News Round Up: August 1

Devon wins NZ Super fund mandate; Aussie advisers exempt from FAA; GSF gets largely positive review;

Monday, August 1st 2011, 7:12AM 1 Comment

The NZ Superannutaion Fund have selected Devon Funds Management to manage an active New Zealand equities mandate (which includes latitude to invest in Australian equities).

Devon is not talking publicly about its appointment but is reported to be "very happy to have been selected by (NZSF) following extensive due diligence of our investment processes and systems."

Aussie advisers exempt from FAA

Australian-regulated financial advisers will be exempt from the new financial services regulatory regime until 30 June 2013 so that they can continue to service their New Zealand-based clients while long-term arrangements for mutual "trans-Tasman" recognition are developed.

The Financial Advisers (Australian Licensees) Exemption Notice 2011 came into force on 1 July 2011. It exempts Australian licensees and their "specified representatives" from certain key provisions of the Financial Advisers Act 2008 and the Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008.

The exemption should be available for many Australian licensees.

GSF gets largely positive review

The Government Superannuation Fund Authority (GSFA) has come through its latest five-yearly review with a "largely positive" report card.

The Government Superannuation Fund (GSF) manages superannuation entitlements for about 68,000 current and former civil servants and has about $3.3 billion in funds under management making it the government's second biggest investment pool after ACC.

The reviewers found the GSFA meets best practice in all essential areas, has effective board and management oversight, appropriate policies and practices, strong risk management and effective decision making.

They said it could do better in some ares including the level of information provided to the GSFA board on investments.

« Two adviser bodies, two funding proposals for FAA

KiwiSaver mismatch a 'huge challenge' for advisers »

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Comments from our readers

On 1 August 2011 at 9:58 am BTW said:

This article is a bit of a simplification. AU advisors are only "exempt" if they meet a number of conditions, two of which require registering under the FSPA and with a DRSP. Another condition is that they cannot solicit NZ retail clients. In other words, they're not at all exempt from the "financial services regulatory regime".