Just two months after the government cancelled the $1,000 kickstart sign-on payment, KiwiSaver growth in the 24-and-under market has fallen off a cliff, according to the latest Inland Revenue Department (IRD) statistics. The July IRD figures show the number of younger KiwiSaver members has gone backwards over the month, with 1,888 fewer in the 0-17… [Read More…]
Investment News
Regulator publishes post-Milford laundry list for fund managers
In the wake of its Milford Asset Management investigation, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has released a guide for fund managers on how to mitigate market misconduct risks. The FMA information sheet, published last week, is an addendum to the regulator’s earlier licensing guidelines for managed investment schemes (MIS) under the Financial Markets Conduct Act…. [Read More…]
Not enough responsible NZ managers, report says
Local funds management firms have been slow to back global ethical investing principles, according to the Responsible Investment Association Australasia’s (RIAA) first stand-alone report on the New Zealand market. The RIAA ‘Responsible investment benchmark report 2015’ NZ edition (which in previous years was incorporated in the Australian report) found only nine fund managers, representing a… [Read More…]
How to predict a crash and assess market ‘honesty’: CIFR conference
The Centre for International Finance and Regulation held a celebratory two-day conference in Sydney last week to coincide with the 30th anniversary of seminal research by two legendary academics – professors A.S. ‘Pete’ Kyle and Lawrence R. Glosten. Kyle, billed as a future Noble laureate, is currently studying the predictability of stock market crashes. Kyle… [Read More…]
New NZ private asset trading platform targets global opportunities
Despite just launching in New Zealand, start-up online trading platform, Syndex, is already eyeing up offshore markets, according to company co-founder and managing director, Mike Jenkins. Jenkins said Syndex, which bills itself as a “peer-to-peer” exchange for listing, trading and managing “proportionally-owned assets”, is in talks with various parties in other jurisdictions including Australia and… [Read More…]
Towards a new industry standard in alternative beta
Lars Jaeger, a scientist who made his name in the investment world developing alternative beta strategies, has a big new mission. He is helping the global asset manager GAM, of which he is head of quantitative research in the Alternative Investment Solutions team, to build a platform of alternative risk premia as an industry standard. Jaeger, visiting Australia last week,… [Read More…]
ANZ houses Australasian investment centre of excellence in Auckland
ANZ will bulk up its NZ-based investment team as it prepares to take on further responsibility for managing Australian-sourced money. Graham Ansell, head of ANZ Investments NZ, said the appointment of ex New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZS) portfolio manager, Daria Murray, as a senior equities analyst last week was just part of a broader realignment… [Read More…]
Aon admin staff to join Link following buy-out
Link Market Services confirmed last week it would buy the Aon NZ superannuation admin business in a move first mooted Investment News NZ (IN NZ) early in July. According to Link NZ head of operations, Stan Malcolm, while the final contract is yet to be inked, the private equity-owned registry business was on track to… [Read More…]
Fidelity unlocks annuity option for DB funds
Fidelity Life has reopened its annuity product to a select group of clients. Milton Jennings, Fidelity chief, confirmed the insurance firm had rebooted the lifetime annuities product – closed to new business in 2014 – after being approached by a “wholesale type client”. “We were asked to quote [for an annuities product] someone representing a… [Read More…]
Complectus poaches Russell McVeagh partner as CEO
Trust company consortium, Complectus, has hired Russell McVeagh commercial partner, Grant Kemble, as chief executive officer. After a 23-year career in commercial law at Russell McVeagh, Kemble will take up the new role in September, assuming day-to-day responsibilities for the Complectus group from current managing director, Andrew Barnes. Founded by majority shareholder Barnes in 2014,… [Read More…]