FirstCape has confirmed the US-based InvestCloud as its adviser front-end system provider with a phase one ‘digital transformation’ roll-out across Jarden Wealth. Under the arrangement, the almost 90 Jarden advisers now have access to the InvestCloud Portfolio Management and Order Capture products used, respectively, to build and implement client investments. The system would likely be… [Read More…]
Investment News
Salt shifts risk down a gear as corners approach
Salt Funds Management has eased its foot off the accelerator coming into the final curve of 2024 as valuation extremes and geopolitical risks signal potential hazards ahead. According to the Salt quarterly global outlook report published last week, the “the prudent course into year-end is to trim back some portfolio risk” in diversified funds. While… [Read More…]
AI KiwiSaver advice tool targets compliance cut-through
NZ robo-advice pioneer, Clive Fernandes, has launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) venture aiming to automate 80 per cent of KiwiSaver client-servicing tasks. Dubbed Sevaka – from the Sanskrit word ‘सेवक’ translated as ‘one who serves’ – the new business is creating what “will be the first AI tool developed specifically for the KiwiSaver industry”,… [Read More…]
How investing got ‘dumbed down’ – and how to fix it
It is a truth universally acknowledged that nobody – from massive pension and sovereign wealth funds to the asset managers that they invest with – actually likes benchmarks. They were born from a desire to create accountability, but the humble benchmark is now the bane of many investors’ existence, who struggle to align the horizons… [Read More…]
Climate-reporting relief in sight as XRB tables one-year assurance extension
Fund managers and other climate-reporting entities will get an extra year to finalise emissions assurance programs among other compliance delays under proposed amendments published by the External Reporting Board (XRB) last week. Licensed investment managers (with $1 billion plus under management) along with most NZX-listed companies, insurers and banks were due to supply third-party-audited carbon… [Read More…]
GSF hires Robeco, misses reference as global private assets drag
Dutch quant manager, Robeco, has joined the Government Superannuation Fund (GSF) global equities panel, filling a gap left vacant by the now-defunct UK psych-conscious investor, Ardevora, last December. In its just-published annual report, the GSF reveals Robeco, which also advises a portfolio for the NZ Superannuation Fund, came aboard at the end of July this… [Read More…]
Mega-cap gravity keeps active managers under water, SPIVA finds
Almost two-thirds of the more than 8,400 active funds included in a S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) global database underperformed their respective benchmarks during the first six months of 2024. The half-year S&P DJI SPIVA scorecard shows active equity managers flailed against strong index-based tides pulled to record highs by just a handful of… [Read More…]
Smart eyes efficient ETF market as product cycle cranks up
In a well-signalled move, Smart rolled four new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) off the factory line last week. The fresh batch of on-trend ETFs reflect the NZX-owned funds management arm sharpened focus on meeting market needs, according to Smart chief, Anna Scott. “We’re a product manufacturer,” Scott said. “We want to give NZ investors options.” She… [Read More…]
BNP Paribas switches on ESG portfolio-tester for NZ and Australia
BNP Paribas Securities Services has released its European road-tested environmental, social and governance (ESG) compliance tool in Australia and NZ amid a step-up in regulatory oversight of sustainable investment practices in the region. In a release, BNP Paribas said the newly launched service would allow Australasian fund managers and asset owners to “incorporate customisable and… [Read More…]
Pension funds report rare mis-fire in 2023
Global pension funds posted an atypical aggregate net below-benchmark annual investment performance during 2023, according to a specialist research house. New figures from CEM Benchmarking found the average ‘net value added’- or NVA – of the US$14 trillion of pension fund money it tracks fell into the red for the “first time in a decade”… [Read More…]