The now trans-Tasman direct-to-consumer investment platform Sharesies has embarked on another capital-raising round that values the four-year old company at over $400 million. It is understood Sharesies is seeking $50 million in the latest capital top-up – the third or fourth in a series dating back to the firm’s launch in 2017 – with US… [Read More…]
Investment News
Fund manager sample to be tested in regulatory governance review
NZ regulators have targeted licensed financial firms governance practices for closer scrutiny, slating funds management as one of four sectors to be probed in a ‘thematic review’. In a double-team effort, the Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) and the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) will select 32 firms across the four regulated areas of banking, non-bank… [Read More…]
MMC turns on BNZ registry as default switch looms
The KiwiSaver default scheme transition project kicked up a gear this week with BNZ first to reveal operational-readiness in switching on its MMC-built registry system. In a release, Vedran Babic, MMC chief, said following a six-month build the BNZ default KiwiSaver registry service was now ready to handle the complex transition and ongoing administration duties… [Read More…]
June quarter sees Milford KiwiSaver shoot the moon
Milford Asset Management continued to front-run the KiwiSaver market in the June quarter, adding about $560 million to funds under management while pipping BNZ as the seventh-largest provider, according to new figures from Australian researcher Plan for Life (PFL). The PFL survey shows Milford KiwiSaver ended the June 2021 quarter with almost $3.9 billion funds… [Read More…]
Fixed income analyst walks into QuayStreet; Foundation North tables fresh chairs, trustees; Russell not-for-profit specialist finds new purpose at Mercer
The Craigs Investment Partners fund arm, QuayStreet Asset Management, has hired Craig Smith in a new fixed interest analyst role to support a growing part of the business. Andrew South, QuayStreet chief investment officer, said Smith – a South African import – was appointed in line with the group’s “strategy to grow the investment team… [Read More…]
Carbon credits, private debt to float in 5 Oceans
Castle Point Funds Management has added carbon credits and peer-to-peer private debt to the asset mix for the $120 million multi-manager 5 Oceans Fund to replace a portion of its traditional fixed income allocation. In a note to clients last week, Castle Point said: “We have successfully invested in unlisted debt via peer-to-peer platforms in… [Read More…]
Morningstar finds fund fees keep falling, bottom in sight
US fund fees slid across the board again in 2020 but the decades-long downward trend could be nearing its natural denouement, a new Morningstar study suggests. The annual Morningstar US managed fund price-check found average fees fell to just 0.41 per cent last year on an asset-weighted basis compared to 0.44 per cent in 2019…. [Read More…]
China’s full circle back to ‘whether’
In the past 10 months, since November last year, the investor’s decision on China has done a fully circle – from not whether to invest but how to invest, back to not how but whether. It was in November that the Chinese Government scuttled the US$37 billion IPO of Ant Group, the financial services affiliate… [Read More…]
Climate: where long-termism meets the short term
Supported by record retail inflows, ESG-focused investing has, finally, become ‘the norm’, according to panelists at least two of the sessions at last week’s (August 31-September 2) AIST ASI conference. But one of the interesting, most recent, trends within this trend, is how climate change action and inaction has given a very short-term focus to… [Read More…]
Not to scale: NZX draws up fund buy-out plans
NZX has flagged further fund management purchases in a bid to build scale in the almost $5.8 billion Smartshares business. In an investor update released along with half-yearly results last week, the NZX notes Smartshares is “exploring potential acquisition opportunities” as part of a “strategic step change”. Hugh Stevens, Smartshares chief, said competitive and regulatory… [Read More…]