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NSW Treasury Corporation, the largest not-for-profit fund in NSW and third-largest in Australia, has appointed Mercer Sentinel to advise on its securities servicing arrangements. It is arguably the biggest such tender ever in Australia. The $80 billion fund represents the backoffice amalgam for the old T-Corp, the former NSW Workcover insurance fund and the NSW…

(pictured: Peter Higgs) Tactical Global Management, the Australian-owned currency and global macro manager, which pioneered tactical asset allocation in the 1990s, has appointed a chief executive alongside executive chair Peter Higgs and is looking to redouble its marketing effort in macro-alpha strategies. Higgs, visiting Australia from his London base last week, said the firm, which has…

(pictured: David Orford and Stephen Mackley)  Financial Synergy has signed its largest-ever contract – a deal with Statewide Super – in what is also believed to be the super fund industry’s first ‘software as a managed service’ contract, for its Acurity admin system. According to Stephen Mackley, the system company’s chief executive, the deal is…

(pictured: Nigel Douglas) Global small caps tend to outperform large caps over most timeframes, but with slightly higher volatility, as most investors know. But for Australian investors, global small caps also have a distinct advantage over the domestic variety – they don’t have the same capacity problems A recent study by asset consultant Nigel Douglas, principal…

(pictured: Greg Goodsell)  Contrary to common belief, a new study has shown, listed infrastructure stocks do not necessarily behave like bonds all the time. You can still make money from them as global bond yields head north… eventually. The study, by 4 Dimensions Infrastructure, examines key aspects of the notion that listed infrastructure stocks are…

(pictured: Andrew Pickering) Australia’s ‘Mr Infrastructure’, Mike Fitzpatrick, and his colleagues at Infrastructure Capital Group, which they acquired from ANZ Bank just after the global financial crisis, have turned their eyes to Asia. With their latest raising they are garnering Asian investment into Australia. According to Andrew Pickering, ICG’s executive chairman and CIO, the investors, mostly…

(pictured: Ron Bird) Target-date funds, which proved popular in the US in recent years and are still being promoted in Australia, with mixed success, were roundly criticised by academics and some funds management practitioners at last week’s workshop organized by the Paul Woolley Centre at the University of Technology, Sydney. Professor Ron Bird, the former fund…

(pictured: Daniel Sheard) There is an increasing disconnect between the strategies adopted by the wealth management industry, and its clients, and those of the institutional part of the industry. Absolute returns strategies are a case in point, a roundtable of wealth management researchers and advisors was told last week. Institutional investors have, in the past few…

(pictured: Jerome Kemp) The world of derivatives clearing has been in transition since the global financial crisis as the number of banks and others prepared to participate has about halved. But, the 80:20 rule applies and the cleared market appears to be expanding again, according to Citi, perhaps the biggest player in the world. Jerome Kemp,…

(pictured: Ian Dunbar) The loose collaboration among participants in Australia and New Zealand’s embryonic fintech industry came together in Melbourne last week. Two dozen presenters provided an array of developing ideas, from robo-advice to blockchain technology, in front of potential investors. The event was organised by Afiniation, a group founded last year by former UBS executive…