AMP Capital named number one manager

AMP Capital last night was named the Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year with a strong showing across a number of asset classes.

Monday, March 2nd 2009, 11:10PM

The company took out the top prizes in fixed interest and multi-sector, was a finalist in the New Zealand equities category, and also won the inaugural KiwiSaver Fund Manager of the Year award.

"AMP Capital is one of the dominant players in the New Zealand funds management industry, and has been a runner-up for our overall award a number of times," Morningstar head of adviser and research Anthony Serhan said.

"The firm's done a great job for investors over the medium and long term, as well as during one of the worst years in memory," he said, making it "thoroughly deserving" of the overall award.

While the awards are based on performance, the KiwiSaver award also considered factors like investor communication and the providers’ website.

The other two finalists in this sector were ING and TOWER.

Serhan said the KiwiSaver category was important, as it is how many retail investors connect with fund managers.

"KiwiSaver is the public face of the industry," he said.

AMP did well on a number of factors including returns, fees and having an adequate website, he said.

The other highlight of the award was a new category for emerging fund managers. This was a battle between Mint Asset Management and Milford Asset Management with the latter being the winner.

Serhan said boutiques played an important part in the industry and in three years' time these managers could be in the running for the overall award. He said the boutiques helped to keep the big managers "honest".

Serhan said AMP Capital won the overall award as it had managed NZ fixed interest and local shares well and it avoided having anything "blow up". His comment referred to things like not getting caught out with currency, not having a big exposure to small cap stocks it couldn’t exit and avoiding the structured credit mess.

Find out more details about the Morningstar Fund Manager of the Year Awards here.

« News round-up

Sovereign takes regulation bull by the horns »

Special Offers