KiwiSaver

Allspring Global Investments has launched an expansion into Australia and New Zealand led by new regional chief executive, Andy Sowerby. If history is a guide, the rollout of institutional funds management capabilities will be rapid. Sowerby, like Joe Sullivan, Allspring’s chairman and CEO, hails from Legg Mason, where he was the Melbourne-based regional head prior…

Sir Michael Cullen, the political force behind the establishment of NZ Super and the KiwiSaver scheme, has died at 76 after a battle with cancer. The NZ Labour politician, deputy prime minister and finance minister, will likely be remembered more widely for his liberal views, including legalised euthanasia, and generosity of spirit towards the less…

Imminent climate disclosure obligations could dent fund manager profits by up to 1 per cent while increasing retail manager fees as much as 2.2 per cent, according to an NZ Government report. Analysis by New Zealand’s Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) was released along with the final select committee report on the Financial…

Aon has put its KiwiSaver and employer master trust schemes on the block, according to industry sources. It is understood Aon has circulated an investment memorandum seeking interest in the group’s two schemes, which collectively manage about $920 million split between the $730 million KiwiSaver and $190 million master trust. The move represents the first…

BNZ, NAB’s NZ subsidiary, has appointed State Street Global Advisors to replace Vanguard as its core international assets index manager among a raft of investment mandate changes. In disclosure documents filed last week (May 19), BNZ named SSGA to take over passive management duties from Vanguard in global equities and fixed income covering its KiwiSaver…

ANZ, ASB, AMP, Fisher and Mercer have all been dumped as the KiwiSaver default schemes following the latest government review. In a release last Friday (May 14), NZ Finance Minister, Grant Robertson, confirmed the default provider numbers would shrink to six with two new players – Smartshares and Simplicity – joining incumbents Westpac, BNZ, Booster…

In a highly unusual move, the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) has cracked down on fund managers advertising post-COVID boom-time annual returns. The regulator has warned managers that advertising any “phenomenal” returns garnered over the 12 months to March 31 could “mislead investors”. Global share markets bounced back spectacularly from the brief COVID-induced shock early last…

Investors should increase allocations to active management strategies against an increasingly uncertain global backdrop, according to a new Willis Towers Watson (WTW) report. It is a “cyclically fertile ground for alpha”. The WTW analysis, ‘Outlook 2021’, says “skilled active management offers growing value for money” as a number of factors converge to add risk to…

Interim Mercer NZ chief investment officer, Ronan McCabe, has been upgraded to permanent following a long recruitment process to replace, Philip Houghton-Brown. The Sydney-based McCabe stepped into the breach last September when Houghton-Brown departed for the head of investment solutions role at BT Funds. Post the official internal promotion, he continues to hold his previous…

Northern Trust has won another passive global equities gig with a bank-owned KiwiSaver fund following a mandate reshuffle at the Westpac scheme in New Zealand. Australia’s Ninety One was also a winner in the reshuffle. Along with several other changes, Northern Trust picked up a spot among six managers on the Westpac/BT international equities panel,…