It was more-or-less more-of-the-same for KiwiSaver schemes during Year 11, according to the latest edition of the Investment News New Zealand (IN NZ) annual market study. The now free-to-download IN NZ report found the same 29 KiwiSaver schemes as in 2017 grew collectively at a similar rate while chalking up an almost exact replica of… [Read More…]
Investment News
KiwiFund dumped by committee…
Plans to launch a government-run, capital-guaranteed KiwiSaver scheme have collapsed after flopping at the select committee phase. Last week the Economic Development, Science and Innovation Committee recommended binning the KiwiFund legislation, which was a key policy initiative of Labour coalition partner, NZ First. The KiwiFund legislation was shepherded into parliament last December by NZ First… [Read More…]
… as KiwiSaver bursts through $50bn
The KiwiSaver pool sloshed over the $50 billion mark during the June quarter aided by regular flows and a gush of investment returns, the latest Strategic Insight (SI) data shows. According to the SI research, the KiwiSaver market filled up more than $2.3 billion over the three months to June 30, ending the quarter at… [Read More…]
FSLAB moves down the order
The Financial Services Legislation Amendment Bill (FSLAB) likely won’t get a second reading in parliament until at least the second week of September. As parliament wrapped up its August activity last week, FSLAB was bumped slightly from 20 to 21 on the order paper as the ‘Birth, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration Bill’ ascended in… [Read More…]
Weak investor demand but ESG funds still surge in NZ
The NZ responsible investment (RI) sector is being led by top-down factors rather than bottom-up demand, according to a new report. Demand for RI products from both retail and institutional investors flagged last year, the latest Responsible Investment Association of Australasia (RIAA) NZ benchmark study shows. The RIAA industry survey found just 8 per cent… [Read More…]
Pathfinder property fund gees up for growth
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) analysis could prevent listed property investors from exposure to a GFC-like shock, according to Takapuna-based manager, Pathfinder. Paul Brownsey, Pathfinder chief investment officer, said listed property stocks were hammered in the wake of the GFC because they were over-levered and built on fragile funding structures. “It was difficult to understand… [Read More…]
Computers and the future for active management
With the rise in popularity of smart beta strategies has come a demand for “smart data” inputs. The investment world is changing very quickly. According to FactSet’s head of index solutions, Jeremy Zhou, active management will be replaced by “systematic” investing. “We can now replicate the human process in active management,” Zhou says. Zhou was… [Read More…]
Looking for value in a disrupted market
Finding value in equities in most markets is never easy at the late stages of a cycle and certainly not when new technologies are disrupting various important industries. But for value managers, an environment of disruption is about more than picking winners and avoiding losers. It’s also about picking survivors and adaptors. Caroline Cai, a… [Read More…]
Boutique robots need not apply: why digital advice is a mass-market affair
Niche stand-alone robo-advice services will likely end up in the digital dump, a recent survey of wealth managers has found. The report by UK-headquartered research firm, GlobalData, says high net worth investors in particular were unlikely to decamp en masse from traditional wealth management firms to an automated advice provider. Just 10 per cent of… [Read More…]
What investors can learn from horse racing
If you want to be “out there” in the world of data collection and usage then “reinforcement learning” is the place to be. It’s where a computer is not even given guidelines on what to learn but comes up with these itself through its own activities. “It’s incredibly exciting,” according to Nick Wienholt, a quantitative… [Read More…]