ANZ Investments Appoints Northern Trust

ANZ New Zealand Investments Limited (ANZ Investments) has implemented changes to its funds, which it believes will enhance the investment outcomes for clients.

Northern Trust Investments, Inc. (Northern Trust) has been appointed to replace Vanguard Investments Australia Limited (Vanguard), within the International Fixed Interest asset class, and for one of ANZ Investments’ International Equity funds.

“We have been working for some time on enhancing the investment approach for these portfolios” said Chief Investment Officer Paul Huxford. “We wanted to incorporate more active management, as well as an increased level of focus on ESG factors and climate change considerations.”

The appointment follows a review by ANZ Investments of its external fund managers for the International Fixed Interest asset class. This review took into consideration three key factors:

·     added value expectations

·     integration of ESG factors

·     climate change risk

As a result of this review Northern Trust was appointed to replace Vanguard as the external fund manager for both the ANZ Wholesale International Sovereign Fund and the ANZ Wholesale International Credit Fund.

“We believe Northern Trust stood out with a very strong sustainable investing platform and impressive factor-based investing approach” said Paul Huxford.

“ANZ Investments looks forward to partnering with Northern Trust to help our clients achieve their savings goals.”

Northern Trust is a wholly-owned subsidiary of US listed Northern Trust Corporation. Northern Trust has over US$1.0 trillion in Assets Under Management, ranking it as one of the 20 largest asset management firms globally. It works with a number of sophisticated asset owners and pension funds across the globe.

For the ANZ Wholesale International Credit Fund, Northern Trust will apply a factor-based strategy with a focus on quality, value and ESG factors.

It is committed to responsible investment, partnering with a range of ESG data providers as well as building its own proprietary ESG assessments. Northern Trust has a dedicated responsible investment team and has been a signatory to the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment since 2009.

ANZ Investments believes that in terms of implementing forward-thinking sustainable investment strategies, Northern Trust is an industry leader.

Northern Trust has also been chosen to replace Vanguard as the external fund manager for the international equities allocation within the ANZ Default KiwiSaver Scheme Conservative Fund. This is expected to add value through the application of Northern Trust’s Quality-ESG international equities strategy, which also takes into consideration ESG factors and reduces the carbon footprint of the fund. This change does not impact the international equities approach for all our other multi-asset-class funds.