Investment News

Global fund networking service, Calastone, is trialing a blockchain-based investment platform that could condense multiple back-office functions into a ‘single book of record’ among other efficiencies. In a new white paper exploring the potential of a ‘tokenised’ asset management universe, Calastone says it is currently road-testing a new end-to-end fund system “with several global asset… [Read More…]

Newly relicensed fund supervisors are looking to embed value-for-money (VFM) as business-as-usual as the first compliance deadline looms. Angus Dale-Jones, executive director of the Corporate Trustees Association (CTA), said supervisors and managers were well-advanced in complying with VFM regulatory guidelines introduced last year with a few final details to tidy up. “All managers should have… [Read More…]

Australasian listed companies are increasingly open to engagement with fund managers over environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, according to Harbour Asset Management chief, Andrew Bascand. Bascand said Harbour is starting to see “pretty good progress” in its corporate engagement efforts with Australian and NZ firms that tackle complex ESG sticking points. “Engagement is where… [Read More…]

Private assets has seen a surge of investor interest in recent years on the back of perceived outperformance compared to traditional listed variants. But a new study by the PGIM Institutional Advisory and Solutions group found the gap between public and private asset class returns is much narrower than headline figures suggest. “Based on reported… [Read More…]

The market is betting that the Fed will tame inflation without blowing up the global economy. The Fed itself isn’t so sure, but Brandywine believes it’s approaching the problem from the wrong end. “Last year if you recommended a 60/40 portfolio for 2023 you would have looked like a genius, and that was a fairly… [Read More…]

Almost six months after filing docs on its beta-grade KiwiSaver scheme, Sharesies has opened the folder on the real deal with the first multi-rate PIE self-select equities offering in the market. As widely expected, phase two of the new KiwiSaver scheme launch taps into the Sharesies share-trading game that has attracted some 500,000 players since… [Read More…]

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) head of investment management, Nick Combs, has left the regulator after eight years in various positions. Combs, previously serving in senior adviser roles for the FMA supervision division, took up the investment job in 2021. He helped develop the ‘value-for-money’ guidelines currently seeping through the retail funds management sector among… [Read More…]

Investment Services Group (ISG) subsidiary, Select Wealth Management, has reported strong growth in FNZ-hosted portfolios after going ‘platform agnostic’ last year. Historically associated with the platform formerly known as Aegis (later morphing into MMC Wealth and now Apex), Select now manages about $40 million via FNZ on behalf of financial advisers using the investment service…. [Read More…]

Wellington-originated investment platform provider, FNZ, has launched a new global distribution support business for funds management clients. In a release last month, FNZ says the newly formed Asset Management Solutions (AMS) unit would connect “the end-to-end wealth value chain by providing distribution-focused services for asset managers and personalized asset management solutions”. “This will include identifying… [Read More…]

Mosaic Financial Services Infrastructure has added another principal to its growing senior leadership team as the specialist consultancy firm gears up for more regulation-led change. Former ASB financial advice lead, Damian Lawrence, is the latest addition to the Mosaic principal list that now sits at 12 including four recent recruits from the banking sector. Along… [Read More…]