The Financial Markets Authority has launched civil proceedings against Milford Asset Management (MAM) portfolio manager, Mark Warminger, on alleged market manipulation charges. In a statement just issued, the FMA said it would be seeking “pecuniary penalties” from Warminger in relation to trading carried out at Milford between December 2013 and August 2014. Warminger would defend… [Read More…]
SuperLife to buoy new global ETFs
The NZX-owned SuperLife will seed the group’s new range of nine badged Vanguard global equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs), according to Aaron Jenkins, NZX head of managed funds. Jenkins said SuperLife, via its $1.3 billion corporate super and KiwiSaver schemes, would back the just-released NZX Smartshares ETFs with new and existing money. “It’s hard to get… [Read More…]
JP Morgan wins sole charge in ACC custody battle
As flagged earlier this month, JP Morgan has snaffled the unified custodian role at the $30 billion plus ACC fund, knocking Northern Trust out of a job in the process. According to an ACC spokesperson, the transition of Northern Trust-held assets to JP Morgan – amounting to about $5 billion of global securities – should… [Read More…]
MJW crash-test dummies show quick recovery for KiwiSaver growth members
KiwiSaver members invested in growth funds would see balances recover relatively quickly following a major market correction, according to new modeling by actuarial consulting firm Melville Jessup Weaver (MJW). Under the stress-test, MJW tracked the fortunes of two stereotypical growth and conservative KiwiSaver portfolios through a hypothetical market crash starting October 1 this year and… [Read More…]
FNZ back in the black despite revenue drop
Investment platform firm FNZ (NZ) returned to profit in 2014 after reporting a net loss of almost $15 million in the previous year. According to the FNZ Holdings NZ accounts for the year ending December 2014, the company turned a net loss of $14.7 million in 2013, largely on the back of a related-party impairment,… [Read More…]
First post-kickstart figures show transfers up, kids down
KiwiSaver scheme transfers spiked to their highest level in more than six months during June, the latest Inland Revenue Department (IRD) statistics reveal. According to the IRD figures, inter-scheme transfers (excluding mergers) hit a peak of almost 17,900 members in June, about 5,300 more than the preceding month. With the exception of November 2014, when… [Read More…]
Pathfinder 4: boutique serves up global real estate product
A group of financial advisers have seeded a new Pathfinder Asset Management global property fund launched this week. According to director, John Berry, the advisers have committed substantial support to the Pathfinder Global Property Fund with “good growth” in the product likely over the next six months at least. Berry said the new fund, Pathfinder’s… [Read More…]
New active strategies attracting most fund flows
The importance of new products and investment strategies for fund manager inflows has jumped to record levels in the past two years, according to a white paper by Casey, Quirk & Associates. But the product development track record of most managers is “mediocre”. New active strategies are getting most of the inflows. Casey, Quirk, the… [Read More…]
Survey picks back to front job opportunities in savings industry by 2025
Australasia’s superannuation industry will require more people on the front desk and less clogging up the back-office over the next decade, according to a new survey carried out by BNP Paribas Securities Services and the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST). The survey of trustees, CEOs and senior management in about 100 superannuation funds across… [Read More…]
How to be a beta investor: Russell weighs up the factors
The growth in ‘smart beta’, or factor-based, investment strategies could disrupt traditional institutional funds management risk exposures, according to a new Russell Investments paper. In the article published in the Winter 2015 ‘Russell Communiqué’, authors James Barber and Evgenia Gvozdeva point out new factor exposure techniques and tools “allow equity portfolio managers to capture strategic… [Read More…]