News Round Up

KiwiSaver SRI option ‘a spectacular flop’; AIG become AIA (again); Infiniti Capital makes first move into Australia; Retirement Commission rolls out new financial literacy tools for schools.

Monday, September 14th 2009, 7:16AM

KiwiSaver SRI option ‘a spectacular flop'
Council for Socially Responsible Investment chief executive Robert Howell said New Zealand's response to SRIs was too little, too late, and the "SRI option via KiwiSaver had been a spectacular flop."

Less than $5 million of government managed funds of more than $32 billion were invested responsibly, despite SRI funds outperforming their general counterparts in returns over the a three- and five-year term.

Howell also said investors needed more security and will lose faith in funds, including SRIs, that invest in finance companies.

"If the financial sector is going to regain the confidence of ordinary investors then it needs to address the medium to long term issues which it has largely ignored," Howell said. "This means moving investment away from those companies that harm the environment and society to those that are part of the solution."

AIG becomes AIA (again)
Life insurance company AIG Life has rebranded itself AIA New Zealand today.

"The name change reflects the company's position as a member of the AIA Group - a leading pan-Asia-Pacific life insurance organisation with a unique heritage of serving the world's most dynamic region for 90 years. It is one part of a wider re-branding initiative that has seen a bold, new visual identity introduced across the Asia-Pacific region," the company says.

A new website aia.co.nz has been launched which includes an online version of Outlook magazine and the one-minute Lifestyle Check - a quick self-analysis you can use to determine if your current insurance needs are being met.

Infiniti Capital taps Australian market
Infiniti Capital signed up its first Australian institutional client and has set up a shop in Sydney as the deal boosts it funds under management to more than US$1 billion. Darren Katz has been appointed as head of Infiniti's Australian business.

Infiniti Capital is a boutique asset manager which has historically specialised in emerging manager hedge fund of funds mandates. Its largest market is in Japan.

Retirement Commission rolls out new financial literacy tools for schools
The Retirement Commission rolled out some new education tools for secondary school students after a Young Enterprise Trust survey found more than half of school leavers were financially illiterate.

The tools for year 10 to year 13 students compliment the education resources released by the Education Ministry for younger students, but Commissioner Diana Crossan says more needs to be done for this older age bracket

A major concern from the survey was that many school leavers were eager to get their first credit card, but were not aware of the consequences of not keeping on top of their payments, Crossan said.

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