News

In the country’s biggest single investment mandate, State Street Global Advisors ended the financial year with almost NZ$8 billion (A$7.6 billion) under management for the NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS). The just-released NZS annual accounts show the State Street passive global equities mandate sat just $24 million shy of the $8 billion mark as at June…

by Greg Bright Two conflicting trends are emerging in investment management which contrast fundamental top-down research with quantitative data sourcing, analysis and management. Forget the index versus active debate, it’s looking more like politics versus big data and artificial intelligence. Quantitative analysis could be at an interesting point of its evolution. On the one hand,…

The Australian Custodial Services Association, one of only two industry bodies which can genuinely be considered to be apolitical, has embarked on a new growth path, having appointed its first chief executive for many years and drawn up a clear program of study and member engagement. Given the Royal Commission, there is no better time…

Technology may well make the distribution channels of the past, such as IFAs and other intermediaries, a thing of the past. As big fund managers have tried for many years, going direct to the retail investor is becoming increasingly viable, according to an award-winning white paper by tech services company Calastone. The paper, ‘The Digital…

Up to five private equity firms are vying for a two-thirds stake in New Zealand-domiciled investment platform business FNZ. FNZ, through a joint venture with UBS Australia, provides backoffice services for several big super fund member-directed investment options, including that of AustralianSuper, which was the first to market here. The ‘New Model Adviser’ website based…

Conference producer and specialist publisher Conexus Financial plans to launch an ‘institute’ to study retirement incomes products and strategies. The firm has advertised for someone to lead the new body, to be funded by the privately owned firm and its chief executive, Colin Tate. The job advertisement, on Seek.com, says the Conexus Institute is a…

Research Affiliates of the US, which this year opened an Australian office, has partnered with global manager and securities servicing firm BNP Paribas and a specialist governance information provider to launch its latest smart-beta strategy – ‘RAFI Diversity & Governance’. The specialist information provider, with the unlikely name ‘LeaderXXchangeSM’, is an organization that advises and…

The greenback is likely at, or near, a peak level as the economic distance between the US economy and China stabilises, a recent Brandywine Global Investment Management (BGI) client note argues. Brandywine is a global bond specialist. According to Brandywine Global, an affiliate company of Legg Mason, the US dollar has risen 7 per cent…

Willis Towers Watson has built up its consulting capabilities for operational issues for its client funds with the appointment of Greg Murphy as ‘manager, product and operations’. He was, most recently, a divisional director at Macquarie. Murphy has responsibility for managing the operational aspects of delegated client portfolios, reporting to Aongus O’Gorman, the head of…

by Greg Bright* The saga surrounding the demise of van Eyk Research and its one-time controlling shareholder, Pyne Gould Corporation, and their associated suppliers and investors, such as Macquarie Bank, two big New Zealand fiduciaries, and fund manager Aurora has played out in a three-year court case in the Cayman Islands. The 366-page judgement was…

With just some hints in its interim report – some stronger than others – as to what its recommendations may be, the Royal Commission into banking, insurance and superannuation will next focus on bank oversight at its November hearings. This will prompt the whole industry to discuss the likely options and the challenges and opportunities…

Fund managers are increasingly talking about their use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, big data and distributed ledger technology (blockchain) to transform their businesses and subsequently their value-add to big super funds. The real action, though, is happening at the securities services end of the food chain. Securities services companies, which are mainly very big…