There are some big secular changes occurring in funds management and there are some cyclical or even faddish changes. Someone who studies these trends more than most is Sean Healey, the chairman and chief executive of Affiliated Managers Group. AMG is the largest multi-affiliate manager in the world, with 39 firms under its umbrella, 20… [Read More…]
Investment News
Big disparity in booming alternative beta products – bfinance
bfinance, the UK-based manager search and consulting business which set up shop in Australia this year, has proposed a redefinition of the alternative beta market, which it says has expanded by 30 per cent in just the past nine months. bfinance, which provides a different business model to that of the mainstream asset consultants whereby… [Read More…]
Auckland hosts $5tn room as sovereign funds mobilise
Despite his engaging introductory monologue, NZ Superannuation Fund chief, Adrian Orr, faced tough competition for the attention of the 250 plus International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Fund (IFSWF) delegates assembled at the Auckland Viaduct Centre last week. As Orr rolled energetically through a diversified portfolio of one-liners, NZ history lessons, IFSWF updates and conference housekeeping,… [Read More…]
Class act from FMA to free up scheme transfer advice…
KiwiSaver transfers will become easier to facilitate under the disclosure-lite ‘class advice’ provisions if new stop-gap regulatory proposals released last week pass muster. Currently, most KiwiSaver transfer discussions with advisers are subject to the heavy-duty compliance ‘personalised’ financial advice regime, according to as the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) 2012 guidance note. In the 2012 version,… [Read More…]
… as Aussie banks win KiwiSaver trifecta
Australian-owned banks now claim the top three spots in the KiwiSaver market after Westpac ousted AMP as the third-largest provider during the September quarter. According to the figures published by the Australian research and actuarial firm Strategic Insight (SI) last week, the Westpac scheme grew 7.5 per cent over the three months to September 30,… [Read More…]
Many MIS managers may miss deadline
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MOBIE) has given NZ investment managers financial product suppliers the hurry-up to register official documents on the Disclose website with the deadline looming in less than 14 days. All retail managers and schemes (including superannuation funds) wishing to operate under the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC) are required… [Read More…]
Unblockchain: IBM leader spells out how tech solution will free up financial services
The trust-automation protocols known as ‘blockchain’ is poised to revolutionsise financial services although not as a currency or retail payment system, delegates at New Zealand’s first fintech conference heard last week. Michael Aaron, IBM blockchain leader, told the more than 150-strong audience at the inaugural Finnotec 2016 event that the trust technology had huge potential… [Read More…]
Battle of the hedge fund managers in China
Ray Dalio is one of the world’s great investors. He is also a self-confessed misfit. I had lunch with him in the 1990s, when he was on a rare visit to Australia – represented at the time by Sheridan Lee and Tony Tuohey. What he said then resonates now. The founder and CIO of Bridgewater… [Read More…]
Pressure builds for new discussion on short-termism
For as long as there have been performance surveys, starting with Bruce Cook’s Mercer Campbell Cook & Knight in the 1980s, short-termism has been a problem for big super funds. They continually tell themselves not to think that way, but it seems, short-termism is very difficult to avoid. A big international survey undertaken by MFS… [Read More…]
Investors beware: trading costs set to rise, says report
When investors think about mean reversion they normally think about asset valuations. They should also think about liquidity, because transaction costs associated with liquidity also mean revert. They are currently at all-time lows and are set to shoot back up. A report by Research Affiliates of the US says that the costs to trade in… [Read More…]