After a slow start the NZX-owned research house FundSource is set to deliver its almost-first batch of qualitative manager reports provided by Australian-based firm Research IP.
Darren Howlin, Research IP head, said he was finalising report details with a number of NZ fund managers with publication scheduled in a couple of weeks.
“We’ve been flying under the radar but there’s been a lot of work going on in the background,” Howlin said.
Last October the NZX confirmed a deal with Howlin, formerly a research director with Australian firm Lonsec, to provide reports on NZ managers.
In May 2015 the NZX dropped most of FundSource’s internal research functions after inking a deal with UK-based firm Financial Express (FE) to source qualitative fund data on mainly Australasian products.
FundSource repackaged the FE data under its ‘Investor Hub’ quant-only offering before outsourcing qualitative research on local managers to Research IP (known in Australia as mfund Research).
The NZX-owned researcher was originally planning to produce the qualitative reports by early 2016 in time for a scheduled fund manager awards event this February.
However, the reports (bar one) – and the awards – will now appear later this month, a spokesperson for the NZX confirmed.
The FundSource Awards, which skipped a year in 2015 after more than 20 years on trot, have been slated for Wednesday October 26 in Auckland, the spokesperson said.
“FundSource will publish 14 qualitative research reports following its awards. These have been commissioned by four fund managers,” the spokesperson said. “These reports will be published in addition to the existing NZAM Alpha Fund qualitative report which was released in May 2016.”
According to the research house website, FundSource has “updated the methodology used” in the 2016 awards process.
The FundSource website says the process has been designed to:
- “ensure the Awards criteria are understood by the target audience (members of the public who may use the Awards in the selection of managed funds) and,
- ensure a high level of transparency of the Awards judging process to maximise objectivity, clarity and understanding of the Awards process.”
The program would also feature three new sector awards – diversified, alternatives and longevity – bringing the total sub-categories to 10.
“There will be three overall award winners including, Fund Manager of the Year, KiwiSaver Manager of the Year, and Boutique Manager of the Year,” the spokesperson said.