The NZ retail funds market saw gross inflows increase almost 20 per cent year-on-year during the 12 months to June 30, according to new data from Australian research house, Strategic Insight (SI). Over the year investors ploughed $26.1 billion into retail products (comprising mainly KiwiSaver funds and unit trusts), representing an increase of 18 per… [Read More…]
Investment News
Securities services companies look to pass on tech benefits
Fund managers are increasingly talking about their use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data and distributed ledger technology (blockchain) to transform their businesses and subsequently their value-add to big super funds. The real action, though, is happening at the securities services end of the food chain. Securities services companies, which are mainly very big… [Read More…]
New Aussie LIC looks to win hearts and minds in NZ
Another Australian listed investment company (LIC) is pitching to the NZ market under trans-Tasman mutual recognition rules as part of a drive to raise up to A$500 million. However, the ‘Hearts and Minds Investments’ (HM) LIC is a unique collaboration between a raft of well-known Australian fund managers – including Magellan and Paradice Investment Management… [Read More…]
Why the dollar dash could be done
The greenback is likely at or near peak levels as the economic distance between the US economy and China stabilises, a recent Brandywine Global Investment Management (BGI) client note argues. According to the Brandywine Global note, the US dollar has risen 7 per cent this year as the US economy, boosted by tax cuts, experienced… [Read More…]
Going direct: the evolving fund manager distribution model
Technology may well make the distribution channels of the past, such as IFAs and other intermediaries, a thing of the past. As big fund managers have tried for many years, going direct to the retail investor is becoming increasingly viable, according to an award-winning white paper by tech services company Calastone. The paper, ‘The Digital… [Read More…]
NZ industry looks for data answers: exclusive survey results show
The local investment industry is increasingly on the hunt for data and technology solutions in an era of accelerating change, the third annual BNP Paribas/Investment News NZ survey has found. While regulation remains the most pressing concern for the NZ investment industry, the survey found ‘data and technology’ was almost on a par – especially… [Read More…]
van Eyk Research buried, again, in a Caymans court room
The saga surrounding the demise of van Eyk Research and its one-time controlling shareholder, Pyne Gould Corporation, and their associated suppliers and investors, such as Macquarie Bank, two big New Zealand fiduciaries, and fund manager Aurora has played out in a three-year court case in the Cayman Islands. The 366-page judgement was handed down last… [Read More…]
What the Australian Royal Commission debacle heralds for New Zealand
As the Australian Royal Commission into financial services (et al) hands down its interim report, Aaron Drew, principal of investment governance consulting firm MyFiduciary, provides an on-the-ground perspective of the trans-Tasman implications… In mid-September I spent a week in Sydney with a colleague meeting with various senior executives in firms across the investment industry,… [Read More…]
Rural council farms out $50m portfolio as dam breaks
The Hawke’s Bay Regional Council (HBRC) is close to naming the manager of a new $50 million diversified portfolio put out to tender in July. It is understood the HBRC selected the provider last week from a short-list of investment consultants and fund managers after a relatively short review process. Official documents show the HBRC… [Read More…]
Factors on the rise at NZ Super
The NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) could increase both the size and diversity of its factor-based global equity investments, according to recently-appointed chief executive, Matt Whineray. Whineray, who took over the top job this June, said the ‘smart beta’ international share mandates – awarded to Northern Trust and AQR in 2016 and 2017, respectively – have… [Read More…]