Investment News

NZ-based investment specialists looking for a career diversion in the tropics have been offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity by the highly-regarded Volunteer Service Abroad (VSA). Officially, VSA has advertised for an “investment adviser” to fill a wide-ranging one-year assignment in Vanuatu. The VSA role involves developing an investment plan from the ground-up for the Malampa Provincial… [Read More…]

A joint venture between a Christchurch family investment firm and a UK private equity business has taken a 50 per cent stake in Auckland-based hedge fund-of-funds manager, NZAM. Under the deal, most existing NZAM owners sold down half their respective holdings to LJ Partnership NZ (LJNZ) – a company equally-owned by London-based LJ Partnership, and… [Read More…]

Nikko Asset Management NZ will launch a robo-advice service later this year after earning regulatory approval last week. The new robo-advice system, built to complement the $5.2 billion manager’s recently-released KiwiSaver scheme, would offer “basic advice that’s free for everyone to access, intuitive and available online 24/7”, Nikko NZ chief, George Carter, said in a… [Read More…]

The NZX-owned Smartshares index funds business is on the hunt for an institutional salesperson at it takes another tilt at the wholesale market. Hugh Stevens, Smartshares chief, said the group was looking for a business development manager to grow its institutional client base. Aside from its major in-house client, SuperLife, Smartshares is largely a retail… [Read More…]

NZ has fallen behind Australia in the race to get ready for the Asia Region Fund Passport (ARFP) regime, according to DLA Piper principal, Alasdair McBeth. McBeth said the NZ industry was awaiting draft regulations – currently in process with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) – before it could design ARFP-compliant products…. [Read More…]

Paul Costello, the founding chief executive of the $160 billion Future Fund, has celebrated his survival from lung, brain and liver cancer with a fund-raising effort for the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne on August 22. So far, in just two weeks of the campaign, he has raised nearly $100,000 to aid the research… [Read More…]

Industry body FinTechNZ has inked a deal with like-minded Australian start-up ‘hub’, Stone and Chalk, to bolster trans-Tasman networking among the next generation financial firms. James Brown, FinTechNZ general manager, said the group signed a memorandum of understanding with Stone and Chalk late in August to share ideas and resources. “We want to support NZ… [Read More…]

Financial advisers should be in planning not panic mode ahead of an imminent law change set to transform the industry, according to compliance specialist, Steven Burgess. Burgess, founder of the recently-launched Compliance Refinery, said while the impact of the in-post-production Financial Services Legislation Amendment Bill (FSLAB) would likely be “bigger than many people think”, advisory… [Read More…]

State Street, which this year regained its mantle as the world’s largest custodian bank, by a whisker, looks to be cementing its position by expanding further into front-office services. The Boston-based company last week announced it had acquired a transaction cost analysis specialist for foreign exchange markets, BestX. The move, for an undisclosed sum, follows… [Read More…]