Institutional Wealth Insights

In a number of jurisdictions, financial regulators have indicated that many investors will need to consider climate-related risks in order to comply with their existing fiduciary duties.

Investing in (and for) Our Future is a paper produced by the World Economic Forum in conjunction with Mercer. Currently, employee retirement plans have left individuals increasingly responsible for their own retirement...

In May 2019, Philip Houghton-Brown and Padraig Brown presented at the CFA Society New Zealand, a full-day forum where key industry experts gathered to discuss Alternative Finance and Alternative Investments.

Asset owners and managers are seeking to generate a single data record across the organisation, for governance, compliance, quality management and operational efficiency.

In Mercer’s 2018 Endowments and Foundations Survey, we noted that superannuation scheme trustees were required to adjust their governance practices in response to the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013...

The climate change debate has taken centre-stage, dominating discussions at every level of society, from the media to the boardroom and politics. Through the lens of the natural environment, individuals and businesses ...

In this article David Scobie, Head of Consulting at Mercer Investments, outlines the drivers behind the enthusiasm and considers some of the challenges facing cryptocurrencies as an investable asset.

Do your instincts lead you astray? In this article, David Scobie from Mercer Investments New Zealand explains how referring to past performance has its uses when selecting investment products, but can be a comfort ...

If you think your fund manager has added value, you may well be right. But as Mercer’s David Scobie explains, before reaching that conclusion, make sure you take a good look at the benchmark.

For any organisation devising a formal policy on responsible investing principles, getting the policy right and persuading all interested parties to take action is formidable enough. But an even greater challenge ...

Increasingly the discussion around the board rooms of New Zealand's blue-chip companies and heavy-hitting institutional investors is not about how to boost profits and share prices – but how to do good.

Globally, companies and institutional holders responsible for trillions of dollars of client funds are waking up to a new reality: acting and investing responsibly should be an integral part of an organisation’s overall risk management.

On the 23rd of March 2018, under the guise of national security, a 25% tariff on steel imports and a 10% tariff on aluminium imports went into effect in the United States of America, as directed by President Donald Trump.

Increasing investment complexity, cost pressures and regulatory requirements are leading institutional investors to seek new ways of devising and implementing their investment strategies.

Recently, the VIX volatility index, commonly known as the ‘fear gauge’ of Wall Street, spiked to nearly 25, although it remained well below 37, which was the level hit in February.

With the 10th anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers upon us, it is instructive to look back over the period and ask ourselves what, if anything, we have learned from living through these exceptional events. As is often the case, actual new lessons to be learned may be few, but there are some valuable older lessons to be relearned.

It’s hard to believe that no-one on Earth had a smartphone until 2007. Today, studies show we check them on average about 50 times a day.

A fundamental shift is underway for global bonds. The sector has delivered a slightly negative return for the calendar year to date*, and the medium term outlook is looking subdued with bonds facing a number of headwinds.

Profound political, economic, societal, technological and environmental transformations are occurring at an unprecedented scale and pace and have become a part of day-to-day business life.

The velocity of political and technological change is compelling organizations to strengthen their resilience against shocks and surprises.

A reasonably common, if not universal, belief is that New Zealand represents a favourable sharemarket for employing active management.

Polaroids, floppy disks, Walkmans and phone books. There is an entire generation today for whom these items are mostly alien - consigned to the past thanks to the wisdom and technology of our age. Is global inflation such a quaint relic?

Each year, Mercer produces its Periodic Table of investment returns. The Table colour-codes 16 major asset classes and ranks how each has performed, on an annual basis, over the last 10 years.

In 2011, Mercer published its first global research report on climate change and its implications for strategic asset allocation, in partnership with a number of our institutional investment clients...

Download our free Starter Kit for insights on responsible investment and to find out how Mercer's solution model and implementation framework could get your organisation started on its responsible investment journey.

Hong Kong ranks highest for cost of living among 209 prevalent destinations for globally mobile talent.

The Mercer Endowments & Foundations report comes at an interesting time for Endowments and Foundations. After a sustained period of strong investment returns, many Endowments and Foundations, particularly those with a meaningful allocation to growth assets, find themselves in a healthy financial position.

In New Zealand, despite lower than expected economic growth in Q3, 2018 has been a relatively strong year for the New Zealand economy.