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New Zealand’s A$32 billion billion Accident Compensation Commission (ACC) fund is looking to bolster its global shares team with in-house management now accounting for about 20 per cent of the asset class. According to an ACC spokesperson, the fund plans to hire two more global equity analysts this year to join the duo of Zlatko…

The New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZS) scaled back its holdings of New Zealand equities by almost NZ$500 million (A$480 million) over the 12 months to June 30 this year, the latest annual accounts show. According to the NZS annual report, the approximately $30 billion fund held close to NZ$1.5 billion in NZ equities as at…

(pictured: Chris McGibbon) Institutional investors are boosting their allocations to property and other ‘real’ assets in the face of low and even negative yields, TH Real Estate told a media roundtable last Friday. The roundtable featured country heads from TH Real Estate’s UK, US and Australian businesses, as well as its global head of debt, Jack…

(pictured: Andrew Formica and Rob Adams)  The Henderson Group and Janus Capital Group proposed merger announced late yesterday will make for a company with a better global reach managing a combined US$322 billion. Henderson’s Pan Asia executive chair, Rob Adams, will become head of Asia Pacific in the combined operation. The US-headquartered Janus has US$195…

(pictured: Ian Martin) By Greg Bright State Street has re-joined the positions of head of Global Services and Global Markets in Australia and New Zealand, making Paul Khoury, the most senior person dedicated to custody, redundant in a restructure affecting responsibilities throughout the region. Khoury was promoted to head of Global Services for Australia and New…

(pictured: Lou Mairuri) The term ‘big data’ may be old hat but the revolution which it tried to describe appears to have, if anything, reached a fever pitch. All industries are digitalising, not the least being finance and investments. In the investment world as the revolution plays out there are already many casualties and there…

(pictured: Mark Lazberger) Members of the CFA societies of Australia, with their genesis in the CFA Society of Sydney in 1996, come together tomorrow (October 5) with an adventurous evening of thought provocation. The original ‘Hypotheticals’ presenter, Geoffrey Robertson, returns to Australia for the occasion with an expected audience of 350. Robertson, the London-based QC…

(pictured: Andrew Guilfoyle) Willis Towers Watson (WTW) has adopted a dual approach to long-term asset return modelling for super funds and other clients which offers investors differing views of the future based on either the ‘new normal’ or ‘traditional’ assumptions. The strategic shift will see WTW publish its ‘alternative’ asset pricing model – established for…

(pictured: Claire Braund) In a stinging rebuke of the Federal Government’s reworked ‘BoardLinks’ program, Claire Braund, one of the founders of Women on Boards and respected gender diversity advocate, said last week the new program had “all the hallmarks of exclusivity and elitism” that people had been working so hard to remove. The relaunch of…

(pictured: David Chaplin) The KiwiSaver market has passed NZ$34 billion ($A32.3 billion) in total assets, making it the largest pool of retail money in New Zealand and representing more than half the country’s population as members. But the number of providers is shrinking. The annual study by Investment News NZ publisher David Chaplin shows, however,…

(pictured: Tristan Baldwin) by John Kavanagh* Block trades have a significant mitigating effect on stock price volatility in the minutes leading up to the execution of a large share transaction, according to new research. Block trade specialist Liquidnet analysed its trading activity during the first half of the year and found that stock price volatility…

(pictured: John Peterson) John Peterson, former fund manager and asset consultant, has presented a forceful case to the Productivity Commission inquiry into the efficiency of the superannuation system backing the argument that an extreme focus on costs is to the detriment of super fund members. MySuper comes in for a particular serve. The director of the…