ISSUE NO. 87

25th August 2025

From the Club:

• UBS National Investment Banking Competition Winners

Opinions:

• Luxon and Seymour butt heads, but who has it right about the Social Media (Age-Restricted Users) Bill?

• Where Hollywood Meets Broadway: A Hamilton Story

• Pop Mart’s 500% Surge: From Toys to Tech-like Returns

Conversations with Alumni

• Barbara Salazar

Partner Columns:

• Forsyth Barr FOCUS: DeepSeek: A Threat to AI Optimism?

Measuring Up? New Zealand’s Standardised Testing Debate

On the 2nd July 2024, the New Zealand government announced the introduction of standardised testing in primary schools, a decision that has sparked widespread debate among educators, parents, and policymakers.

Hannah Jones 14 October 2024

A House of Cards: The History of Fletcher Building

How does a monopoly fail? The answer, as New Zealanders have discovered, lies in something as mundane as plasterboard.

Meghana Gaddam 16 September 2024

Are New Zealand’s Public Markets Worth Fighting For?

The state of New Zealand’s listed equity market was succinctly captured by a source quoted in the NBR last month. “Nobody gives a shit about the NZX.”

James Maclean 20 May 2024

13 June 2025 | Harry Pottinger-Coombes | Interview by Isabella Ho & Alice Hout

Our latest guest is Harry Pottinger-Coombes, a solicitor at a commercial law firm, King & Wood Mallesons (KWM), in Melbourne. In our interview, Harry reflected on his enriching experience at the University of Auckland, where he studied a Bachelor of Laws and Commerce, majoring in Accounting. Since then, he has been growing his skills in M&A while making time to enjoy AFL, tennis, football, and cricket games in Australia’s sporting capital.

3 June 2025 | Rishab Sethi | Interview by Devika Modak

I recently interviewed Rishab Sethi, a Director of External Investments and Partnerships and the Chair of the Investment Committee at the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZ Super Fund). Rishab graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Auckland in 2002 where he majored in Economics, Mathematics and Computer Science. I am excited to share Rishab’s thoughts and insights with Bulletin readers and I’d like to thank Rishab on behalf of the University of Auckland Investment Club for participating in this alumni series.

14th October 2024 | Andrew Meng | Interview by Isabella Ho & Yasmin Coombe

This month we spoke to Andrew Meng, an investment banking analyst at Goldman Sachs and prior Bulletin Editor. Andrew graduated from the University of Auckland in 2023 with a Bachelors of Commerce and Engineering majoring in finance, economics and mechanical engineering.

Riley Bogard-Allan Editor-in-Chief

Isabella Ho Sub-Editor

Skip Gee Senior Writer

Devika Modak Senior Writer

Daniel Gunho-Song Senior Writer

Waejen Kwan Senior Writer

Connor Petrie Senior Writer

Andy Tran Senior Writer

Yasmin Coombe Writer

Meghana Gaddam Writer

Alice Hout Writer

Yao Ming Lee Writer

Bella Crawford Writer

Sohum Karl Writer

Oliver Turnbull Writer

Lisa Shiozawa Writer

Hunter Sari Writer

Manav Treekam Writer

Annabelle Larsen Writer

Avoid the Home Market Bias

When it comes to investing, familiarity often feels like safety. But for many investors—particularly here in New Zealand—this comfort can come at a cost. Home market bias is a behavioural tendency of investors to allocate a disproportionate share of their funds to their local market. Unfortunately, this bias can quietly dent the long-term performance and resilience of a portfolio.