, SuiteBox, has won the right to pitch its wares to some of the world’s largest banks and insurers after being named best-in-category at the second annual KPMG Fintech Innovation Challenge last week. The only Australasian firm to feature in the winner’s circle, ‘virtual office’ provider SuiteBox ,took out first… [Read More…]
Long-term index launched from Davos with NZ Super blessing
The New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZS) has joined a group of five other large global institutional investors in backing the launch of a long-term investment index announced last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In a statement, Adrian Orr, NZS chief, said the almost $30 billion fund was considering how to utilise the… [Read More…]
Average beats benchmark in Aon report
The average fund manager outperformed their respective benchmarks in all bar one asset class over 2015, according to the latest Aon Hewitt NZ investment survey. Global fixed income managers were the only group covered in the Aon survey that underperformed the index during the 2015 calendar year with the median fund returning 3.8 per cent… [Read More…]
ASX prepares for life after CHESS with blockchain deal
The ASX has selected US-based firm Digital Asset Holdings,(Digital Asset) to develop solutions for the Australian market using ‘distributed ledger technology, joining 12 other financial services companies in taking a small shareholding in the company too. ASX has paid A$14.9 million to acquire a 5 per cent equity interest in Digital Asset, fund an initial… [Read More…]
Morningstar tips KiwiSaver fund factories to fire up in 2016
After a regulatory-induced hiatus, KiwiSaver providers should start a new round of product innovation in 2016, according to the latest Morningstar report on the sector. The Morningstar KiwiSaver December 2015 quarterly survey, authored by analyst Elliot Smith, says with managers focused on compliance with the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC), new products were thin on… [Read More…]
Global industry downturn for first time since GFC
Muted net flows into investment strategies were insufficient to overcome negative market performance worldwide in 2015, resulting in lower global assets under management, revenue, and operating margins for the first time since the financial crisis of 2008-2009. According to preliminary data from Casey Quirk & Associates, a specialist management consultant to asset managers around the… [Read More…]