Frontier Advisors is putting its new information technology system to good use with a special reporting service for funds to comply with ASIC’s revised ‘RG 97’. In a new study Frontier has presented the challenges for big super funds, noting disparities between for-profit and not-for-profit fund reporting. One thing is certain: compliance costs are about…
With her promotion to Manager, Operational Consulting, at JANA Investment Advisers recently, Jo Leaper is testament to two trends: the increasing importance of investment operations strategies and processes and the expansion of the big consulting firm’s governance advisory capabilities. Leaper, a former custodian with NAB Asset Servicing (NAS), has tended to focus on operational issues…
It is no surprise to Anthony Serhan, who has been studying the differences between pre-tax and after-tax management and reporting in the industry dating back more than 15 years, that there is currently a surge in interest by investors across the board. Serhan, a managing director and head of research strategy for Morningstar in Asia…
The soon-to-be-renamed former Goldman Sachs Asset Management Australian equities and bonds business has recruited a senior investment operations executive from VFMC as its new chief operating officer. Brett Davidson left VFMC after 10 years there as chief operating officer (COO) to join the Goldman Sachs Asset Management team in Melbourne last week. The ex-Goldmans team…
In a surprise decision, Mercer has won the bidding for Pillar Administration for a similarly surprising low headline price of $35 million, pipping the frontrunner for the deal, Link Group. The sale process was not a happy one for the NSW Government. Mercer, which has an estimated market share of just 2 per cent under…
By Matthew Lee Women In Super, which advocates for better retirement outcomes for women, has celebrated the stand taken by the super industry against domestic violence and for the rights of women, at the Women in Super, NSW, Christmas lunch in Sydney last Friday (December 2). The event, attended by more than 480 people from various…
By Patrick Liddy* Whistleblowers are in the news again, following the annual Sydney and Melbourne conferences of the industry association IMCA last week. This year the conferences featured Jeff Morris, the Commonwealth Bank financial advisor who alerted the world to fraudulent bevaviour at the bank, and Adele Ferguson, the Fairfax Media investigative journalist who went…
Citi has expanded its transitions and portfolio solutions capability with the appointment of Greg Woodham as a vice president. He previously ran the Goldman Sachs’ Australian transitions business, which was shuttered in August. Woodham will be responsible for the management of multi-asset class portfolio transitions, derivative overlays, currency overlays and other portfolio related solutions for…
George Vassos, a well-regarded funds management industry identity, passed away last Thursday, December 1, after a battle with cancer. He was 47. Vassos was a co-founder and the managing director of Omega Global Investors, a $3.4 billion Melbourne-based global investment boutique, which was launched at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008. The…
By Greg Bright Believe it or not, there are a few free lunches in investment management – strategies which can deliver savings that are the equivalent of no-risk alpha. The biggest of these, the longest free lunch if you will, is after-tax management. Last week investors and managers spoke out on the issue. At roundtables…
