To be eligible you need to have been a finalist or shortlisted in more than one category.

Consistently performing across the product suite and passing a range of qualitative criteria, covering corporate and investment governance, philosophy and process, portfolio construction and implementation, risk management, and (of course) fees, are the prerequisite to get onto this list.

As always, it was a very close race to the finish this year with strong performance and representation across multiple sectors by our finalists.

Retirement savings is increasingly important possibly the only investment for many Kiwis into a managed fund.

KiwiSaver continues to grow and as of December 2021 has undergone its second major restructure of the default provider process. While the growth of new KiwiSaver accounts is less critical, every little bit helps in a very competitive marketplace. Managers in this sector also play an important role in educating Kiwi’s on the value of saving and investing.

There is a funds under management link to the Boutique Fund Manager of the Year Award. At Research IP, we feel this is an important part of the market to recognise.

Our awards recognise FMOY, but we feel it is also important to recognise the managers that consistently deliver strong risk adjusted returns over the longer term.

Having run the longevity Awards since 2016, it seemed it was always going to be biased to conservative investment strategies. Last year proved that was not the case with the 2021 winner being a global equity fund. This year we have a different line up, but equities is still leveraging its longer dated performance history.

From Sandra Bullock’s line in the movie, The Net: “Our whole world is sitting there on a computer. It’s in the computer, everything: your, your DMV records, your, your social security, your credit cards, your medical records. It’s all right there”, including tonight’s Longevity Award winner.

We are working directly with our consulting clients to ensure special attention is paid to portfolio risk/return dynamics and how responsible investing may change these through time.

This award recognises the manager that demonstrates a commitment to improving and educating investors around responsible investing and its benefit to stakeholders.

We would like to acknowledge the depth and detail Harbour is bringing with its Impact Fund reporting. It is not always about investing or a new fund strategy. Sometimes it the little things that support a product.

Adviser Choice was introduced in 2019 to make Fund Manager Awards a more inclusive process. Each year the engagement grows and this year has been no exception. We’ve had some amazing engagement…let’s just say it’s been insightful.

The following managers received the most individual votes in each of the respective categories.

This is the first year of Investor Choice and it has had a spectacular take up by the investing public. Inclusion is something we at Research IP believe is important and a positive contribution to the social aspects of ESG.

Australian Unit Trust or PIE, FX has mattered this year. With a more flexible mandate, this has seen some income funds rise to the top. Despite rising interest rates of the magnitude we’ve seen, the finalists are reflective of the diversification benefits against broad market exposure.

From our interviews with fund managers through the Awards process, inflation and central banks dominate as a key risk. Interest rates have changed substantially since our last awards in December 2021.

Back to the office is largely a hybrid arrangement, some teams are fully back in the office, most are a hybrid, and a few are enjoying the lack of peak hour traffic! Online retail sales are down compared to the highs of 2020/2021. Although logistics and data centres remain key property assets. This has seen quality and location being rewarded. Compared to global infrastructure though, property continues to struggle.

Similar to global property, 2022 has not been kind. REITs in New Zealand and Australian listed property markets have been crunched. Given the strong presence of AREITs in the sector, it was interesting to see the strong representation from NZ fund managers who generated competitive performance compared to the Aussie fund managers.

From multi strategy, fund of fund, and thematic investments like water, carbon and natural resources, to hedge funds and long short strategies. It is a very broad universe and often lowly correlated to traditional assets. With the world in one of the largest and most expensive transitions in its history, Alternatives can provide diversification, different sources of alpha, or address a specific client need. But should be considered carefully within a whole of portfolio perspective.

Global equities include regional, country and sector specific funds. As well as true global equity funds, be they active, passive, widely held or concentrated. It is a truly broad church of opportunities. In a QT world growth was always going to struggle. In a barbelled 12 months, there have been some distinct winners.

A cliff diver knows there is a thud at the bottom of the dive as they enter the water. Australian equity growth managers are somewhere in their fall. Where the bottom is we do not know yet. There may be more to come. Resources have popped, led by the behemoth 12% ASX weight of BHP. Small Caps were not about to capitulate.

The ASX, despite a 9.9% decline, has had a strong year compared to the NZX, which fell by 16.1% for the year. One thing that has become increasingly noticeable is the number of Australian fund managers holding NZX only listed companies in their portfolios.

The NZX is changing as companies make decisions between the NZX and ASX and consider the benefits of dual listing. The latest delisting from the NZX, shortly before the September 30 cut off for this year’s awards, is Harmoney Corp. In some cases, it has been a little more controversial, e.g. DGL Group’s delisting from the New Zealand stock exchange because the board believed there was no benefit from remaining listed in New Zealand. There are some other views on the reasons.

As we announced in 2021, changes were made to this process, pitting all funds from conservative to high growth to flexible asset allocations against each other. Over the long term we expect all diversified asset allocations to have their day in the sun. It is now a battle of the asset allocation and focusing on the fund rather than the manager. This will highlight the changes in the market and when underlying asset classes, that is bonds or equities, are performing strongly.