Dyer to advise English on economics
Former head of investments for the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZS), Paul Dyer, has been hired as chief economic adviser to Bill English, deputy PM and Minister of Finance.
Tuesday, December 9th 2008, 5:33AM
by David Chaplin
According to the NZSF guidelines, the Minister Finance “may give directions to the Guardians regarding the Government's expectations as to the Fund's performance, but must not give any direction that is inconsistent with the duty to invest the Fund on a prudent, commercial basis”.
In its election campaign the National Party said it would require the NZSF to invest 40% of the fund into New Zealand, about double its current allocation.
The NZSF is also due to undergo a five-yearly review sometime in 2009.
The latest performance figures showed the NZSF had lost more than $2 billion in value since this August, with assets under management totaling just over $12 billion as at the end of October 2008.
According to the NZSF data, the fund lost 13.51% in October alone and is down 20.21% for the 2008/9 financial year to date. The NZS returns since inception have now slumped to 4.86% - 2% below the 'risk-free rate of return' over the period.
Dyer was most recently serving in an advisory role with the Accident Compensation Commission (ACC) investment team under Nicholas Bagnall. He joined the ACC in the middle of 2008 after being sacked by NZS as chief investment officer following a restructure.
The ACC fund lost 0.8% in the year to the end of June 2008, according to its annual report, against a benchmark return for the period of -1.7%. The loss, its first ever, equated to a decline in value of the ACC portfolio of about $1.6 million versus budgeted returns of $766 million.
However, the ACC fund grew from $9.2 billion to $9.6 billion after direct transfers from surplus levies.
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