Investment News

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…]

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…]

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…]

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…]

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…]

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…]

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…]

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…]

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…]

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…]