Ouch...that hurts

Wednesday, January 25th 2006, 8:17PM

Ouch….The NZ Superannuation Fund has hurt AMP Capital again.

The story today about AMP's CIO Tore Hayward leaving to join his predecessor Paul Dyer at the NZ Superannuation Fund reinforces a couple of things.

Investment management is about people above all else.

Often people are distracted by things like numbers and performance. But it is people at the end of the day which deliver the results.

The people in the investment management side of the industry also tend to display team characteristics. Dyer and Hayward have worked together before and it is my assumption that they got on well as a team and are happy to again be working together again.

(This team thing seems to be a strong characteristic in the funds management game. My other recent piece of evidence for this observation is the defection of all Colonial First State's property management team to a competitor).

When key people change there can be a major impact of the fund(s) they are involved with.

Managers know this. That is why they stick so much spin on the departure of key people. The standard line is that it's a team thing at their firm these days and there are lots of disciplines and processes, so it's just a matter of the next person stepping up to the plate.

A bit like cannon fodder.

I am starting to question some of these comments now, for the simple reason I have seen evidence (not with regards to Hayward's departure) that suggests these people stepping up to the plate have not actually got the depth of experience suggested in the spin.
Like it or not there are stars in this game and they are hard to replace.

While the official comments are comforting to customers, the real thing which is needed is evidence that the firm/fund can still perform.
In AMP Capital's case it is fair to observe it probably has the size and depth to cover the departure of its CIO - but that's not a chair anyone would want to leave vacant for long.

On a far more distressing note, AMP Capital normally holds a media lunch after the end of each quarter (which is always worth attending) led by the CIO. Will there be a lunch this month? If so, who will front it? It would be terrible miss a free feed!

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