Analysis

KPMG believes $50 billion is about the minimum size for an APRA-regulated fund when the dust settles. Helen Rowell, the retiring deputy chair of APRA, believes it should be $30 billion. The figures were bandied about at the CMSF conference where mergers were discussed in some detail. Leeanne Turner, who has just been through one…

Demand for specialist transition services is on the rise as institutional investors focus on containing the upfront and hidden costs of firing fund managers, according to a new Mercer study. Authored by Mercer NZ head of consulting, David Scobie, the report says institutions need to carefully consider the bottom-line expenses and risks of sacking underlying…

There is growing concern about the relevance of broad market indices, especially due to their poor reflection of China’s growth. The main concern should probably be managers who hug them. Whether or not it’s the index producers to blame, or managers who are not as active as they claim, an interesting angle on what is…

Big investors are increasingly looking to make a difference with their commitments towards a net zero carbon target. They don’t have to raise direct equity capital to do so. In a recent note to clients, ‘Net Zero: the role of capital markets’, global equities manager Martin Currie says there is a common misconception that without…

The Actuaries Institute has suggested three main initiatives to help address the gender gap in retirement in a study prepared to coincide with the current ‘2021 All Actuaries Virtual Summit’. The report by a group of prominent actuaries and super specialists, tackles the decades-old issue of women retiring with less money than men from a…

FNZ has wrung out some relief from the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) despite losing on most counts in the latest – and almost last – round of its bid to prevent a forced sale of GBST. In a provisional report handed down mid-April, the CMA upheld its November 2020 finding that a merger…

Actuaries are looking to broaden the horizons of their profession, while cultivating innovation and entrepreneurship and also giving themselves an image boost in the process. These aims were outlined in the opening plenary session of the Actuaries Institute last week (April 27) in what must be the longest industry conference ever held. It is the…

Last year proved once again that market timing can be very profitable but an extremely difficult task to pull off, according to a new analysis of tactical asset allocation. The paper, by influential Auckland-based actuarial advisory firm Melville Jessup Weaver and authored by newly minted actuary William Nelson, found NZ share investors could have engineered…

Yarra Capital last week completed its acquisition of Nikko Asset Management’s Australian business, taking its assets under management to about $20 billion. Now the hard work begins. Branding has been decided, with Yarra Capital to remain the overall brand, Nikko’s fixed income business to be subsumed into Yarra’s and the old Tyndall Asset Management brand…

ESG investing continues to polarise institutional investors around the world, with a surprisingly large number considered ‘contrarians’ who tend to buck the trend to ESG’s adoption and integration. This is one of the outcomes from research by Nuveen, the NYSE-listed global funds management arm of big US-based TIAA (formerly TIAA-CREF), a profit-for-members financial services organisation….

While a combination of factors is driving the alternatives investment sector towards full maturity, pressure is also mounting on fund manager and investor capabilities for efficiency and governance. According to a short paper by Northern Trust’s asset servicing arm, the weight of money into alternatives leading to a broadening investor base, regulators and increasing congestion…

Value managers are hopeful that, following the second consecutive quarter of the factor’s outperformance, their world has returned to normal. Value may well be back. For the March quarter, for Australian shares, the S&P/ASX 200 value factor index was up 8.50 per cent, making a 12-month return of 42.71 per cent. The S&P/ASX 200 growth…