Investment News

NZ’s second licensed stock exchange due to go live next Monday (June 21) could open up a new liquidity channel for wholesale fund managers, according its chief executive, Colin Magee. Magee said the Catalist Public Market exchange, while aimed primarily at small-to-medium (SME) corporates, had the capacity to list a range of financial products, including… [Read More…]

The Inland Revenue Department (IRD) has mopped-up the remaining spillover from a KiwiSaver technical glitch that saw payments to up to 750,000 members delayed during a system transition last year. In a note to providers last week, the IRD confirmed the final tranche of ‘ex gratia’ payments – approved by Cabinet this February – would… [Read More…]

The once-obscure government-funded accounting standards body, the External Reporting Board (XRB), has seen its budget balloon by almost 60 per cent in this financial year ahead of planned new climate-reporting duties. In the just-released statement of expectation for the 12 months starting July 1 this year, the government-mandated XRB has slated an extra $4.1 million… [Read More…]

The much-anticipated Financial Markets (Conduct of Institutions) Amendment Bill – aka COFI – continued its journey into law last week in a second reading interrupted by the valedictory speech of departing National MP, Nick Smith. But in the space of a little over 11 minutes Labour MP Poto Williams and National’s Nicola Willis set the stage for what… [Read More…]

Hunter Investments chief, Tony Hildyard, has warned investors could dent long-term return prospects by dumping bonds to counter fears of rising interest rates. Hildyard said current expectations of higher interest rates has sparked misguided calls from many quarters to sell-down bond holdings in an effort to ward off capital losses. However, he says in a… [Read More…]

Carbon reduction strategies are becoming increasingly sophisticated but investors should remain wary of practical limitations and claims of outperformance of ‘green’ portfolios, according to new Russell Investments NZ research. In a sequel to a study published earlier this year, the new Russell paper outlines four common carbon-shrinking options for share exposures currently available to investors,… [Read More…]

Fiona Reynolds is coming home for good. A visit back to Australia last summer, extended because of covid-19, was not enough. The former chief executive of AIST, who stepped up big time to take the top job at UN PRI in London in 2013, announced last week (June 7) her intention to retire once a… [Read More…]

Private capital has shot away from the rest of the alternatives sector in the past few years and did well enough during the worst of the pandemic to support long-term growth predictions. A webinar organised by the Australian Investment Council, in association with researcher Preqin, last week (June 10) provided some colour around the annual… [Read More…]

Kiwi Invest head of wholesale sales, Matthew Laing, has left the business after an almost 18-month stint with the government-owned enterprise. Laing joined Kiwi Invest (sister firm of Kiwi Wealth) late in 2019 to spearhead growth in the local wholesale market for the group’s suite of global shares, fixed income and cash funds. The Kiwi… [Read More…]

Trustees Executors (TE) will see its supervisory powers extend across the entire Mercer NZ suite of funds now closing in on $10 billion. In a note to clients, Mercer says TE will assume independent trustee duties for the group’s wholesale funds come July 1, replacing the current in-house model. TE is already the licensed supervisor… [Read More…]