The Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) has for the first time, taken out the FundSource Fund Manager of the Year Awards and has also taken out the top award for international shares and was runner up in international bonds.
The award, given by research house FundSource (formerly IPAC), acknowledges the work BNZ has been doing behind the scenes building and improving its business, plus the fact that it is a value manager, as the awards are basically judged on past performance.
BNZ Investment and Insurance general manager Rodger Murphy says there is no one thing the bank has done in the past year which earned it the award, rather it is the culmination of a number of initiatives.
These include refining its funds to make sure they consistently appeared in the top two quartiles, tightening up its risk management and improving distribution.
BNZ beat last year’s winner, BT Funds Management into second place overall and Tower Asset Management, another value manager, came in third.
BT’s placing may come as a surprise, considering all the problems its Australian parent has encountered over the past year. However, BT New Zealand has kept all its key staff and also has delivered excellent fund performance with its New Zealand share, diversified and international bond funds.
For instance, its New Zealand share fund was runner up this year and its diversified growth fund won its category.
BT chief executive Craig Stobo says doing well in the awards is pleasing as the income assets have been outperformers in the past year, and BT is regarded as an equity house. He says BT in New Zealand has experienced positive funds flow over the year.
