Three in a row for BNZ

The Bank of New Zealand has scooped the FundSource Fund Manager of the Year Awards for an unprecedented third year in a row.

Friday, October 31st 2003, 7:09AM

However, this year the competition was particularly close, FundSource business manager Tim Anderson says.

He says the difference between BNZ, and Tower and BT Funds Management, which were placed second and third respectively, was very small this year.

Although Tower had the most category nominations BNZ pipped them for the overall award as their performance had been “more consistent”.

“The BNZ had the most consistent performance across all the four sectors used to select the fund manager of the year awards,” Anderson says.

A key issue in determining the awards this year was how managers accounted for tax assets within funds which have been created by losses. FundSource says there has been inconsistent treatment of these assets across the industry, which lead to differences in unit prices and performance. Anderson says FundSource has “tax-adjusted” returns to level the playing field.

That way all managers have been all measured on a like-for-like basis. He says if this wasn’t done “it would have left a hole in the awards process.”

A key feature of this year’s awards was the success of some of the smaller managers.

Perpetual Trust took out the top award in the mortgage sector while the Public Trust was runner up in two of the balanced fund categories.

Boutique firm Fisher Funds once again took out the top award for New Zealand shares. This latest accolade comes close on after the company celebrated its fifth anniversary, and had its unit price sitting steadily over the $2 mark.

No awards were made in the international fixed interest area as none of the funds passed FundSource’s quantitative and qualitative screens.

Fund Manager of the Year
Winner	Bank of New Zealand
1^st Runner Up	Tower Managed Funds
2^nd Runner Up	BT Funds Management
Cash
Winner	Guardian Trust Financial Services	Guardian CashPlus Fund
Runner Up	ING	ANZ FlexiCash Fund
NZ Mortgage
Winner	Perpetual Trust	Perpetual Mortgage Fund
Runner Up	Tower Managed Funds	Tower MortgagePlus Fund
NZ Property
Winner	ING	ING Property Securities Fund
Runner Up	BT Funds Management	BT NZ Property Fund
NZ Equity
Winner	Fisher Funds	Fisher Funds NZ Growth Fund
Runner Up	National Bank of New Zealand	Thoroughbred NZ Equity Growth Trust
International Equities
Winner	Tower Managed Funds	Tower GAM Global Gateway Fund
NZ Fixed Interest
Winner	Asteron	Asteron Corporate Bond Trust
Runner Up	Asteron	Asteron NZ Fixed Interest Trust
International Fixed Interest
No Award
Diversified Defensive
Winner	Tower Managed Funds	Tower Tasman Conservative Growth
Runner Up	Public Trust	Public Trust Defensive Fund
Diversified Balanced
Winner	Tower Managed Funds	Tower Tasman Balanced Growth
Runner Up	Public Trust	Public Trust Balanced Fund

Diversified Growth
Winner	BT Funds Management	BT NZ Managed Growth Fund
Runner Up	National Bank	Thoroughbred Growth Trust
Note: NZ Funds Management, who receives asset allocation and fund manager selection advice from FundSource, was not considered for the Fund Manager of the Year Award.