Investment News

Investors aged under 30 are more likely to trust financial advice delivered by robots than humans, an in-house Minter Ellison Rudd Watts (MERW) survey has found. After surveying 80 of its lawyers aged less than 30, with further detail supplied by a focus group of six, MERW concludes “automated online platforms are the best way… [Read More…]

The number of NZ licensed fund managers has cracked the 20 mark with three new firms joining the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) roster last week. While the FMA’s managed investment scheme (MIS) manager list has been slowly ticking over since the little-known New Ground Capital kicked off the process late last year, the addition of… [Read More…]

Sandra Urie is to step down as chair and chief executive of global asset consultant Cambridge Associates after 25 years with the firm, but will remain, at least part-time, working with clients in the role as “chairman emeritus”. She hopes to devote more time to impact investing, which is a personal passion. Urie is credited… [Read More…]

Both New Zealand-based funds covered in the Asset Owners Disclosure Project (AODP) ‘Climate 500 Index’ sit well down the rankings in the lobby group’s latest annual report. According to the AODP 2016 index, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZS) and the Accident Compensation Commission (ACC) fund sit at 108 and 255 respectively on list which… [Read More…]

Renowned UK financial historian, Niall Ferguson, will make his New Zealand debut next week in a one-time-only deal at the Portfolio Construction Forum (PCF) Symposium in Auckland. In a coup for the Graham Rich-run PCF, Ferguson – author of 14 books including the bestseller-cum-TV series ‘The ascent of money’ – will front the Symposium next… [Read More…]

J K Galbraith, the radical Canadian-American economist, called it “private affluence amid public squalor”. What he was referring to, in the 1960s, was the long slow decline of much of his country’s infrastructure. Since the GFC, however, things are improving, thanks in part to the evolution of the municipal bond market. Taxable municipal bonds have… [Read More…]

The impact of automated vehicles could hit portfolios harder and sooner than most investors imagine, according to Daniel Kieser, Shareclarity managing director. Kieser, who road-tested some driverless car investment ideas for a global fund manager in a Taipei investor workshop earlier this year, said if implemented successfully the technology could prove disruptive across a wide… [Read More…]

The global financial crisis prompted significant change among the world’s alternative fund managers – a move to greater liquidity, a move to a more institutional client base and a move to more diversification and customisation of investment offerings. The Man Group, the world’s largest listed alternatives manager, provides an interesting case study in the evolution… [Read More…]

Despite a relatively high entry barrier over 20 New Zealand fund managers could benefit from the just-signed Asia Region Funds Passport (ARFP), according the Financial Markets Authority (FMA). Under the regional passport Memorandum of Co-operation – inked last week by the NZ government along with representatives from five other Asia-Pacific jurisdictions – fund managers require… [Read More…]

Government and superannuation funds (including KiwiSaver schemes) could miss out on significant global tax relief under draft rules laid out by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to John Payne, New Zealand Superannuation Fund head of tax. As reported by Investment News NZ last month, NZ Super along with a host of… [Read More…]