Investment News

Here’s an irony. Link Group last month held a ‘virtual AGM’ for its NZ share registry client Xero. Just over 80 per cent of shareholders ‘attended’ online. But Link is not allowed to do the same for its Australian clients, nor itself. Xero, the successful cloud-based accounting systems firm from Wellington, NZ, provided a glimpse… [Read More…]

Michael Thawley, Australia’s former and highly rated ambassador to the US, has re-joined the funds management industry – and his old firm – taking up the role as senior vice president for Capital Strategy Research at the big equities shop Capital Group. Thawley, who started in the job last week, is based in Los Angeles… [Read More…]

The New Plymouth District Council (NPDC) has ditched its in-house investment strategy in favour of a fully-outsourced approach. Following the changes approved at an official meeting last week, the Council will seek an implemented solution for its approximately $270 million investment portfolio previously managed by subsidiary Taranaki Investment Management Limited (TIML), according to NPDC chief… [Read More…]

The Auckland High Court has rejected a more than $400,000 damages claim in a dispute between the two former directors of Diversified Investment Strategies. In a ruling handed down last week, Justice Faire said Diversified director, Norm Stacey, had failed to prove a breach of fiduciary duty by former co-director Vicki Watson during the sale… [Read More…]

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has proposed a range of updates to the anti-money laundering and countering of financing of terrorism (AML) regulations including shifting to a single regulator model. While the phase two AML proposals, released last week, principally extend compliance obligations to a raft of previously exempt professionals such as lawyers, accountants and… [Read More…]

The Rio Tinto Staff Superannuation Fund, one of the few remaining large corporate funds, is looking to outsource overall management of the fund and is conducting a review. The $5.1 billion fund has used an implemented consulting arrangement though its consultant JANA Investment Advisers for several years. It is a sophisticated fund with nine investment… [Read More…]

Goldman Sachs has closed down its Australian transitions management business and will now offer the service out of its London office for Australian clients. There are now only four remaining specialist transition managers operating in Australia. A Goldmans spokesperson confirmed last week that the dedicated office had been closed. It is understood that the two… [Read More…]

Passive investors are lapping up both equity and fixed income emerging markets exchange-traded products (ETPs), according to new data from global mega-manager BlackRock. BlackRock’s most recent ‘Global ETP Landscape’ report shows emerging market debt and share products experienced record monthly flows in July of US$3.9 billion and US$8.2 billion respectively. The news marks a sharp… [Read More…]

Some super funds are looking to change their global benchmarks to cater for the “upside down world” of negative interest rates and ongoing uncertainty about the worth of quantitative easing, especially in Japan. At a briefing organised by QIC last week, at which the manager’s latest paper on fixed income investing was released, Jim Christensen,… [Read More…]