Investment News

Another top-level vacancy has opened up at ANZ Investments with the departure of head of investment governance, John Denz. Denz exited the $30 billion plus bank-owned funds management group earlier in March for to take up the chapter lead investment role at Resolution Life NZ – the company now housing the former AMP life insurance… [Read More…]

The NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) is keeping a close watch on potential portfolio spillover effects from the ongoing stress in global financial markets triggered by the collapse of the US Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). NZS owned about $10 million of SVB stock in its passive international equities funds and had about $250,000 exposure to the… [Read More…]

Another UK recruit has landed a senior role at just weeks after the regulator named Daniel Trinder as executive director strategy and design. Peter Taylor joins the FMA from the UK Business Banking Resolution Service (BBRS) in April as specialist supervision director. Taylor was a colleague of current FMA chief, Samantha Barrass, both at the… [Read More…]

Originally built on a network of direct clients, Milford Asset Management switched to multi-channel distribution since entering its retail phase in 2007. For example, the manager boasts an in-house financial advisory force (licensed under the Milford Private Wealth entity) of 33, ranking it among the upper mid-tier wealth managers in NZ. And while Milford famously… [Read More…]

Implemented Investment Solutions (IIS) has rebranded its fund-hosting service under a brand used by new parent company, Apex Group. As of last week, the IIS hosting business name has changed to FundRock NZ, echoing the label attached to the Luxembourg-founded firm bought by Apex in 2021. Apex picked up IIS, including the direct-to-consumer platform InvestNow,… [Read More…]

Harbour Asset Management has expanded carbon-counting to cover its local fixed income products via a bespoke metric including a proxy estimate of NZ government emissions exposure. In a paper published last week, Harbour senior credit analyst, Simon Pannett, notes that the majority of diversified investors tend to exclude fixed income assets from carbon measurements due… [Read More…]

Bonds and alternatives will likely provide the best portfolio ballast amid stormy perma-crisis conditions, BlackRock chief, Larry Fink, told investors in his annual letter last week. Fink says with inflation likely to settle in the 3.5-4 per cent range for years, sustained higher interest rates and geopolitical “fragmentation”, investors will have to adapt portfolio settings…. [Read More…]

The Australian regulator has pinged another big-name fund manager over breaches of new product-marketing rules. In an order issued last week, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) put a stop on retail sales of three funds (collectively holding some A$4.2 billion) offered by Advance Asset Management, the multi-manager unit of the Westpac Australia-owned BT… [Read More…]

Macquarie wrapped up the transfer of 23 funds, comprising about $2.6 billion to Mercer NZ last week as the residue of AMP Capital NZ reached its final resting place. Under the deal originally brokered in Australia last year, Mercer NZ took over management of the funds from Macquarie Asset Management NZ (MAM), which had absorbed… [Read More…]

Digital-only index player, Kernel Funds, is on track to break the billion-dollar barrier this year following a surge of interest in a soon-to-launch climate change-focused offshore equities strategy, according to co-founder, Dean Anderson. Anderson said Kernel had secured almost $300 million from various wholesale sources ahead of the planned April 3 opening of the Global… [Read More…]