Global equities, machine learning mandates and trend following in cocoa markets helped NZ Super to generate 14.9 per cent for the year, but the fund just undershot its own benchmark even as it remains ahead of return expectations.
The International Monetary Fund says that super funds’ chunky allocations to illiquid assets could be a danger to markets during stress events, but there’s little evidence to support their fears of systemic risk.
Having handed its custody to State Street, Australian Ethical has selected the Charles River Investment Management Solution to automate its front and middle office processes for its entire investment portfolio.
While there’s a perception that defined benefit funds have mostly vanished from the earth, they still manage a hefty chunk of Australia’s pension savings and DC funds can learn a lot from them in their efforts to solve the retirement problem for their members
With its former CIO off to CalPERS, the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation has taken the opportunity to review its investment team structure and appoint co-CIOs.
AQR co-founder and CIO Cliff Asness talks to ISN about how social media might be making markets less efficient, the cloak and dagger world of alternative data, and why using machine learning means having to “let go of some things you cherish”.
Markets are expensive, driven by powerful forces which want to turn a 40 year bull market into the first ever 50 year one. That trend is not one to embrace, and standing in its way could put investors in dire straits, writes Jonathan Ruffer.
Megafunds are set to control trillions in member savings, but there’s still more questions than answers about the future direction and shape of the superannuation system.
Australia’s sovereign wealth fund’s prediction of a tough year for investors didn’t come to pass, but they’re not the only well-resourced manager that missed the mark. For investors, this period is a reminder that investment patterns may exist, but markets certainly aren’t beholden to them.
The Your Future, Your Super performance test is now redundant. The superannuation industry, and its regulators and policymakers, must figure out what comes next.
Varun Laijawalla from Ninety One shares insights with James Dunn from The Inside Network on what investors are suited to emerging markets.
Alex Lennard from Ruffer shares insights with Laurence Parker-Brown from The Inside Network on whether the previous strategies will continue well in a new regime.
Wenchang Ma from Ninety One shares insights with James Dunn from The Inside Network on any substitute for going out and meeting companies on the road.
Alison Shimada from Allspring Global Investments speaks to Giselle Roux from The Inside Network on responsible investing in EM.
Hostplus’ young demographics and the mandatory nature of superannuation means it gets “a free kick before every game”. But CIO Sam Sicilia says funds must keep questioning the assumptions that underpin the superannuation system and their relationship to it.
Australia’s largest homegrown asset consultant is plotting an expansion further beyond its traditional superannuation clients, while consolidation in the industry is changing the way they work.
Institutional investors have gotten more sophisticated, and so have the asset consultants they look to for advice. But as those consultants push deeper into the lucrative wealth and family office segments, can they keep product conflicts from getting in the way?
The benchmarks that are supposed to measure performance and create alignment with end investors are working against asset managers, and the industry must find new ways to demonstrate value before it’s too late, according to MFS.
