Westpac has swapped out two global share managers in the latest investment tweak to its KiwiSaver and retail fund suite.
Under the changes implemented last month, MFS and Ardevora have made way for Schroder Investment Management (Australia) and Mirova in the Westpac international equities multi-manager panel.
The Boston-based growth manager, MFS, and UK firm, Ardevora, have been long-time incumbents on the Westpac menu, surviving a 2017 cull when the Australian bank-owned group shifted from pooled funds to mandate structures for global shares.
Ardevora, which specialises in fundamental stock-picking boosted by academic research into ‘cognitive psychology’, also won a mandate from the Government Superannuation Fund in 2020 while the better-known MFS has numerous NZ clients, notably as one of the four underlying international equities managers used by ANZ.
Like MFS, Schroder is a relatively high-profile brand among NZ institutional investors but Mirova is a more recent arrival on these shores, winning a spot on the Harbour Asset Management Sustainable Impact Fund in 2021.
Founded in Paris in 2012, Mirova reported about US$32.6 billion as at the end of June this year. The sustainable equities specialist is part of the French multi-affiliate firm, Natixis.
Aside from Schroder and Mirova, Westpac has retained active managers Ninety One (Australia) and T Rowe Price on global share duties along with a factor mandate run by Northern Trust Asset Management and a Legal & General indexed portfolio.
Other managers remain in situ across the Westpac range including the in-house BT Funds for local cash/fixed income assets as well as Devon, Harbour and Salt (Australasian equities), Principal Global Investors (global listed property) and international bond managers, Colchester, RBC (formerly known as BlueBay) and Wellington.
As at the end of March this year, the Westpac KiwiSaver scheme reported more than $9.6 billion under management, of which about $2.4 billion is invested in global shares.
The bank’s retail fund range – which follows a similar investment strategy to the KiwiSaver scheme – held just over $1 billion in total including $273 million in international equities at March 31.
Overall, BT Funds manages more than $15 billion on behalf of Westpac.
Former Mercer NZ CIO, Philip Houghton-Brown, joined the Westpac fund house BT as head of investment solutions in 2020. Houghton-Brown also served as CIO of ANZ Investments precursor entity, OnePath, before starting a shift at Mercer in 2012.
He said in a statement that the latest BT/Westpac manager renovation followed “a recent review, and we look forward to working with Schroders and Mirova to continue delivering strong results”.
“We regularly review our portfolio of investment managers and work with a variety of managers to ensure we provide our customers with great value, deliver consistent performance and support our commitment to sustainable investment.”