Investment News

Over 120 advisers squeezed through the gap in the dying days of the now-defunct advisory legal regime, according to new data published by the Financial Services Providers Register (FSPR). The figures show 122 individuals were accredited as registered financial advisers (RFAs) in the two weeks prior to March 15 when the FSPR was closed for… [Read More…]

The NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) has won a landmark court case that could set a high bar for activist legal challenges to its investment decisions. In the ruling handed down in the Auckland High Court last week, Justice Woolford dismissed the move by Fadel Mohamed and M Barton to foist a judicial review on the… [Read More…]

The former head of sustainable investing for the world’s largest fund manager has labeled the approach as futile, calling government action the only remedy to climate change. In an article penned for USA Today, Tariq Fancy, the former BlackRock chief investment officer for sustainable investing, said the financial services industry is “duping the American public… [Read More…]

Global consulting firm Willis Towers Watson is to review the $4.2 billion Government Superannuation Fund (GSF), reprising a role it filled for the country’s largest sovereign wealth fund in 2019. In a release last week, NZ Treasury confirmed WTW would carry out the five-yearly GSF statutory review with a final report due in mid-May. WTW… [Read More…]

Most NZ community-based ‘foundation’ funds remain confident of hitting return targets in spite of looming market risks and entrenched low yields, according to the latest Mercer survey of the sector. The Mercer NZ ‘Endowments and foundations survey’ 2020 – the seventh in the annual series – found only 10 per cent of respondents had lowered… [Read More…]

The IFAA Group has seen almost immediate success with new business from several sources, notwithstanding its recent acquisition by Auckland-based administration and consulting firm MMC. Neil Harvey, IFAA Group’s managing director, said last week that recent wins for the group were the reappointment late last year as fund administrator for Gardior and a new appointment… [Read More…]

The shift in investor preference for passive over active funds continued in the last two years, but Australian investors were more resistant to the global trend, according to research from Calastone. Calastone’s latest report, ‘Tidal Forces – Can Active Funds Fight the Passive Flows?’, compiled from analysis of fund transactions across its network during the last… [Read More…]

In a surprisingly lively debate parliament cleared the way last week for a new set of rules governing the NZ financial ‘plumbing’ system. The Financial Market Infrastructures (FMI) bill passed its second reading last Tuesday with all parties endorsing the much-amended proposed legislation. Created to comply with International Monetary Fund (IMF) standards, the FMI will… [Read More…]

Factor manager Research Affiliates appears to be charging in where value managers are still nervous to tread, with a big call on the state of global markets and where the main opportunity lies – UK equities. Mike Aked, Research Affiliates director of research for Australia, said last week (March 17) that the firm had identified… [Read More…]

After five years operating in the dark as a wholesale manager, the Wellington-based Lighthouse Investment Funds has signaled the broader market with a new retail international shares offering launched this month. Flying under the colours of fund-hosting business, Implemented Investment Solutions (IIS), the Lighthouse Global Equity Fund mirrors the firm’s long-running offshore shares strategy first… [Read More…]