Investment News

The approximately $250 million local government superannuation and KiwiSaver schemes operator has fired long-time underlying fund manager, ASB, after its latest review. Following the manager change, in addition to its existing international and NZ share duties, surviving incumbent AMP Capital has assumed responsibility for ASB’s property and global bond portfolios for the two ‘Supereasy’ schemes… [Read More…]

Vanguard has picked up about $150 million in a new global equities mandate as the game of passive pass-the-parcel plays on in the NZ bank-owned KiwiSaver market. The latest index switch has seen ANZ swap out BlackRock for Vanguard as underlying manager for its KiwiSaver default fund international shares allocation. As reported here last week,… [Read More…]

The AODP (Asset Owners Disclosure Project) fifth annual survey and rating of big global investors, published last week, shows that Australian and New Zealand funds are among the world’s most aware on assessing the risks associated with climate change. The New Zealand Super Fund has moved up from 94th position to 15th. In general, asset… [Read More…]

Almost a year since releasing a report on ‘churn’ in the life insurance industry, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) is still hauling in targeted advisers for further questioning. In the June 2016 ‘Replacing life insurance – who benefits?’ report, the FMA identified about 200 advisers with “high replacement” records who were deemed “most likely to… [Read More…]

De facto partners, the Financial Services Council (FSC) and Workplace Savings NZ (WSNZ), have edged closer to a more formal union with a joint conference slated for September 7-8 in Auckland. The ‘Navigating change’ annual conference marks a major commitment to the relationship between the two industry bodies, which have been contemplating a full merger… [Read More…]

The NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) has rotated out its founding role as secretariat of the NZ Corporate Governance Forum (NZCGF) in favour of Mint Asset Management. Following the duty rollover, Anne-Maree O’Conor, NZS head of responsible investment, has passed the NZCGF chair to Mint executive director, Paul Richardson with Nikko Asset Management general counsel, Hayley… [Read More…]

Byram Johnston, the co-founder of MainstreamBPO, has transitioned from chief executive to executive chair of the listed company, in a move which is more important to the funds management admin industry than it seems. Funds management admin is going through a shake-up. If you listen to Byram, now a veteran in that part of the… [Read More…]

The NZ Society of Actuaries (NZSA) proposed retirement income ‘rules of thumb’ would need universal buy-in from industry, government and regulators to succeed, according to the launch report released last Friday in a session hosted in Parliament by newly-appointed Commerce Minister, Jacqui Dean. “We note that it would be confusing to retirees if they were… [Read More…]

Hitting 65 with a reasonable chunk of savings in your Kiwisaver account should be cause for celebration. But what’s the best way to use those savings to prolong the post-retirement party? Former MJW principal (and actuary), Mark Weaver, goes looking for advice…   I have been a good KiwiSaver. And my provider hasn’t been too… [Read More…]

Westpac KiwiSaver has dropped Vanguard as global equities manager for its default fund in the first phase of an across-the-board ethical-cleansing at its investment management division. The change, executed in December by Westpac subsidiary BT Funds Management NZ, saw the AMP Capital international equity index fund take over the global shares mandate for the bank’s… [Read More…]