Investment News

NZ could see regulatory spillover following damning revelations emerging across the Tasman from the Royal Commission investigating financial services. In a statement last week, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) said: “We are in close contact with ASIC and are monitoring developments at the Royal Commission (RC) closely. We are engaging with all the businesses involved… [Read More…]

First State Investments (FSI) head of NZ institutional business, Helen McKenzie, is to leave the firm following a re-boot of its popular global listed infrastructure fund. FSI, a subsidiary of the soon-to-be-listed Colonial First State Global Asset Management (CFSGAM), told clients last week McKenzie would stay on for a few weeks to transition the $210… [Read More…]

Passive fund KiwiSaver and investment manager, Simplicity, has increased exposure to NZ assets after rejigging its asset allocation method last week. Concurrently, the more than $330 million Auckland-based manager also revised wording in an updated product disclosure statement (PDS) for its just-released NZ equities and bond portfolio investment entity (PIE) funds – back-tracking on an… [Read More…]

Melville Jessup Weaver (MJW) has added 10 new global equity funds to its quarterly investment survey to reflect the wider menu of NZ-domiciled products offered via institutions. Ben Trollip, MJW principal, said the suite of portfolio investment entity (PIE) global equity funds – typically bundled in multi-manager packages – were also available to NZ investors… [Read More…]

NZ fixed income investors could have access to a new $20 billion plus asset class as early as the end of this year if proposed Reserve Bank rules come into force. Vicky Hyde-Smith, AMP Capital NZ head of fixed income, said the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) ‘residential mortgage obligation’ (RMO) proposals – released… [Read More…]

Almost 70 per cent of Australians would not trust robo-advice delivered without human back-up, a new study has found. According to the Investment Trends survey, most Australians (68 per cent) would only trust robo-advice “if follow-up customer service was available, such as assistance through a livechat service, phone or face-to-face”. A white paper published by… [Read More…]

Frontier Advisors has re-established itself as the clear leader of the pack among asset consultants in the annual Peter Lee Associates survey of institutional investors. The firm won eight out of 12 categories plus the top ‘relationship strength index’ (RSI) position, which is a combination of the main categories. The history of the Peter Lee… [Read More…]

The Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) now has boots on the ground in NZ with the industry group’s head of operations relocating from across the Tasman. Matthew Mimms, RIAA board NZ representative, said while Josh Edmunds – RIAA operations and member services manager – was moving to NZ partly for personal reasons, his presence here… [Read More…]

With rising political tensions between Russia and the West – primarily the US – and new trade sanctions placed on Russia, the question for investors is: do you stay or do you go? According to one long-time Russian investor, Martin Currie Investment Management, the risks are not so different from risks in other emerging markets…. [Read More…]

Craig Meller, AMP chief executive, has resigned eight months ahead of schedule after his firm was found to have misled the Australian regulator over financial advice disclosures. In a statement today, AMP said Mike Wilkins would takeover from Meller “effective immediately” in an interim role. Meller would also lose a final bonus with the AMP… [Read More…]