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(pictured: Damian Moloney) By Greg Bright Management expense ratios of super funds will increase under the latest regulator moves – ASIC’s RG97 disclosure requirements – it was generally agreed at last week’s Frontier Advisors client conference. You sometimes wonder whose side the regulators are on. In his introduction to the conference, Frontier chief executive, Damian Moloney,…

(pictured: Michael Dundon)  The separation of fund investments between accumulation assets and retirement assets has become a new topic for study by big super funds. At the Frontier conference two executives of big funds analysed this and other retirement product issues. David Carruthers, the Frontier senior consultant who led the discussion with the $13 billion…

(pictured: Milton Samios) The world of what’s known as ‘native advertising’ seems to be meeting the world of funds management head on. In the latest move, Investec Australia has bought a stake in newsletter and investment spruiker ‘Wholesale Investor’. Fund manager Investec has taken an undisclosed stake for an undisclosed amount in ‘Wholesale Investor’, a free…

(pictured: Doug Hodge) By Greg Bright PIMCO, the world’s largest bond manager, announced last week that it would retrench about 3 per cent of its staff globally. Australia has already felt the decision. PIMCO said last Thursday (AEST) that it had made 68 positions redundant and was proposing to lose a total of about 3 per…

(pictured: Graeme Mather) It’s looking a bit like a structural problem for the institutional funds management industry. Graeme Mather is leaving Mercer, it was revealed last week. He is the third head of investment consulting of Australia’s major firms to depart in recent months. Mather, who oversaw about 160 people at Mercer as head of investment…

(pictured: Paul Chadwick) AIMA Australia, the Alternative Investment Management Association, celebrates its 15th anniversary this week. A lot has changed since the Australian chapter was born in the ashes of tech wreck. For one thing, the term ‘hedge fund’ is no longer a pejorative. Paul Chadwick, the current AIMA Australia chair – only the organisation’s third…

(pictured: Paul Moghtader) By Greg Bright In the evolution of funds management, coupled with the evolution of big super funds, quantitative investing has had its own twists and turns. Post-GFC, quants are enjoying a resurgence. They are blending investment styles to achieve an outcome. Paul Moghtader , Boston-based portfolio manager and head of a nine-person quant…

(pictured: Julian Beaumont) In times of uncertainty, such as now, ‘quality’ stocks tend to do well. But everything is cyclical and what is going well at the moment is not necessarily going to go well in the future. Julian Beaumont, investment director of Bennelong Australian Equity Partners (BAEP), says that there is a long list of…

(pictured: Tristan Baldwin) Liquidnet, the institutional trading network, has launched a new suite of liquidity-seeking APAC equities algorithms (algos) designed to improve the trading performance for Australian institutional investors. Liquidnet’s “Next Gen Algos” leverage the company’s pool of institutional liquidity spanning five continents and13 billion shares per day. The suite also offers enhanced control for buy-side…

(pictured: Doug Cameron) Regulation has emerged as the number one obsession for the NZ investment industry in a new report released this week. The inaugural BNP Paribas NZ ‘Investments & Operations Outlook’ survey, produced in association with Investment News NZ, found regulatory worries outweighed more traditional business issues. According to the survey of more than 90…