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Philip Macalister
Philip Macalister
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Investments

Portfolio Talk: Fergus McDonald

Sunday 14th of February 1999

-Senior fixed interest fund manager at Royal & Sun Alliance Asset Management, Fergus McDonald, nurtures a spread of portfolios worth around $1.5 billion. However, he claims to leave the office by 5.30pm most days - "you’ve got to have a balanced life" - to enjoy a game of golf and also find time for relaxing with friends at the beach or round the barbecue. Then there’s the endless taxi-driving familiar to anyone with young children: Fergus has three, with the oldest now 11.

 

Which funds are you responsible for?
The Royal & Sun Alliance range of fixed interest and cash portfolios that we manage in New Zealand. I also look after the currency hedging of the New Zealand dollar of our international fixed interest portfolio and currency hedging of the international equity portfolio.

The financial planning network probably best knows three of our unit trusts: the New Zealand fixed interest trust (which has around $12 million), the corporate bond trust ($22 million) and the cash management trust ($4 million).

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FMA outlines its latest expectations for advisers
Paul Flood: The danger is that the 'goalposts' (regarding what is acceptable or unacceptable adviser conduct) may be susceptible to change. Our 'Principles based' legal/regulatory environment lends itself to “prevalence-induced concept change” over time, perhaps not so much in the written laws and Code, as in the interpretation of the prescribed principles.
2 days ago Steve Wright
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Just a tip, if you use more than six, six letter words in a sentence you lose most Kiwi's. So avoid client/adviser confusion when writing your post or article if you would like it read and understood. Ironically, my last sentence was not likely read.
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FMA outlines its latest expectations for advisers
All things said are great aspirational goals for a great financial advice industry, it mirrors what both the legislation and the code requires. However, like most things discussed it talks about what's expected not how it's done. The hardest aspect of financial advice today isn't what it is, it is how it is done. The how only comes from those that have done it, the how is only provided with examples. Guidance documents that spell out what's required along side how it it done. We’re still dealing with the same issues we started with in 2021, figuring out the how. And figuring out the how in every advice business is consuming resources that could easily be shortcut by the FMA demonstrating what they are expecting. It's not about “do it this way” its about this is the sorts of things we’re looking for. In the absence of standards and expectations, guesswork prevails. That represents significant risk to FAPs and the result is onerous overcooked advice processes for multiple advice operations and undercooked she’ll be right for single operators focused on getting the work done. Both approaches have potential for harm and as its been said earlier, leaves advisers open to explain they haven't been speeding with the authorities have pulled them over. The advice industry needs guidance on the how we know the what already.
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To correct errors in my previous post: "policies, templates, and controls" should read "policies, processes, systems and controls", and "is more conductive" should read "is more conducive".
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