Changing the behaviour and processes of a big organisation, such as a super fund, is never easy. There are usually several stakeholders involved who need to be convinced of the changes, including, arguably the most important, the humble administrator. At the PwC/Parametric roundtables on investment efficiencies last week (see separate report), Shannon Goard, the national…
Twenty years ago Sheridan Lee wandered, “aimlessly”, up and down the east coast of America calling fund managers to try to represent them in Australia. “All I lacked was a business plan and experience,” she said at her company’s big birthday bash last week. “I knew before Donald Trump did that that was a potentially…
Willis Towers Watson has recruited Sue Brake, one of the people who put together the governance structure for the launch of NZ Super and a former adviser to the IMF, in a senior consulting role based in Sydney. Brake started this month in a role which she describes as “across the board, with an emphasis…
Matt Lawler, the former chief executive of Yellow Brick Road, has joined OneVue as executive general manager of Wealth Management Services. In a passionate address to the company’s AGM Connie Mckeage outlined not only the future for the company, including Lawler’s role, but also the future for retail investment admin generally. Mckeage, the founder and…
A new analysis has debunked the assumption that low fees inevitably equate with better outcomes for investors, at least the investors in the New Zealand KiwiSaver market. Australian investors can readily be substituted. The study, released by Australian research house SuperRatings last week, found there was “often an inverse relationship between fees and investment outcomes…
After a five-year burst of portfolio realignment, sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) have slowed their pace of change, according to new research. But they continue to increase exposure to alternatives. An International Forum of Sovereign Wealth Funds (IFSWF) survey released earlier this month found the “significant shift” towards alternative assets initiated by members over the previous…
(pictured:Â Kathryn Saklatvala) bfinance, the UK-based manager search and consulting business which set up shop in Australia this year, has proposed a redefinition of the alternative beta market, which it says has expanded by 30 per cent in just the past nine months. bfinance, which provides a different business model to that of the mainstream asset…
The private equity market has not only recovered from its doldrums of 2007-2008, it is expected to struggle to satisfy investor demand over the next decade. Two-thirds of LPs plan to increase their allocations, according to the latest survey by SEI Investment Company. SEI, a big US-based fund manager, administrator and advisory group, surveyed 200…
(pictured:Â Ben Chong) The signs are there for an uptick, with two big super funds making commitments and others taking strategic positions in fintech companies, but venture capital in this country remains an after-thought compared with other unlisted assets. Notwithstanding First State Super’s $110 million and HostPlus’s $400 million, the handful of Australian-based venture firms are…
(pictured: Ulrich Braun)Â In the past few years, ESG management has taken on a holistic hue over most big fiduciary funds as an integrated part of their strategies. It is now also starting to permeate niche asset classes that the funds invest in. The latest to be offered in Australia is European property. Through its…
