Investment News

Long-standing Kiwi Wealth chief investment officer, Simon O’Grady, has left the business after almost 10 years with the Wellington-based manager. In a statement supplied to Investment News NZ, O’Grady said: “It has been an absolute privilege to work with an outstanding team and I am proud of their achievements,” he said. “The business is in… [Read More…]

Following up on its BNZ win in May, State Street Global Advisors (SSGA) has picked up the final large passive institutional mandate abandoned by Vanguard in NZ. According to new disclosure documents, ASB will shift its indexed Australasian equities portfolio – of an estimated $4 billion plus – from current manager Vanguard to SSGA this… [Read More…]

Fisher Funds is bulking up its fund team after promoting Ashley Gardyne to chief investment officer last week. In a note to investors, Fisher says with Gardyne stepping into the role previously occupied by Frank Jasper the firm was “also taking this opportunity to employ three more analysts into the investment team – two for… [Read More…]

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has poured cold water on the NZ fund industry’s “overly optimistic” self-assessment of liquidity risk management skills, issuing 17 recommendations in a new report handed down last week. According to the FMA report, the regulator’s August 2020 survey of 51 licensed managed investment scheme (MIS) firms, representing over $135 billion… [Read More…]

The NZ Superannuation Fund fell just short of a perfect score in the latest ranking by the Global SWF group on governance, sustainability and resilience, coming second in a group of three behind the Australian Future Fund. While NZ Super dropped one point in the governance component of the Global SWF scorecard (which totaled 25… [Read More…]

Financial advice could get more ‘affordable’ across the Tasman in the wake of a regulatory consultation process rolled-out last November. Or maybe not. According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), the formal feedback to Consultation Paper 332 (‘Promoting access to affordable advice for consumers’) and follow-up discussions identified solutions “that we think will… [Read More…]

Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA) is poised to increase its ESG dosage with the launch of a new fund and adding a sustainability screen to an existing fixed income option. In a note to clients last week, NZ adviser services group, Finzo, says DFA will soon roll out a new sustainability-focused emerging markets fund while making… [Read More…]

The rapid adoption of ESG strategies, particularly in the wholesale market segment, should prompt a rethink of portfolio construction, according to Janus Henderson Investors. Adding ESG to the mix can cause unexpected tilts. In a global media webinar series last month (June 23-24), Adam Hetts, the manager’s US-based global head of portfolio construction and strategy,… [Read More…]

AMP Wealth NZ has officially pushed back the long-awaited investment shift to a BlackRock-managed passive strategy into the September quarter. The change, which could see upwards of $10 billion move from keystone incumbent manager AMP Capital, was originally set down for the first half of this year. However, in just-lodged disclosure documents, AMP says the… [Read More…]

The NZ Superannuation Funds’s guardians and management are used to their fair share of lobbying by special interest groups, but the latest, from an Israeli group on behalf of five of Israel’s banks, could have implications for all fiduciary investors. The Israeli lobby group in NZ, Israel Institute, and NZ Super are in an escalating… [Read More…]