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(pictured: Aongus O’Gorman) Investment consultant Willis Towers Watson has downgraded its investment outlook for the year ahead and is advising clients to add some alternative assets with genuine diversification characteristics to their portfolios. Speakers at last week’s WTW Ideas Exchange in Sydney this month acknowledged that investors might be sceptical about some of the alternatives on…

(pictured: Stefan Azzopardi) Southern Cross Health Society has gone down the multi-management route for about 20 per cent of its approximately NZ$500 million (A$466 million) investment portfolio following a deal with Russell Investments. Stefan Azzopardi, Southern Cross head of finance, risk and compliance, said Russell Investments would manage about NZ$100 million (A$93 million) placed across three…

(pictured: Ian Dunbar) Small companies offering innovative fintech solutions find it very difficult dealing with big super funds, according to Ian Dunbar, Afiniation co-founder and SuiteBox Australia chief executive. He told a fintech conference organised by FIS, the global banking and payments technology company which last year acquired SunGard, in Sydney last week that small companies…

(pictured: Eric Sorensen) Objectives-based investing will shape funds management in future, especially with individual investors, who will continue to pay for manager insights but not so much for systematic strategies, according to Matt Olsen, the chief executive of Lonsec Research. Olsen spoke last week at a briefing on ‘The Future of Funds Management’ organised by Pengana…

(pictured: Keri Pratt) Women in Super NSW has provided four more scholarships to members under its arrangement with the University of NSW’s Australian Graduate School of Management, now in its second year. The scholarship program has helped boost interest in the NSW chapter of the Melbourne-based Women in Super, as well as attendance at its events….

(pictured: Nick Basile) by Greg Bright Suncorp CIO, Nick Basile, will retire from his position at the end of June and is looking to pursue a small number of non-executive director roles in the industry. A search is underway for his replacement. Basile’s career in funds management spans nearly four decades and traces the modern history…

(pictured: Ian Macoun) Ian Macoun probably felt a little hard done by when he left Perennial Investment Partners, of which he was one of the early directors, in 2005. Last week, when he effectively took control of the listed Wilson Group, he should feel justified in having stayed the course. Wilson shareholders should also celebrate. Macoun,…

(pictured: David Braga) The search for investment returns and the current risks in markets have replaced the former major concerns about dealing with regulatory changes and cutting costs among those involved in investments and operations at both super funds and fund managers, according to the latest annual survey by BNP Paribas Securities Services. In a sense,…

(pictured: Kathryn McDonald) In the evolution of investment management, the lines between active and passive are becoming blurred. Indices no longer reflect “the market”, or not many of them do. Investors should be aware of the implications. Kathryn McDonald, director of investment strategy at AXA Rosenberg Investment management, gave an interesting series of presentations in Australia…

(pictured: Wylie Tolette) It may be three times bigger than Australia’s largest super fund, but there are still lessons to be learned from its investment and operational strategies by big Australian investors. Here’s why, and how, CalPERS has cut its manager roster by more than 25 per cent. The US$302 billion Californian public sector fund, which…