Investment News

NZ fund managers may be given a right-of-reply to ‘ethical’ judgments promulgated on the Mindful Money website following a fiery meeting last week between the business founder and an industry body. In a joint statement, Boutique Investment Group (BIG) chair, Simon Haines, and Mindful Money founder, Barry Coates, said the two parties had agreed to… [Read More…]

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) plans to issue an interim updated index get-out clause for licensed managed funds ahead of a more “fulsome” investigation into the bespoke benchmark rules. In a new consultation the FMA flags a one-year extension of the current index exemption available to certain managed funds pending the outcome of a detailed… [Read More…]

Both KiwiSaver financial hardship claims and contribution holiday-maker numbers crept up in the back-end of last year amid market volatility and rising inflation. According to the latest Inland Revenue Department (IRD) KiwiSaver statistics, monthly financial hardship payouts rose from an annual low of about $7.9 million in June 2022 to almost $14.5 million in December:… [Read More…]

NZ investors are slowly turning on to private debt as an alternative asset class but the pace may pick up in line with global trends, a new study suggests. The first-of-a-kind survey in NZ of almost 30 institutional investors, found private debt “is an under-utilised investment asset relative to the scope to invest” in NZ…. [Read More…]

The 2022 pan-asset market rout heralds some slightly good news for next-generation investors, according to the latest Credit Suisse Global Investment Returns Yearbook. Based on the seminal work of UK researchers, Elroy Dimson, Paul Marsh, Mike Staunton, the long-term asset class study moves the dial for expected returns for the Z Generation (born 1997 to… [Read More…]

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) investors are becoming increasingly exposed to “uncompensated” market risks, a new study by Northern Trust Asset Management (NTAM) has found. The NTAM analysis of almost 90 institutional portfolios found ESG factors accounted for only 40 per cent of ‘active risk’ in high-ESG strategies as other biases such as country, sector,… [Read More…]

There’s “ammunition for both sides” of the active/passive debate in research that shows just 2.39 per cent of stocks outperform Treasury Bills. But active managers will be buoyed by findings that fundamentals really do matter. “When I was compiling this I almost didn’t write it up,” Hendrik ‘Hank’ Bessembinder, a finance professor at Arizona University,… [Read More…]

FNZ is recruiting for a new NZ chief with incumbent boss, James McDonnell, to return to a new sales-based role at the Wellington-based investment platform provider. McDonnell, currently on extended leave, took over as head of the local FNZ business in September 2020 from Charlie Trotter. UK-based FNZ Group head of senior appointments, Philip Quellyn-Roberts,… [Read More…]

Russell Investments NZ has called for a complete overhaul of the default KiwiSaver system that has left members exposed to unacceptable variance in returns and unaccounted-for risks. In a follow-up paper to its recent critique of local benchmarking practices, the new Russell report notes that default KiwiSaver “member interests have not (yet) been well-served by… [Read More…]

The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has moved to limit ‘fair conduct’ border disputes between institutions and third-party distributors in new draft guidance released last week. Banks, insurers and non-bank deposit-takers must ensure product sales through external intermediaries comply with fair conduct programs (FCPs) to be established under the Financial Markets (Conduct of Institutions) Amendment Act,… [Read More…]