Investment News

Up to 20 jobs may be axed following the shock Macquarie Asset Management (MAM NZ) decision to hand over the keys of its NZ outpost to Mercer. Under the deal announced last week, Mercer will assume legal control of the MAM NZ funds with Macquarie remaining as an investment manager for at least some of… [Read More…]

The NZX-owned Smartshares has replaced Russell Investments as underlying manager of the $200 million Cook Islands National Superannuation Fund (CINSF). Under the agreement confirmed last week, CINSF will complete the transition this month from the actively managed Russell multi-manager funds to a passive ‘reference portfolio’ of global equities and bond products offered under the Smartshares… [Read More…]

Fund manager value-for-money reporting took centre-stage at the Financial Services Council (FSC) annual conference last week as industry and regulators grappled with the vexed issue. And based on a packed FSC panel session there are still considerable gaps between regulatory expectations and industry interpretations of both the legal requirements and practical implementation. Under the controversial… [Read More…]

Financial advisory firms in NZ are typically trading between one- to four-times recurring revenue depending on income source and a range of qualitative factors, according to a new report published by the Milestone Financial group. The Milestone analysis shows insurance-based advisory firms tend to secure the higher-end recurring revenue-based prices while those practices where average… [Read More…]

‘Decoupling’ employer and employee KiwiSaver payments could improve both contribution and participation rates for the retirement savings scheme, Nigel Jackson, Westpac NZ head of investments, told the annual Financial Services Council (FSC) conference last week. Flagging the concept in a conference panel session, Jackson said maintaining employer KiwiSaver payments even if employees opt-out or are… [Read More…]

ASX-listed investment administration firm, Link Group, has abandoned a proposed sale to Canadian technology firm, Dye & Durham, after failing to gain court approval for the scheme-of-arrangement takeover amid a UK regulatory mess. Link inked a conditional agreement with Dye & Durham last December in a deal that valued the Australia-headquartered admin business at NZ$3.6… [Read More…]

Investors should remain wary of piling back into term deposits despite sharply higher rates now on offer, Salt Funds Management argues in a new paper. With some longer-dated term deposit rates now north of 4 per cent and short-term gross returns nudging above 3 per cent (or about four-times the level recorded last July), the… [Read More…]

NZ life insurance consulting pioneer, Russell Hutchinson, took out the marquee prize in the Financial Services Council (FSC) annual awards last week. Hutchinson, founder of the Auckland-based Chatswood Consulting, won the Chairman’s award for service to the industry in the first live FSC annual conference of the COVID era. He has a long history in… [Read More…]

Dundas Global Investors partners, David Keir and Neil Sutherland, traveled half-way across the world this month to visit Australasian clients, racking up more than 20 hours of flight time. But the Edinburgh-based fund managers are used to the long-haul. On a brief tour of NZ earlier in September, Keir said Dundas likens its investment style… [Read More…]

Macquarie Asset Management NZ (MAM NZ), the firm formerly known as AMP Capital NZ, will quit as manager of the remaining local-based funds, handing over the business to Mercer. In a note to clients yesterday, MAM NZ chief, Rebekah Swan, said the group had notified supervisor, Guardian Trust, “of MAM’s intention to retire as Manager… [Read More…]