Investment News

The Boutique Investment Group (BIG) has lobbied government to delay carbon emission assurance reporting for fund managers until Australia implements similar rules or “if not indefinitely”. In a letter addressed to Simon Watts and Andrew Bayly – Ministers of Climate Change and Commerce, respectively – BIG says the looming emission assurance regime will be expensive,… [Read More…]

Apex Group has finalised its takeover of the Trustees Executors (TE) unit-pricing, custody and fund accounting arm after clearing competition hurdles. TE announced the sale of the investment administration components to Apex NZ in July, pending any objection from the Commerce Commission. In a statement, a Commerce Commission spokesperson said: “We have engaged with the… [Read More…]

ANZ has finally signed off on its long-awaited agreement with BlackRock in a deal announced today (September 23). The bank-owned fund manager will use BlackRock for “investment risk management and reporting services” including via the ubiquitous Aladdin platform. In a statement, ANZ says: “… BlackRock will also manage the implementation of portfolio cashflow, foreign currency… [Read More…]

Inaugural Generate director and recently re-appointed chair, Peter Brook, has stepped down after a 12-year board stint with boutique KiwiSaver and investment firm. Brook joined the Generate board at launch in 2012, overseeing its growth from scratch to managing more than $5 billion today – mostly in its KiwiSaver scheme. In a statement, Generate chief,… [Read More…]

Europe has led the way in ‘green’ investment product classification. But other jurisdictions shouldn’t follow the European Union (EU) down the same naming path, according to Daniel Aguet, Scientific Beta deputy chief. Aguet said the multiple EU directives on sustainable investment taxonomy while paved with good intentions have ended in confusion at best. “The main… [Read More…]

The global exchange-traded fund (ETF) sector has gone gangbusters in 2024 as both net flows and total assets under management hit record highs. New data from specialist research house, ETFGI, shows assets under management in the industry neared US$14 trillion as at the end of August. Surging markets combined with record year-to-date flows of over… [Read More…]

Negative screening, the once go-to environmental, social and governance (ESG) accessory, is falling out of fashion. Valeria Dinershteyn, Northern Trust Asset Management (NTAM) director sustainable investing client engagement for the EMEA region, said the modern ESG trend favours stewardship over broad-sweeping exclusions. “Our clients are moving away from large exclusions to smaller exclusionary screens and… [Read More…]

The global alternative asset pool will rise almost 75 per cent before the end of this decade despite a slight drop-off in growth-rates, according to new data from specialist research house, Prequin. Prequin predicts the alternative asset sector will swell to US$29.2 trillion by 2029 from the end-2023 level of just US$16.8 trillion. “While not… [Read More…]

BlackRock has picked up another large chunk of NZ retirement savings money after winning about $750 million as AMP replaced a third-party manager service previously supplied by ANZ. In a move confirmed last week, AMP will shift several ANZ-managed portfolios in its KiwiSaver and employer super master trust products to BlackRock strategies in October. ANZ… [Read More…]

Milford Asset Management chief, Mark Ryland, is to step down… for real this time. Ryland was due to retire as Milford chief last March after tendering his resignation in February 2023 but later agreed to stay on for an unspecified term. But in a note to clients earlier this month, Milford confirmed he would end… [Read More…]