Vanguard has picked up about NZ$150 million (A$143 million) in a new global equities mandate as the game of passive pass-the-parcel plays on in the NZ bank-owned KiwiSaver market. The latest index switch has seen ANZ swap out BlackRock for Vanguard as underlying manager for its KiwiSaver default fund international shares allocation. As reported previously,…
The NZ Society of Actuaries (NZSA) proposed retirement income ‘rules of thumb’ would need universal buy-in from industry, government and regulators to succeed, according to the launch report released last Thursday in a session hosted in Parliament by newly-appointed Commerce Minister, Jacqui Dean. “We note that it would be confusing to retirees if they were…
by Greg Bright We haven’t seen this development in Australia as yet, but it looks like it’s finally coming. Willis Towers Watson is morphing into a fund manager, just as its main global competitors have done. And it is going to try to do it as a seamless offering along a spectrum of services for…
Sunsuper is about to pick up its third-straight new big super fund client, the $2 billion Bluescope Steel Super corporate fund, which had been outsourced to Total Risk Management and Russell Investments. The deal, expected to be announced this week, follows Sunsuper’s successful negotiations last year for the $1.2 billion Reserve Bank of Australia staff…
AIA, group insurer for some of Australia’s largest super funds, is having considerable success by taking an holistic approach to mental and physical wellbeing designed to focus on prevention, knowledge and awareness, as well as rehabilitation. The insurer, which has worked with various mental health organisations for many years, including the not-for-profit-fund-backed SuperFriend, recently launched…
Non-financial factors are likely to be integrated into the investment research and portfolio construction processes of institutional investors for “pretty much everybody” over the next five-to-10 years, according to Jens Peers, an expert on the subject. But, for Australian funds, too, there is still a way to go. Australian super funds rightly pride themselves on…
Tactical Global Management (TGM) has recently celebrated its 20-year anniversary, marking a milestone in Australian-born global macro funds management. Founder, Peter Higgs, has also recentlly been diverisfying his brief into the world of ESG-orientated impact investing. Launched in 1997, TGM commenced operations in Brisbane as a specialised tactical asset allocation management firm. It has subsequently…
In a first for sustainability, the UN-backed PRI organisation has linked with the Alternative Investment Management Association to launch next week an international standard questionnaire to aid investors doing their due diligence on alternatives managers. The launch of the standard questionnaire, taking place in London on May 11, aims to: “Improve transparency around ESG factors…
Westpac’s KiwiSaver fund in New Zealand has dropped Vanguard as global equities manager for its default offering in the first phase of an across-the-board ethical cleansing at its investment management division. The change, executed in December by Westpac subsidiary BT Funds Management NZ, saw the AMP Capital international equity index fund take over the global…
‘Cultural fit’ was both the biggest employee issue and recruitment challenge for asset owners and fund managers, according to a survey by HR consultancy RiskWise Professionals and recruitment firm Super Recruiters. The survey, of 30 senior management at funds and service providers, undertaken in January and February, showed that employers were also concerned about ‘too…
