-
4 days ago | 
investmentnews.co.nz | David Chaplin
Fisher Funds has moved closer to rationalising its triple-headed KiwiSaver suite with structural tweaks at two of the firm’s previously acquired schemes. Under changes introduced at the end of March, the Fisher KiwiSaver Plan (ex Kiwi Wealth) now shares the same formal management entity as the group’s flagship scheme and a more similar investment menu.
-
4 days ago | 
investmentnews.co.nz | David Chaplin
Under-the-radar NZ global equities boutique, Elevation Capital, is set to embark on a retail distribution and product expansion as the owners of online trading platform, BlackBull Markets, enter the share register. Eden Bradfield, BlackBull head of research and newly minted Elevation co portfolio manager, said the group expected to find a ready retail client base among his more than 9,000-strong newsletter audience.
-
4 days ago | 
investmentnews.co.nz | David Chaplin
Investors using online trading apps with a high level of built-in digital ‘engagement’ tricks tend to suffer significantly more losses than peers on less hectic platforms, a new UK study reveals. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) analysis of more than 176,000 online trading accounts across multiple online platforms over a seven-month period found a clear correlation between apps featuring high ‘digital engagement practices’ – or DEPs – and poor consumer outcomes.
-
4 days ago | 
investmentnews.co.nz | David Chaplin
In a pact designed to break the private-public markets barrier, three of the largest US asset managers revealed plans last week to build institutional-grade multi-asset portfolios for everyday investors. The news comes amid a private markets goldrush that has seen many investment firms mobilising to meet demand now spilling over from institutions down to retail investors.
-
4 days ago | 
investmentnews.co.nz | David Chaplin
The NZ financial advice sector is on the cusp of a generational change as market dynamics, technology and consumer trends advance the once-cottage industry onto a slick, modern business footing, according to a new Strategi paper. Adapting a stack of global research for the local sector, the Strategi ‘Next gen advice: future-proofing your business for 2030’ report says advisory firms set to “thrive in 2030 will look very different from those operating today”.
-
4 days ago | 
investmentnews.co.nz | David Chaplin
A new Bank of International Settlements (BIS) paper has called for “tailored regulatory interventions” along with a new prudential framework to manage emergent systemic risks in the crypto and decentralised finance (DeFI) worlds. The just-published report argues that while DeFI and crypto have primarily served as speculative vehicles, the blockchain-based markets have become increasingly entangled with traditional finance even though links to real world economies remain “very limited”.
-
4 days ago | 
investmentnews.co.nz | David Chaplin
Australian fund distribution group, GSFM, is eyeing up further opportunities in NZ after debuting this side of the Tasman with the roll-out of the Munro Partners climate-focused global shares fund this month. Munro, one of nine managers on the GSFM distribution menu, launched the international equities strategy as a wholesale portfolio investment entity (PIE) earlier in April under the aegis of Adminis and seeded by KiwiSaver scheme, Aurora Capital.
-
1 week ago | 
scl.org | David Chaplin
Chinese courts take a different approach to the issue of AI generating copyright protected images, the DLA Piper team reports. On 7 March 2025, the Changshu People’s Court (in China’s Jiangsu province) announced that it had recently concluded a case on the topical issue of whether AI-generated works can be protected by copyright. In the case, a plaintiff surnamed Lin used the AI tool Midjourney to create an image, and then Photoshop to further refine it.
-
1 week ago | 
investmentnews.co.nz | David Chaplin
FirstCape will ditch the iconic Jarden brand for its NZ wealth management network after a decision to combine the advisory group under the JBWere banner. In a release today, the joint Jarden-JBWere chief, Craig Patrick, said the single name would come into play “over the coming months”. Jarden and JBWere fell under the FirstCape conglomerate last May with a formal merger of the groups always a likely outcome despite differences in style and history.
-
1 week ago | 
businessdesk.co.nz | David Chaplin |Cameron Bagrie |Tina Schirr |Pattrick Smellie
Every year, the much-anticipated Mercer's annual "Periodic Table" of investment returns reveals a different plot with the same perennial ending.In the latest edition released last week, for example, David Scobie, Mercer New Zealand principal, wraps up the investment lessons of calendar year 2024 as below:“The unpredictability of capital markets over the short term is a feature that tests investors repeatedly and resonates as we experience the heightened volatility of early 2025.
