Investment News

Fund managers love their acronyms. We currently have the FANGs and more lately we have the BATs. We used to have the BRICS too, but they fell out of favour. But both the latest tech-orientated acronyms – FANGs and BATs – have their drawbacks, according to Hexavest. Value is being tested. Value managers have, over… [Read More…]

China-sceptics should review benchmark settings following the recent inclusion of some mainland shares in MSCI mainstream equity indices, according to Tim Atwill, head of investment strategy at global consulting firm, Parametric. In June this year, MSCI added a smattering of China A shares to its mainstream equity indices – the first of the major global… [Read More…]

Chinese digital payment giant, Ant Financial, has opened up its artificial intelligence (AI) technology to the country’s burgeoning funds management industry. Ant, which began life 15 years ago as the digital payments service within China’s mega online retailer Alibaba, said last week it would “share” the group’s complete AI package with Chinese fund managers. In… [Read More…]

Investors can’t rely on desk-based research to assess environmental, social and governance (ESG) risks and rewards, according to a new paper from Lazard Asset Management. The Lazard report says while there is a growing consensus that ESG factors affect company valuations and performance, investors struggle to transform the disparate data into coherent strategies. “Unsurprisingly, investors… [Read More…]

Stand-in NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) chief, Matt Whineray, has picked up the full-time job. Whineray, who took over as interim NZS boss in March from Adrian Orr. In a statement today, NZS board of guardians chair, Catherine Savage said: “Mr Whineray was the stand out candidate amongst a high quality field of international applicants. He… [Read More…]

Mint Asset Management chief investment officer, Paul Richardson, has resigned after four years with the boutique firm that has just topped the $1 billion mark. Rebecca Thomas, Mint chief, said Richardson was leaving to pursue long-standing interests in the agricultural sector. “It was always in the plan that Paul would leave [in the medium term],”… [Read More…]

Passive investing is here to stay but will likely see slower growth rates as markets ‘normalise’, a new survey of global pension funds has found. According to the report published by the UK-based Create Research, pension funds have doubled their exposure to index-style strategies since 2008 to represent about a third of assets under management…. [Read More…]

Russell Investments has replaced Graeme Allan, an 18-year veteran with the firm, as portfolio manager for its flagship Global Opportunities Fund (GOF). In a client note, Russell says the Seattle-based Jon Eggins, previously running many of the manager’s global small cap funds, took over from Allan effective June 1. “Jon was previously the backup portfolio… [Read More…]