US equity ‘exceptionalism’ is an over-rated concept, according to a new analysis by Boston-based fund manager, GMO, In the GMO quarterly newsletter published last week, GMO head of asset allocation, Ben Inker, argues the US stock market hasn’t “proved itself particularly extraordinary” by long-term measures. Inker says the recent good run of US stocks has… [Read More…]
Triple trillion looms for exchange-traded products
Exchange-traded products (ETP) look set to tear through the US$3 trillion mark this month as flows continue to track on-trend growth rates, according to the latest BlackRock report on the sector. The November BlackRock ‘Global ETP Landscape’ report records total assets under management in the fast-growing listed passive product space at just US$20 billion shy… [Read More…]
Aussies tone down portfolio ‘look-through’ proposal
After several years of discussion with the industry and delays on its introduction, the Government has proposed in new draft legislation a simpler disclosure requirement on portfolio holdings by super funds. The new proposals, described in this explanatory memorandum published last week stop at the underlying fund or product level in most cases. They represent… [Read More…]
Harbour Views: a seasonal report
The reports are in. Harbour Asset Management director and portfolio manager, Shane Solly, digs through the latest Australasian corporate results looking for trends NZ market knocks off peak Last month we highlighted that given the New Zealand equity market is nearing historical peak pricing based on a simple Price to Earnings (PE) measure, the… [Read More…]
MMC readies for tilt at KiwiSaver registry market
Auckland-headquartered fund administration firm, MMC, is expanding into the KiwiSaver registry market with a new system officially approved for operation. According to the November quarter MMC newsletter, the group’s KiwiSaver registry software has been “granted certification” by the Inland Revenue Department (IRD) “Our IT team have gone through a systems integration and compatibility testing process… [Read More…]
SuiteBox finds the sweet spot as compliance hits home
About 70 Australasian financial services firms – including banks, super funds, insurance advisers and financial planning firms – are currently using the award-winning, NZ-designed ‘virtual room’ system, SuiteBox. Craig Meek, SuiteBox founder, said the client feedback has been “very positive” with more than 10 new enquiries each week. Meek said the group – which released… [Read More…]
Boutiques hire EY to boost GST arguments
An alliance of boutique managers has hired consultancy firm EY (formerly known as Ernst & Young) to help argue the case against dropping GST on fund fees in a submission to the Inland Revenue Department (IRD). Rebecca Thomas, Mint Asset Management chief, said the group of managers had engaged EY to present the technical arguments… [Read More…]
BNP the winner in IOOF’s $20b custody revamp
IOOF is consolidating the custody and fund accounting for its managed funds and multi-manager business, covering more than $20 billion, and will reduce the number of custodians from three to one after a review which began late last year. As part of the review, the manager is also having a new system built with the… [Read More…]
New PIMCO platform prompts State Street retail hook up
With the industry’s continued trend of retailisation, State Street has become the third big custodian to link with OneVue for retail registry – due to important client PIMCO’s new digital platform and information portal. As previously announced, PIMCO insourced its retail distribution from Equity Trustees and built up its internal team ahead of the launch… [Read More…]
Brokers to lose bundles, US report finds
Almost 75 per cent of US institutional equity managers expect global share broking services will become “fully unbundled” in the next five years, according to a new survey. The Equities Leaders Summit ‘Benchmarking report’ found 61 per cent of those surveyed said global market ‘unbundling’ – where broker execution services must be separated from other… [Read More…]