The Investment Services Group (ISG) new Māori values-based fund subsidiary, Tahito, has named Angela Busby as chair.
Busby, AIA NZ chief strategy officer, is one of the leading Māori women in finance, according to Tahito founder, Temuera Hall.
Prior to joining AIA, she served as head of ASB Securities and the-then bank-owned investment platform Aegis. Busby was also instrumental in building the Māori leadership program, Whakaterehia, at ASB Securities.
Hall said in a statement that: “We look forward to Angela bringing her perspective to the work we are doing to apply ancestral Māori knowledge to benefit future generations.”
In addition to her industry and cultural knowledge, Busby is married to ISG director, Andrew Kelleher. Kelleher is principal of ISG investment and advisory firms, JMI Wealth and Select Wealth.
ISG, which also includes Devon Funds and Clarity Funds Management, launched the wholesale Tahito product earlier this year.
Since launch Tahito, which covers the Australasian equities universe, has secured about $3 million in funds under management, Hall said.
“We’re also in the running for some promising wholesale mandates,” he said.
As well as iwi funds, Hall said Tahito has found interest from the philanthropic sector (including community trusts) and institutional investors.
“Many institutions are looking for sustainable investments that make a positive impact, rather than just negative exclusions,” he said.
The fund administration, custody and structural support provided by ISG also comforts institutional investors, Hall said.
He said the Tahito process incorporates about 50 Māori values-based factors on Australasian stocks to identify companies that are “genuinely doing good”.
Currently, the portfolio holds just under 30 stocks, Hall said, generating returns of about 2 per cent above benchmark since inception.
He serves on the Tahito investment committee alongside others in the ISG family including Kelleher, Alan Lee (JMI Wealth principal), Josh Wilson (Clarity Funds chief investment officer), and Devon founder, Paul Glass.