Investment News

The last shoe has dropped for Sargon NZ following the departure of its lone remaining supervisor client, Kernel Wealth. Dean Anderson, Kernel founder, said the digital passive fund provider would shift supervisor duties to Trustees Executors (TE) effective March 23. Anderson said the start-up firm “engaged with all parties” prior to selecting TE as replacement… [Read More…]

Financial advisers have just six weeks to organise for regime change or risk serious business disruption, according to compliance specialist, Steven Burgess. Burgess, Compliance Refinery founder, said April 29 was looming as a “key date” for transitional licensing applications under the Financial Services Legislation Amendment Act (FSLAA). “The Financial Markets Authority [FMA] has guaranteed to… [Read More…]

The Australasian arms of global consultancy giants Aon and Willis Towers Watson (WTW) could face a major shake-up following the groups’ merger announced last week. But the investment services divisions of the respective firms in Australia and NZ may emerge relatively unscathed from any post-merger synergy-creation. While both WTW and Aon provide wholesale investment consulting… [Read More…]

KiwiSaver providers have been granted interim disclosure relief from some of the swarm of changes heading their way. Under a supplementary order paper tabled early in March for the Taxation (KiwiSaver, Student Loans, and Remedial Matters) Bill, schemes will be exempt from immediately updating product disclosure statements once the new measures come into force. Among… [Read More…]

A move away from the reliance on traditional strategic asset allocation as the overarching strategy for big investors and towards the use of a ‘total portfolio approach’, will deliver an additional return of between 0.5 and 1.0 per cent a year, according to new research. Roger Urwin, global head of investment content at Willis Towers… [Read More…]

Citi Australia has finalised its agreement with RBC over its securities services business. It has already received letters of intent from almost half the RBC custody client base, with several other fund manager clients, which are primarily among the larger ones, conducting a formal review process. The total business transfers will take between 12 and… [Read More…]

While APRA has asked big super funds and other institutions – and for them to ask their service providers – about their plans to deal with the pandemic – unnecessarily, one would have thought – the funds and their advisers are already onto the case as much as you could expect them to be. No-one… [Read More…]

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) data suppliers could be pulling in a collective US$1 billion in revenue by next year, according to a new paper by European consultancy firm, Opimas. The Opimas study found the rapidly expanding appetite for ESG investing – especially in Europe – fed the new breed of data suppliers some US$617… [Read More…]

Specialist US manager, Ark Invest, floats its brand on the rising tide of ‘disruptive innovation’. But the future-focused shop still moves on the currents of old-fashioned market disruption, according to Ark portfolio manager, Renato Leggi. In NZ last week for distribution partner (and part-owner) Nikko Asset Management, Leggi said Ark had used the recent bout… [Read More…]

MMC has bought a major stake in a Brisbane-based superannuation fund administration firm. The Auckland-headquartered MMC now owns about half of the IFAA Group as a passive investment with future technological synergies expected to flow both ways across the Tasman. In a statement, Tom Reiher, MMC managing director, said “investing in the IFAA Group provides… [Read More…]

The Andrew Barnes-backed trustee company roll-up, Complectus, has returned once more to the sale-yard, appointing Melbourne advisory firm Flagstaff Partners to shop the business around. In release last Friday, Complectus confirmed earlier media reports it had hired Flagstaff “to advise on possible opportunities in the Australian market”. “The Complectus group of companies is trading extremely… [Read More…]

Sargon NZ supervisor clients have deserted en masse as its troubled Australian parent seeks to regroup under a buyout reportedly led by one-time director, Teddy Wasserman. Last week Public Trust signed on two of the three Sargon NZ supervisor clients, Christian Savings and Kōura KiwiSaver scheme, amid turmoil in the Australian operations. It is understood… [Read More…]

Specialist consulting firm, Mosaic Financial Services Infrastructure, has doubled its partner ranks in under a month with a second new appointment in February. The latest Mosaic partner, Mike Stobbs, closely follows on from former NZ Funds chief operating officer, Phil Doak, who took up the role with the Auckland-based consultancy earlier in the month. Mosaic now boasts… [Read More…]

Offshore currency exposure has lost its hedge edge for NZ investors, according to new research by recently-formed consultancy firm, Makao Investments. The Makao study found the Kiwi dollar behaviour has changed significantly since the 2008 global financial crisis (GFC) as the NZ interest rate differential with US markets first flattened before sliding into inversion post… [Read More…]

Ironbark Asset Management, the third-party marketing and multi-affiliate manager, is working on an SMA with a wealth advisory firm, concentrating on a multi-asset strategy. Ironbark Asset Management will be the RE. Ironbark, which represents assets of about $2.9 billion in the ‘multi-asset’ product sector, was started by former Deutsche Asset Management chief executive Chris Larsen… [Read More…]

Despite the best intentions of divestment advocates, fossil fuels are unlikely to vanish from the global energy mix any time soon, according to a recent AMP Capital paper. In fact, both fossil fuel use and the global output of carbon dioxide looks set to increase over the coming decades as population growth and ascendant emerging… [Read More…]

The NZ employer-only super fund world continued its inexorable decline last week as one more scheme booked an exit. According to just-released documents, the defined benefit Whitcoulls Group Pension Fund has formally wound up after its sole member “chose to take a cash payment in lieu of their ongoing pension”. Defined benefit schemes can be… [Read More…]

Venture capital used to be the “red-headed step child” of the investment industry, an annual private equity and venture industry conference was told last week. Sheridan Lee, a long-time third-party marketer for both mainstream and alternative managers, said the times had changed. Super funds were coming on board with venture. “Ten years ago, this session… [Read More…]