Whineray takes the reins at NZ Super

New Zealand Super has appointed Matt Whineray chief executive, a role he’s been acting in since March.

Whineray joined the organisation 10 years ago as general manager of private markets; since 2014, he has been chief investment officer of the Guardians, the Crown entity charged with managing the investment of the NZ$38 billion NZ Super ($26.3 billion).

Whineray replaces Adrian Orr, the fund’s long-time chief executive who last year became the new governor of the Reserve Bank New Zealand.

NZ Super chair Catherine Savage says Whineray was the stand-out amid a high-quality field of international applicants.

“He has been instrumental in the Guardians’ successes over the last decade and is recognised globally as a leader in institutional investment,” Savage says. “The board has the utmost confidence in his leadership ability, intelligence and integrity.

“The board looks forward to seeing the NZ Super Fund continue to exemplify investment best practice and create value for taxpayers.”

Sponsored Content

In accepting the top role at NZ Super, Whineray thanked the board for its confidence in him and said he was delighted to take the leadership position.

“The NZ Super Fund is one of the most exciting places to work in institutional investment globally and I am looking forward to the challenge immensely,” Whineray says.

Whineray will take on his role in July. A new chief investment officer has not yet been announced.

NZ Super has most of its money invested internationally, with $30 billion in global markets and $5 billion in New Zealand across industries such as agriculture, farming, banking and aged care.

The fund’s one-year return was 20.7 per cent at the end of the 2017 financial year, with 4.37 per cent added above the passive reference portfolio benchmark. The fund’s 10-year return is 8.63 per cent and since inception it has returned 10.22 per cent.

For more stories on New Zealand Super click here 

Leave a Comment

Sort content by

Opportunities in Europe

Investors and academics agree that political developments in Greece are important because they may shape how financial markets will respond to future political situations in the Eurozone. But according to Olivier Rousseau, the executive director of the FFR, the French pension reserve fund, there is more hype outside of the Eurozone on the implications of

More evidence big is better in pension funds

A pension fund that has 10 times more assets under management has on average 7.67 basis points lower annual investment costs according to a working paper from authors at De Nederlansche Bank, that explores the relationship between pension fund size and investment costs. Written by Dirk Broeders, Arco van Oord and David Rijsbergen the paper

European investment plan requires public private collaboration

The two largest institutional investors in the Netherlands, PGGM and APG, have responded to the European Commission’s investment plan, urging the commission to call on institutional investors to collaborate on the investment proposal. However they also warn that institutional investors are not just a “subsidising entity” and the Juncker Plan is best executed as a

Why Andrew Ang joined Blackrock

Andrew Ang believes factor investing is a more efficient way to organise a portfolio as it allows liquid and illiquid strategies to be managed across the portfolio. It also has the added benefit of honing managers on value creation. He’s been working with a handful of investors while Professor of Finance at Columbia University on

The power of engagement

It is called the “CalPERS’ Effect” but it could easily be called the asset owner effect, or the institutional investor effect, or the power of engagement effect. Wilshire, which is a consultant to the $300 billion Californian fund CalPERS, has provided an update on its study measuring the effect of engagement on a targeted list of companies called the Focus List.

Quality factor explained by profitability: Robert Novy-Marx

Among academic classifications, and the subsequent implementation of factor investing, “quality” is one of the newer areas of investigation. Robert Novy-Marx, the Lori and Alan S. Zekelman Professor of Finance at the University of Rochester, is leading the charge on the academic justification of quality as a factor, although he has a “jaded scepticism” about

Previous