Investment News

Australasia was one of the standout regions for increasing responsible investments (RI) over the two years to December 2015 in a period where the pace of growth in the sector globally slackened, a new report shows. According to the ‘2016 Global sustainable investment review’ released last week, Australasia grew RI assets by almost 250 per… [Read More…]

Willis Towers Watson has embarked on an ambitious program, which it is calling the ‘Asset Management Exchange’ (AMX), to take out a layer of costs by reducing duplication of non-value-add services provided by fund managers and other service providers. The exchange was discussed at an event organized by the Thinking Ahead Institute, which is a… [Read More…]

A new study has found backing just average active global equity funds managers can pay off – but only for institutional investors. According to the just-published research, co-authored by Russell Investments Asia-Pacific senior investment strategist, Graham Harman, the 143 global equity funds in the study sample outperformed their benchmark on average by 1.2 to 1.4… [Read More…]

Brandywine Global Investment Management should know a lot about the Australian institutional market, for which it manages about US$4.4 billion. Big super funds are worried about China and they’re worried about currency. But things are looking up. On a regular visit to Australia, Tad Fetter, Brandywine director and head of business development and client service… [Read More…]

NZAM has fronted a local version of the Kapstream absolute return global fixed income fund co-founded by former CIO of PIMCO Australia, Kumar Palghat. Due to formally launch on April 3, the NZAM Kapstream Absolute Return Income Fund is denominated in NZ currency and would be tax-effective for local investors under a portfolio investment entity… [Read More…]

Nikko Asset Management NZ is planning to roll out a new global equity fund to local clients managed by its parent-owned Edinburgh-based investment team. Currently, the Nikko NZ offshore shares solution centres on a “multi-manager global equity strategy, managed by a specialist team based in Sydney and Singapore”, according to the group’s website. However, the… [Read More…]

The authorised financial adviser (AFA) population experienced a mild recovery over 2016, a new analysis by the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) shows, acquiring a net 40 new members of the elite club. According to the FMA research, AFA numbers rose from about 1,760 as at the end of 2015 to just over 1,800 a year… [Read More…]

AMP Capital CIO global equities and fixed income, Mark Beardow, has been the major casualty in the fund manager’s latest round of leader reassignments. The changes announced last week that saw Beardow exit the firm after almost 20 years service also spilled over to the NZ business where local chief, Grant Hassell, relinquished his co-head… [Read More…]

Westpac-owned BT Financial Group (BTFG) chief investment officer, Martyn Wild, left the firm last Friday following alleged “inappropriate behaviour towards two female staff”, according to Australian Fairfax Media reports. The Fairfax report cites a memo from BTFG head, Brad Cooper, saying that after discussions with Wild, who is also a director of BT Funds Management… [Read More…]

In the latest leakage of talent from a major asset consulting firm, Ben Griffiths, the head of Australian equity manager research at Willis Towers Watson, is leaving to go to a big fund. The leakage of talent at Australia’s major consultants to super funds seems to be continuing unabated. With a particularly big job in… [Read More…]