Investment News

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has earmarked small fund managers and mortgage funds, in particular, for greater scrutiny following its first risk assessment of the licensed investment scheme sector. Primarily based on input from supervisors, the inaugural FMA sector review found a correlation between manager size and potential risks – especially concerning governance. Under the… [Read More…]

Sharesies has released pricing for its soon-to-be-live KiwiSaver scheme with manager fees coming in at a slight premium to the comparable underlying funds. As reported last December, the popular online share-trading platform named Pathfinder, Pie Funds and the NZX-owned Smartshares as launch managers for a suite of diversified funds. In the Sharesies format, the Smartshares… [Read More…]

Inaugural Financial Markets Authority (FMA) chief, Sean Hughes, will join Vanguard Australia next month as general counsel. Hughes held the top NZ financial regulatory post from 2010 to 2013 as the Securities Commission morphed into the FMA before he moved to Australia as chief risk and legal officer for large superannuation fund, UniSuper. Following a… [Read More…]

Liquidators closed the books on the long-running Ross Asset Management (RAM) ponzi scheme at the end of last year with investors receiving just under 20 cents in the dollar and professional fees amounting to more than $6 million. According to the final RAM report published late in December, the complex wind-up saw a total investor… [Read More…]

Asset class valuations may have returned to more rational levels after the bond and equity shake-out of 2022 but Salt Funds Management has warned against surfing the index pre-2020 style. In its latest ‘Global Outlook’ published last week, Salt says the “formerly popular approach” of investing in          “asset class proxies” composed of hundreds or… [Read More…]

Australasian infrastructure firm Morrison & Co and associated NZX-listed firm, Infratil, have turned the dial up on climate action with a formal commitment to the global Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Under the SBTi both firms vow to target emission reductions “in line with the latest climate science” across both their investment portfolios and corporate… [Read More…]

After a rollercoaster start to the 2020s, black, white and grey swans now flit through the mind of every money manager. BCA Research has identified five such swans that could shape markets in 2023. Efforts to spot black swans before they alight in the proverbial pond are usually unsuccessful – not least because, by definition,… [Read More…]

FNZ has continued its global shopping spree into 2023, completing a German bank buy-out and making a key US acquisition. The Wellington-founded platform giant extended a foothold in the US with the purchase of fixed income portfolio management technology firm, YieldX, last week just days after closing off a more than year-long effort to secure… [Read More…]

AMP NZ has offloaded a $200 plus million legacy superannuation scheme with the retirement-focused Lifetime Income Group picking up the asset. In a deal confirmed this morning, Lifetime will take over as manager of the adviser-supported scheme AMP Superannuation Master Trust (SMT) by the end of February. According to the just-released SMT disclosure documents, AMP… [Read More…]

Annuitas has named former WTW global head of governance consulting, Tim Mitchell, as chief executive to replace long-time head, Simon Tyler, but has another vacancy to fill with the looming exit of general manager investments, Paul Bevin. Bevin will leave Annuitas at the end of March, wrapping up an 18-year career with the outsourced government… [Read More…]