Investment News

The NZ government should soon have Kiwi Wealth off its books after reportedly lodging bids from three parties including Fisher Funds, Jarden and the Australian firm, Private Equity Partners (PEP). It is understood a decision is imminent following a drawn-out process dating back to at least the start of this year with one of the… [Read More…]

Smartshares has shaken up its back-office team following the departure of chief operating officer, Helen McDowall, to a newly created role at the Medical Assurance Society (MAS). Hugh Stevens, Smartshares chief, said the NZX-owned funds business had “disestablished” the COO position as part of a refocus of the operations function from transactional to client support… [Read More…]

Hamish Douglass has left the Magellan building but will return through the back door for guest appearances in a new consulting role come October. In an ASX release last week, Magellan confirmed Douglass would officially end full-time employment on June 15 with the firm he co-founded before returning as a specialist consultant in October. Douglass… [Read More…]

The wealth management arm of global financial services giant Citi is leaning to the upside in its post-slump mid-year investment outlook. David Bailin, Citi Global Wealth Investments head, says in the group’s just-released market environment update that the considerable drop in prices across most assets this year has “caused a reset in many valuations in… [Read More…]

What’s $12 million? Enough to cement the Milford Asset Management KiwiSaver as the only top-12 scheme to make it into the black during a rugged March quarter, according to the latest Plan for Life (PFL) sector survey. Milford ended the March quarter on just over $4.8 billion or a tiny 0.2 per cent ahead of… [Read More…]

As the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) pushes ahead with tough value-for-money measures for licensed investment schemes its UK counterpart is proceeding cautiously with a similar regulatory program. In a recent review of feedback on proposed value-for-money assessments of defined contribution pension funds, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) notes significant industry resistance to planned benchmarking of… [Read More…]

Global quant manager, Intech, has warned of three major challenges ahead for the burgeoning environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment sector including a stinging rebuke of cryptocurrencies. In a new report highlighting the ups and downs of the ESG movement, Intech says crypto represents a “broad-spectrum assault” on all three components of the now-ubiquitous abbreviation…. [Read More…]

Talks between NAB Asset Servicing and HSBC for the latter to take charge of the former’s 30 largest clients have allegedly faltered. HSBC was understood to be looking to do a deal similar to that which Citi completed last year with Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) whereby it took over almost all of the former… [Read More…]

The global ‘regulated’ managed fund market soared above US$71 trillion last year on the back of strong returns and increasing demand, according to the latest annual data supplied by the US-based Investment Company Industry (ICI). Total funds under management (FUM) rose more than US$7 trillion year-on-year during 2021, the ICI study shows, as products on… [Read More…]

The financial advice provider (FAP) universe could shrink by half under the impending full-licensing regime unless applications pick up over the next few months Based on figures supplied by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) just 900 advisory firms have applied, or indicated they will apply, for a full FAP licence compared to the 1,800 or… [Read More…]