ASB has swapped out First Sentier Investors for State Street Global Advisors as underlying cash manager for its KiwiSaver and retail funds in a mandate worth in excess of $1.6 billion.
New scheme documents name State Street as cash manager in an actively managed portfolio for the ASB KiwiSaver and other investment funds, replacing long-time incumbent, First Sentier.
The ASB KiwiSaver scheme alone reported more than $1.6 billion in cash as at the end of March last year.
State Street also runs several other asset classes index-style for the ASB investment house including local and offshore bonds, Australasian equities and global listed infrastructure.
First Sentier, meanwhile, has been a fixture on the ASB fund roster, retaining several mandates after the manager formerly known as Colonial First State Global Asset Management (CFSGAM) transitioned to new ownership under the Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation in 2018.
CFSGAM was previously owned by ASB parent, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
However, ASB whittled down the First Sentier influence in subsequent years with cash its sole remaining mandate until this month.
Aside from State Street, the ASB KiwiSaver and investment schemes uses BlackRock as underlying manager in several asset classes including NZ corporate bonds, global shares, emerging market equities and commodities.
In 2020, ASB hired BlackRock as well for asset consulting, currency hedging and risk management duties, significantly extending the influence of the world’s largest fund manager in the NZ market.
BlackRock also supplies similar services to both the ANZ and AMP KiwiSaver and investment funds.
ANZ and ASB rank first and second, respectively, by size in the KiwiSaver and retail funds markets.
According to Australian research house, Plan for Life, the two bank-owned investment firms managed a respective $34.7 billion and $25.2 billion in retail assets as at the end of September last year: AMP reported about $11.6 billion retail funds under management on the same date.
Earlier this year, ASB also completed the shutdown of its ill-fated Positive Impact Fund after consigning the product to the dustbin last October.
At the time, Adam Boyd, ASB executive general manager personal banking, said the decision followed poor demand for the fund and the looming closure of an underlying BlackRock-run global equities strategy.
BlackRock also managed the international bond component of the $120 million ASB Positive Impact Fund, which launched in 2019 with Mercer and Vanguard as underlying managers across international shares and global fixed income, respectively.