Investment News

Sharesies has added the Milford Aggressive Fund to its list of KiwiSaver diversified options, joining SuperLife/Smartshares, Pathfinder and Pie Funds on the roster. Members of the fast-growing KiwiSaver scheme, which topped $100 million at the end of last year, must direct at least 50 per cent of contributions to one of the now six underlying… [Read More…]

NZX Wealth Technologies has completed the transition of another small advisory firm as a custodial client. As flagged in the latest NZX annual report, the investment platform signed up the Auckland-based Multiply among a bevy of other new financial advice clients. Last week, the NZX confirmed Christchurch advisory business, Total Wealth, as its latest new… [Read More…]

The wealth management sector is set for an end-to-end makeover during the next three years as a confluence of trends sweeps through the sector, according to a recent survey tapping both industry participants and investors. In particular, US marketing business, ThoughtLab, found almost 70 per cent of the 250 senior investment professionals it surveyed from… [Read More…]

Bonds are providing investors with fair value for the first time since the global financial crisis (GFC) as interest rates emerge from a central bank-induced coma, according to Western Asset Management’s Anthony Kirkham. Kirkham, head of Asia Pacific investment management for the US-based fixed income specialist, told a Russell Investments NZ webinar audience last week… [Read More…]

The global exchange-traded fund (ETF) sector headed back on track last year, recovering some momentum after the 2022 investment market crash derailed growth, a recent survey has found. However, the study by specialist researcher, Trackinsight, shows ETF net flows increased only about 8.5 per cent year-on-year during 2023 to finish well off the historical peak… [Read More…]

Lawyers have slammed the proposed ‘outcomes-based’ regulatory overlay as vague, utopian, half-baked and off-piste… but otherwise pretty good. In just-released submissions on the draft Financial Markets Authority (FMA) ‘guide to outcomes-focused regulation’ both Dentons Kensington Swan and Chapman Tripp call for a significant rewrite, or repurposing, of the mooted quasi-rulebook. The FMA released the guidance… [Read More…]

The NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) has flagged low director fees and search budget constraints as a barrier to restocking the board of Guardians. In a briefing to the incoming finance minister, the NZS says signing up new board members “has been made more difficult in recent years” with remuneration caps a major factor. “The fees… [Read More…]

Kernel has launched three actively managed wholesale NZ bond funds including two set maturity end-date vehicles. The two short-dated funds – designed to emulate respective maturities in March of 2027 and 2029 – feature annual management fees of 0.5 per cent while the open-ended bond fund costs 0.4 per cent. According to a Kernel spokesperson,… [Read More…]

NZ investors piled into cash and bonds last year with funds under management in the asset classes soaring by at least 20 per cent over the 12-month period, new Reserve Bank of NZ (RBNZ) figures show. Cash fund holdings grew 20 per cent year-on-year to end 2023 at $44.3 billion while short-term and long-term debt… [Read More…]

Flint Wealth is sounding out NZ fund managers and advisers as equity partners amid a business pivot for the platform provider. The start-up investment administration service has been in “conversations” with several local firms over potential capital injections, according to ResearchIP chief, Darren Howlin. “Flint has been capital-raising since inception,” Howlin said. “To date that… [Read More…]