Active Super and Vision Super are now entering the home stretch of a drawn-out merger process that will create a new $29 billion fund with 170,000 member accounts.
The NZ Superannuation Fund has made half-a-dozen fresh investments over the previous few months across an eclectic range of strategies including US timber, a quant trend-follower and a life science specialist.
EY promotes from within for wealth and funds
EY has promoted Rita Da Silva as its new ‘Oceania wealth and asset management leader’, effective from this Wednesday (April 1.) She replaces Antionette Elias, who is moving to a tax leader role for EY Oceania Financial Services.
In the role, Da Silva will be responsible for leading EY teams of more than 400 wealth and asset management professionals across Australia and New Zealand as they work with clients and the industry across a broad range of services.
She has more than 30 years’ experience in financial services assurance and advisory services, particularly in the wealth and asset management sector. Based in Sydney, Rita has provided assurance, compliance and advisory services to many of Australia’s largest fund managers and leading boutique firms. She has advised clients on a wide range of critical business areas including IPO processes, acquisitions, restructures, new products, pre and post systems implementation reviews, risk framework assessments, legal entity rationalizations, capital assessments and industry benchmarking.
Graeme McKenzie, the business unit’s head, said: “I am delighted to announce Rita’s appointment as the new EY ‘Oceania Wealth and Asset Management’ leader. Her previous experience means she is well-placed to lead the teams of EY wealth and asset management professionals across Australia and New Zealand as they work with clients to address the key challenges and opportunities they face in a rapidly evolving and digitizing environment.”
She has shown a particular interest in ESG and philanthropic activities as well as the development of EY’s exchange-traded funds interests. “This is a particularly exciting time to be working in the wealth and asset management sector,” Da Silva said. “Both locally and globally, new entrants and non-traditional providers are making an impact on the market, as customers look for more innovative wealth management solutions that are tailored to meet their evolving needs. In response, traditional wealth managers are starting to re-evaluate their offerings and redefine how they provide financial advice in a way that better addresses clients’ needs and expectations. To succeed, operating and distributions models will need to be transformed.”
– G.B.
