Congratulations to the team at Milford Asset Management, taking out this year’s coveted Fund Manager of the Year 2023 Award.

Since the 2016 FundSource Awards, Milford has consistently been shortlisted, a finalist, and a winner in several sector category awards, and now the Australasian Equities and Fund Manager of the Year. Fund Managers have made a lot of comments around the persistency of inflation and where to for interest rates, in a volatile year that saw central banks pause from their tightening regimes. There may be further rate increases, but currently all directions up, down, sideways are all on the table. Despite the choppy and fast moving markets, Milford has hoisted the active investment flag up the pole, after Smarshares winning Fund Manager of the Year in 2022. However, Smartshares were firmly in the mix again, highlighting passive strategies continued to deliver in key market categories last year.

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.  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.

In today’s fast-paced world, where technological advancements and shifting consumer expectations are reshaping the financial landscape, innovation has become a cornerstone of success. Financial institutions and service providers continuously strive to deliver new and improved solutions that revolutionize how we manage, invest, and protect our finances.

The Innovation Award serves as a testament to the visionary individuals and organizations that have embraced this spirit of innovation, leading the way in the ever-evolving financial services sector. We recognise those who have dared to challenge the status quo, who have dared to think differently, and who have harnessed the power of technology and creativity to reshape the industry.

We made a series of high level categories available to choose from, although they were seen as more indicative than explicit. The emphasis this year has been on product innovation with a series of new funds brought to market over the past 12-15 months. We do allow a crossover beyond twelve months, as new initiative and products released close to the awards are difficult to assess.

While there is an emphasis on product, it is not only about product. To all the industry, we salute your endeavour to keep pushing forward. We highlight the efforts of the Finalists.

Over the course of the last 12 months we have seen several fund managers add to their suite of responsible or sustainable investments.

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.

Again, New Zealand is leading the charge with the ESG integration and pushing well in to environmental and social aspects of ESG, while the rest of the world is still hung up on the G.

This award recognises the manager that demonstrated a focus on the environmental aspects as it looks to push toward an industry leadership role.

As always, we will watch this space with interest.

Recognising those that burn the shoe leather in this industry.

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.

In its second year, Investor Choice 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.

Fixed income investors tend to think about “eras” – such as the era of low rates, secular stagnation, and the new normal, it’s not all about Taylor Swift tours. Honestly, is there a new era for fixed interest, one in which bonds offer significantly more value. From a total returns perspective risk management within an overall portfolio.

Last year, this was not the case, with most diversified bond funds delivering negative outcomes for clients, cash was king.

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 2022.

Asset prices have undergone significant adjustments as a result of shifts in the economy, rates and lending markets.

The global infrastructure sector is poised for substantial growth, with the market estimated to grow from USD 2.57 trillion in 2023 to USD 3.48 trillion by 2028. Only one fund showed positive performance for the year to September 2023.

The presence of one manager in the mix is pretty telling, as per Global Property and Infrastructure. Alceon, congratulations on an outstanding job for the second year in a row in the presence of lacklustre competition in this sector.

The diversity on offer in this sector is enough to whet the appetite for any investor. Private equity, natural resources, multi strategy, and a good old long short manager. We saw strong performance all round, but in a mix of global managers, the long and short of it is the lone Kiwi fund manager has risen to the occasion. Last year, it was the Salt Carbon Fund. This year, congratulations to the Salt Long Short Fund.

Global equities includes regional, country and sector specific funds. After strong gains for shares in the first half of 2023, global equities posted a negative return in Q3. With funds offering 20%+ returns for the year to September 30, this was one of the more attractive asset classes from a performance perspective.

Growth is back, but the consistency of the journey over three years has been a rocky road. It is important to highlight, while the one year performance is critical, so is the investor journey.

Neither the Wallabies or the mighty All Blacks could bring home the world cup this year. But in the Equities Bledisloe – Australia prevailed in a closely run year. The ASX 200 managing to achieve 7.2% with the NZX50 coming in at 2.1%. Despite the ASX performing strongly who did best in this sector?

December 2022 were the last listings on the NZX, being WasteCo and Black Pearl. But it is not limited to the NZX, IPO’s have been relatively flat across the globe. The latest delisting from the NZX, shortly before the September 30 cut off for this year’s awards, were Task Group, Good Spirits Hospitality and Embark Education Group. Despite this, fund managers have been able to find opportunities.

Fund against Fund, Asset Allocation against Asset Allocation, SAA against DAA. Pitting all funds from conservative to high growth to flexible asset allocations against each other. This is a real dust up of MMA proportions. We continue to hope that all diversified asset allocations have their day in the sun. 2023 was all about Growth, Growth, Growth and Growth.