Announcing the winners in the annual Research IP Fund Manager of the Year Awards held on 16 November.
Congratulations to the team at Smartshares, taking out this year’s coveted Fund Manager of the Year 2022 Award.
Since the 2016 FundSource Awards, Smartshares have consistently been shortlisted, finalists and winners in several sector category awards, and now the Longevity award and Fund Manager of the Year. Fund Managers raised a lot of comments around the persistency of inflation and interest rate hikes, in a volatile year that saw central banks move from quantitative easing to quantitative tightening. There are many questions on where to next. Of note, there are a lot of investment professionals who have not seen times like these. When all is said and done, be it country or market cap specific, Smartshares has shown passive investing has a place in portfolios. For financial advisers and investors, you need to be in the right place to capture that performance. That is the million dollar question!
About the Awards
The Research IP Fund Manager of the Year Awards are based on one-year returns and several additional factors to ensure the winners and funds shortlisted in each category were not “one-hit wonders”. The Research IP Awards start with a whole of market approach across all investment styles including active, passive, smart beta. This includes regional, country specific, and thematic investments. There is no prefiltering applied to restrict each asset class. Every shortlisted fund, finalist and winner is based on merit.
“Research IP is cognisant that investors may choose a fund because it is award winning but wants to acknowledge outstanding performance in the last 12 months. Through our rigorous process, we want to ensure the best managers are awarded each year”, said Research IP managing director Darren Howlin.
The Responsible Investment category continues to highlight the progress funds management is making as New Zealand becomes the first country to take the plunge into mandatory TCFD reporting, helping to lead the charge on decarbonisation by 2050. The differences between fund managers are narrow, but Harbour Asset Management showed how non-financial factors can be relevant to investing, taking out the Responsible Investment award for 2022. TCFD is new, and governments and regulators are upping the ante. With this in mind, Research IP believes it is increasingly important to capture additional information outside typical quantitative datasets as a sanity check. That has led to developing the RIPPL Effect Reports, where multiple aspects of fees and responsible investing characteristics are captured.
The Adviser Choice awards continue to prove popular, with advisers choosing Milford Asset Management for equities, Kernel Wealth for property & infrastructure, Fisher Funds Management for fixed interest and Generate Investment Management in the KiwiSaver category. Howlin said “Making these awards inclusive is core to our beliefs. The voice of many makes a difference. The market may have different views to us that should be respected which has led to the Investor Choice award, with votes coming right through to the deadline and beyond. Congratulations to Generate Investment Management for taking out the inaugural Investor Choice Award for 2022”.
A special mention also to the Fund Manager of the Year finalists. 2022 has seen the rise of the Australian fund managers building a footprint in New Zealand. Removing the currency effect has been front of mind in managing these Awards. For the first time since 2016 currency has been a factor. Every shortlisted, finalist, or sector winner was there on merit. Each of the shortlisted managers, finalists and sector winners should be very proud of their achievement across the categories.
Consistency across sectors, being there or there abouts, is important. Consistency of performance over not just one year but three years, makes a difference in who made it through to the shortlisted funds in more than one category. These awards aim to shine a light on strong efficacy and persistency of performance across sectors for clients to invest in with confidence.
The KiwiSaver space is highly competitive and growing. Pathfinder has had strong performance across its diversified KiwiSaver Funds over the last twelve months, and over three years. A key point for KiwiSaver Scheme of the Year is risk management. That is, not taking excessive risk for the fund’s risk profile compared to peers.
Boutique Fund Manager of the Year had more participants, largely due to the change in markets post January 2022. We feel this is an important part of the market to recognise, not everyone is big and has a large product suite. Congratulations to QuayStreet Asset Management for taking out the title this year, and to the finalists, last year’s winner Salt and Octagon for their strong client focused outcomes.
The Longevity Award highlights the strong risk-adjusted return over the longer term. Global equities was a focus point, but lift the bonnet and it is different, with a broad mix of sustainable, country specific and broad exposure to global equities across the shortlist. Longevity does highlight the strength of the US and its safe haven status when risk is on. Congratulations to Smartshares US 500 for delivering results for investors over the longer term.
“We look forward to the 2023 Awards, which will be a very interesting lens as the inflation and interest rate cycle will potentially become clearer.” Howlin said.
All the award winners and finalists are available at https://research-ip.com/awards/ and https://research-ip.com/awards/fmoy-awards-2022/.
Announcing the Winners and Finalists
Fund Manager of the Year
- Harbour Asset Management
- Perpetual Asset Management
- Smartshares – WINNER
KiwiSaver Scheme of the Year
- Fisher Funds TWO KiwiSaver Scheme
- Milford KiwiSaver Plan
- Pathfinder KiwiSaver Plan – WINNER
Boutique Fund Manager of the Year
- Clarity Funds Management
- Octagon Asset Management
- QuayStreet Asset Management – WINNER
- Salt Funds Management
Longevity Award
- BetaShares Global Sustainability Leaders
- Nikko AM Global Shares
- Smartshares US 500 – WINNER
Responsible Investment Manager of the Year
- Alphinity Investment Management
- BT Funds Management (NZ)
- Harbour Asset Management – WINNER
- Pathfinder Asset Management
Choice Awards
Adviser Choice – Equities
- Milford Asset Management – WINNER
Adviser Choice – Fixed Income
- Fisher Funds Management – WINNER
Adviser Choice – Property and Infrastructure
- Kernel Wealth – WINNER
Adviser Choice – KiwiSaver
- Generate Investment Management – WINNER
Investor Choice
- Generate Investment Management – WINNER
Sector Winners and Finalists
Global Fixed Interest Fund of the Year
- Bentham Global Income NZD – WINNER
- Daintree Core Income Trust
- Fisher Income
Australasian Fixed Interest Fund of the Year
- Clarity Fixed Income
- Harbour Enhanced Cash – WINNER
- QuayStreet Fixed Interest
Global Property & Infrastructure Fund of the Year
- ClearBridge RARE Infrastructure Value Unhedged – WINNER
- Fisher Property & Infrastructure
- Maple-Brown Abbott Global Listed Infrastructure
Australasian Property Fund of the Year
- Alceon Australian Property – WINNER
- Octagon Listed Property
- Smartshares Aus Property
Alternatives Fund of the Year
- Janus Henderson Global Natural Resources
- Salt Carbon – WINNER
- Salt Long Short
Global Equities Fund of the Year
- BetaShares S&P 500 Equal Weight
- QuayStreet International Equity
- Smartshares US 500 – WINNER
Australian Equities Fund of the Year
- Airlie Australian Share
- Perpetual Smaller Companies
- Smartshares Australian Top 20 – WINNER
Australasian Equities Fund of the Year
- Clarity TAHITO Te Tai o Rehua
- Devon Alpha – WINNER
- Harbour Australasian Equity Income
New Zealand Equities Fund of the Year
- Nikko AM Core Equity
- Octagon New Zealand Equities – WINNER
- QuayStreet New Zealand Equity
Diversified Fund of the Year
- Milford Australian Absolute Growth PIE
- Perpetual Diversified Real Return – WINNER
- Schroder Real Return
Congratulations to all the award winners, finalists, and fund managers shortlisted for the 2022 Awards.
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