The Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) fund has turned in another above-budget but below-benchmark annual investment performance during the 12 months to June 30. According to the just-published 2024 ACC annual report, the now almost $50 billion fund fell short of its blended benchmark by a narrow margin for the second year in a row. The… [Read More…]
Investment News
Less adequate, more sustainable: NZ a B-keeper in global pension rankings
NZ remains a B-grade retirement income system despite eking out a minor scoring boost in the latest Mercer Global Pension Index (GPI). According to the 16th annual Mercer GPI, produced in association with the CFA Institute, NZ increased its overall score by 0.4 year-on-year to reach 68.7 (out of a possible 100) – still deep… [Read More…]
Cliff Asness: Markets are getting crazier – and better
Founder of legendary US quant shop, AQR, Cliff Asness, talks to Lachlan Maddock, editor of Australian trade publication Investor Strategy News… Markets have become less efficient, and social media is to blame. Or so says Cliff Asness, founder of hedge fund AQR, who – as reported earlier this month – recently penned a paper… [Read More…]
InvestCloud fronts for FirstCape; Select tops $1bn; Booster in bank-tech gong finals
FirstCape has confirmed the US-based InvestCloud as its adviser front-end system provider with a phase one ‘digital transformation’ roll-out across Jarden Wealth. Under the arrangement, the almost 90 Jarden advisers now have access to the InvestCloud Portfolio Management and Order Capture products used, respectively, to build and implement client investments. The system would likely be… [Read More…]
Salt shifts risk down a gear as corners approach
Salt Funds Management has eased its foot off the accelerator coming into the final curve of 2024 as valuation extremes and geopolitical risks signal potential hazards ahead. According to the Salt quarterly global outlook report published last week, the “the prudent course into year-end is to trim back some portfolio risk” in diversified funds. While… [Read More…]
AI KiwiSaver advice tool targets compliance cut-through
NZ robo-advice pioneer, Clive Fernandes, has launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) venture aiming to automate 80 per cent of KiwiSaver client-servicing tasks. Dubbed Sevaka – from the Sanskrit word ‘सेवक’ translated as ‘one who serves’ – the new business is creating what “will be the first AI tool developed specifically for the KiwiSaver industry”,… [Read More…]
How investing got ‘dumbed down’ – and how to fix it
It is a truth universally acknowledged that nobody – from massive pension and sovereign wealth funds to the asset managers that they invest with – actually likes benchmarks. They were born from a desire to create accountability, but the humble benchmark is now the bane of many investors’ existence, who struggle to align the horizons… [Read More…]
Climate-reporting relief in sight as XRB tables one-year assurance extension
Fund managers and other climate-reporting entities will get an extra year to finalise emissions assurance programs among other compliance delays under proposed amendments published by the External Reporting Board (XRB) last week. Licensed investment managers (with $1 billion plus under management) along with most NZX-listed companies, insurers and banks were due to supply third-party-audited carbon… [Read More…]
GSF hires Robeco, misses reference as global private assets drag
Dutch quant manager, Robeco, has joined the Government Superannuation Fund (GSF) global equities panel, filling a gap left vacant by the now-defunct UK psych-conscious investor, Ardevora, last December. In its just-published annual report, the GSF reveals Robeco, which also advises a portfolio for the NZ Superannuation Fund, came aboard at the end of July this… [Read More…]
Mega-cap gravity keeps active managers under water, SPIVA finds
Almost two-thirds of the more than 8,400 active funds included in a S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) global database underperformed their respective benchmarks during the first six months of 2024. The half-year S&P DJI SPIVA scorecard shows active equity managers flailed against strong index-based tides pulled to record highs by just a handful of… [Read More…]