Investment News

Former Fidelity Life chief of, Milton Jennings, has been appointed to the advisory board of the Hawke’s Bay-based wealth management firm Stewart Group. Jennings joins Peter Mancell, head of Australian dealer group FYG Planners, on the Stewart Group advisory board, which includes oversight of subsidiary Boutique Advisers Alliance (BAA). Collectively, the seven BAA members manage… [Read More…]

As the countdown ticker for the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC) deadline switches from months to days just three policy decisions remain outstanding, according to the latest regulatory update. In addition to clarifying the FMC status of some irrigation companies, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) to-do list covers the treatment of ‘self-select’ schemes and multi-employer… [Read More…]

Flesh-based financial advisers remain confident of fending off robo-competitors despite the gathering pace of the digital revolution, a new global survey has found. According to the Financial Planning Standards Board (FPSB) 2016 member survey, most financial advisers saw robots as potential servants rather than the new overlords. “In response to FPSB’s 2015 survey, financial planners… [Read More…]

BT Financial Group has made redundant at least 10 of its investment professionals as the new CIO, Martyn Wild, puts his stamp on the firm. James McSkimming, who left Russell Investments last month, has become the new head of equities. Wild, who worked with McSkimming at Russell until 2010, joined BT Financial Group (BTFG) as… [Read More…]

While on an extensive worldwide roadshow meeting clients, shareholders and staff, Andrew Formica and Dick Weil, the proposed co-chief executives of a merged Janus Henderson Global Investors addressed media in Sydney last week. They said the joint-CEO role was a “special solution for a special situation”. Dick Weil, Janus’s boss, said that having the two… [Read More…]

BlackRock, the largest provider of ETFs in Australia, through its iShares brand, has launched four new low-cost ‘smart beta’ funds. Smart beta, after fixed income, strategies are the most popular ETFs in the world at the moment. Recently, BlackRock launched a suite of “iShares Edge Smart Beta” ETFs which encompassed low volatility and multi-factor strategies,… [Read More…]

Robeco’s five-year expected returns report – a well-regarded annual outlook for markets and investment opportunities – which this year came to 120 pages – is not a light read. The latest report, published last week, with a world full of uncertainty, was particularly dark. Lukas Daalder, The Netherlands-based Robeco executive director and CIO of investment… [Read More…]

The Accident Compensation Commission (ACC) fund is looking to bolster its global shares team with in-house management now accounting for about 20 per cent of the asset class. According to an ACC spokesperson, the fund plans to hire two more global equity analysts this year to join the duo of Zlatko Todorow and Sasha Srivastava… [Read More…]

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZS) scaled back its holdings of local equities by almost $500 million over the 12 months to June 30 this year, the latest annual accounts show. According to the NZS annual report, the approximately $30 billion fund held close to $1.5 billion in NZ equities as at June 30 this… [Read More…]

Kumar Palghat, the co-founder and head portfolio manager of Australian-based bond manager Kapstream, will become the head of global fixed income at the merged US$320 billion Janus Henderson Global Investors. Theoretically, at least, he will be Bill Gross’s boss. The proposed merger of Henderson Group and Janus Capital Group, announced early last week, was universally… [Read More…]