Investment News

Kiwi investors loaded up on risk assets during the 12 months to March 31 to record levels while the ‘private wealth’ sector, in particular, saw a spectacular boom, according to the latest Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) statistics. The RBNZ quarterly survey of managed funds held on behalf of non-government investors found listed share holdings… [Read More…]

Smartshares is set for long-term efficiency gains after signing on as the first Asia-Pacific client for the Bloomberg exchange-traded fund (ETF) basket-making machine, according to NZX head of funds management, Hugh Stevens. As reported here, Smartshares adopted the Bloomberg service earlier this year in a bid to streamline the order flow and stock ‘basket’ creation… [Read More…]

Assets that yield regular above-inflation income have become endangered species in the low interest rate environment. But the hunt goes on, according to Greg Fleming, Salt Funds head of global diversified funds. Fleming says in a new paper that while NZ, in particular, has evolved into a “capital gains paradise” there are still “points in… [Read More…]

Parliament has turned down requests to tone down Inland Revenue Department (IRD) information-gathering powers granted in new tax legislation last December. The law, which earned the Queen’s stamp of approval on December 7, introduced the new top tax rate of 39 per cent on income over $180,000 while also empowering the IRD to squeeze more… [Read More…]

Thematically focussed funds have been the big winners in fund flows in the past three years, but most themes have turned out to be fads, new research shows. According to Morningstar’s latest ‘Global Thematic Funds Landscape Report’, over the three years through March 2021, collective assets under management in the 1,349 thematic funds more than… [Read More…]

While many professional investors remain sceptical about the investability of digital currencies such as bitcoin – fool’s gold? – the asset servicing world is taking no chances, according to a study by Citibank and Global Custodian. The big global custodian and main business media title for asset servicing have published a report ‘Is the Securities… [Read More…]

Government is set to release climate risk scenario guidance for the NZ financial and corporate sectors by year-end to support impending new reporting standards. Alex White, Ministry for the Environment (MFE) sustainable finance team leader, told an industry gathering last week that the in-production scenario guides would help NZ investors better understand how climate change… [Read More…]

Sovereign Wealth Funds are embracing more active roles in domestic economies and sustainability while building on relationships with the private capital industry, according to research by Preqin and Baker McKenzie. A study, ‘Sovereign Wealth Funds in Motion’, was published last week (June 2) by alternative assets data provider Preqin, in partnership with global law firm Baker McKenzie. The prominence of sovereign wealth funds… [Read More…]

Cloud-based living has opened up blue-sky opportunities for MMC and its clients, according to chief, Vedran Babic. In a new case study tracking the investment administration firm’s shift from servers to the Microsoft Azure platform over the last year or so, Babic says MMC now has the technology “required to cater for our clients’ business… [Read More…]

Kōura Wealth is lining up to compete against the likes of Booster, Generate and NZ Funds in the hotly contested insurance and mortgage adviser KiwiSaver market with a new part-owner and ‘facilitator’ fee model. Launched in 2019 as the first pure robo-adviser KiwiSaver scheme, Kōura has added a 0.3 per cent “facilitator” fee option following… [Read More…]