Willis Towers Watson has embarked on an ambitious program, which it is calling the ‘Asset Management Exchange’ (AMX), to take out a layer of costs by reducing duplication of non-value-add services provided by fund managers and other service providers. The exchange was discussed at an event organized by the Thinking Ahead Institute, which is a…
Peter Ryan-Kane, the high-profile Australian head of ‘portfolio advisory’ for Willis Towers Watson, based in Hong Kong, has left the firm and is considering either setting up his own shop or joining another asset consultancy. Ryan-Kane said he wanted to remain in Hong Kong, where he has been for about 15 years, including since 2009…
Peter Lambert, the chief executive of NSW’s Local Government Super (LGSS Pty Ltd), has left the fund after a period of extended leave. A search is on for a replacement. Lambert joined the fund in 2007 and led it through a topsy-turvy time, which included amalgamating Local Government Super with Energy Industries Super, and also…
Big investors are lifting their exposures to risk assets but a lot of them – about half – think they will also have to reduce their return expectations going forward, according to the latest survey of institutional investors by the multi-affiliate manager Natixis Global Asset Management. The survey, conducted late last year by the Sydney-based research…
Brandywine Global Investment Management should know a lot about the Australian institutional market, for which it manages about US$4.4 billion. Big super funds are worried about China and they’re worried about currency. But things are looking up. On a regular visit to Australia, Tad Fetter, Brandywine director and head of business development and client service…
by David Chaplin A new study has found backing just average active global equity funds managers can pay off – but only for institutional investors. According to the just-published research, co-authored by Russell Investments Asia-Pacific senior investment strategist, Graham Harman, the 143 global equity funds in the study sample outperformed their benchmark on average by…
By John Kavanagh Superannuation fund trustees, investment managers, securities dealers and registry services have been put on notice that the New Payments Platform, which goes live later this year, has the potential for far-reaching impact on their businesses. The NPP was launched in 2013 by a consortium of financial institutions, with the aim of developing…
A ‘lower-for-longer’ environment, as it has come to be known, has prompted various responses from big investors, including going out the risk curve. Increasingly popular, though, is the use of single-manager multi-asset strategies. Multi-asset funds can incorporate non-market directional strategies which can provide an absolute return and/or downside protection. In the case of Insight Investments’…
by Greg Bright Investment managers have forever been looking for new models with which to work. And, according to John Goetz, there is an unlimited number of factors which can go to make up those models. But models can’t do everything. The New York-based managing principal and co-CIO of global value manager Pzena Investment Management…
Big super funds tend to take comfort in the knowledge their international fund managers and global custodians will satisfy requirements in relation to new European regulations – and there are a lot of them – without too much fuss or flow-on costs. But MiFID II may hit home more directly than they think. And some…
