As the era of high returns of now appears to be over, the amount investors are paying in fees is taking a higher real proportion out of investment returns, especially once tax and inflation are taken into account.

Defeated supercity mayoral candidate John Bank is taking over as executive chairman at  Huljich Wealth Management.

Former National Party leader and ex-Reserve Bank governor Don Brash, who has been with the company since it began in 2007 and acted as executive chairman at Huljich for the past seven months, is leaving the board and the company.

Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina yesterday made a takeover bid for Australian coal seam gas company, Arrow Energy, reported to be worth at least $A3.3 ($4.3) billion.

Fisher Funds described it as “another windfall” for investors, including those in its KiwiSaver scheme.

Fisher has three of its managed funds with significant shares in Arrow (the Fisher Funds KiwiSaver Scheme, the Australian Growth Fund and listed company Barramundi Limited).

A Morningstar report that gave the local managed funds industry a D- grade is no surprise but the analysis was too harsh on taxation standards, the Investment Savings and Insurance Association (ISI) says.

ISI chief executive Vance Arkinstall says tax incentives for long-term savings have been slow coming because the industry has endured “neglect” from policymakers.

“The industry can’t do anything to change that.”

But the new PIE regime with a top tax rate of 30% was a big step forward and has been popular.

A Mercer survey of fund management performance released today is grim reading, with the funds included in the research down a median 2.5% for the third quarter of the year.

The survey also found the funds had returned -7.7% for the 12 months to September 30, with balanced funds delivering negative returns for the fourth consecutive quarter.

The highest-performing manager for the quarter was ING, which recorded a return of -1.0% before tax and fees. The lowest return was from Arcus Investment Management at -5.1%.

Simon Botherway and Paul Glass are leaving Brook Asset Management, the company they founded.

The move has been widely expected in the funds management industry since Macquarie completed its buyout of the company earlier in the year.

Managing director Mark Brighouse and Chris Gaskin, who took over responsibility for managing Brook’s core portfolios in July, remain with the business.

So will senior analysts Justin Edgar and Michael Locke.