Investment News

The NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) has topped up its hedge fund exposure, handing US$100 million to trans-Atlantic global macro-strategy specialist, Episteme Capital. In a stakeholder update last week, NZS chief, Matt Whineray, said the now $60 billion plus sovereign wealth fund would invest into the flagship Episteme Systematic Quest Total Return vehicle. The hedge fund… [Read More…]

An Australian court has found AMP liable for “very serious, wrongful behaviour” in charging insurance and advice fees to dead clients, fining two companies in the group a collective A$24 million. The fines add to a growing legal bill for the ASX-listed business as courts and regulators mop-up historical breaches, many emanating from the 2019… [Read More…]

National Capital founder, Clive Fernandes, is pitching the group’s new KiwiSaver ratings service as a potential research tool for other advisory firms. Fernandes said the National ‘KiwiSaver value for money report’, published for the first time last week, may find favour with many external financial advisers who have limited research resources to draw on in… [Read More…]

Institutional investors have soured on the NZ dollar, according to a new analysis, with the Kiwi ranking only just better than the UK pound as the most underweighted currencies. The joint study by State Street and the International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) found the pound and the Kiwi as negative outliers among large… [Read More…]

Asset allocators have come crawling back to equities, according to bfinance, while high-growth managers have led the rebound in an “abrupt style reversal”. But hopes for a meaningful market rebound could be misplaced. Private markets remain the favourite asset class of allocators around the world, but they’ve also been inching back to equities after spurning… [Read More…]

KiwiSaver providers have collected an estimated $724 million in fees over the 12 months to March 31, according to the latest Morningstar data, with ANZ reaping almost a quarter of the revenue. In line with expectations, the Morningstar fee analysis – a new feature in the researcher’s quarterly KiwiSaver report – shows active-style managers tend… [Read More…]

Generate has recently added two new local external managers and opened up its flagship growth fund for consumption on another KiwiSaver scheme for the first time after inking an agreement with InvestNow. The Auckland-based boutique joined with the NZ Super Fund, the Government Superannuation Fund, Fisher Funds and other investors last week by allocating to… [Read More…]

Jamie Wickham is set to exit Morningstar at the end of May after 17 years at the research firm, serving as head of the Australasia division since 2017. Morningstar Asia Pacific head of investment management, Chris Galloway, will replace Wickham to lead the Australia and NZ arm of the business. Both Galloway and Wickham arrived… [Read More…]

Fast-growing and youthful advisory firm, Aurora Financial Group, has yet to register many concerns from KiwiSaver clients in the wake of a regulatory knuckle-rap, according to founder, Simon Rolland. Rolland said just one KiwiSaver client had contacted the business following the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) ‘censure’ last week over poor disclosure practices. “We had one… [Read More…]

The NZ retail funds sector went backwards last year with all mid-to-large managers reporting annual declines, according to new figures from Australian research house, Plan for Life (PFL). Overall, total retail funds under management (FUM) fell 7.8 per cent during the 2022 calendar year, the PFL report notes, with individual results among the 10 largest… [Read More…]