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(pictured: Jose Minaya) This may not be a big trend – given that it represents a survey of two firms only – but if it is, remember where you heard it first. Two large global managers of unlisted assets have moved to combine their asset class business units at the very top of the management of…

(pictured: Adriaan Ryder) Maybe insiders were not surprised and, maybe, we should have seen it coming, but the announcement by QIC last Thursday that its long-standing chief investment officer, Adriaan Ryder, had resigned to join an unnamed “major middle eastern” sovereign fund, at least surprised the market. The decision follows the appointment last year of…

(pictured: Kent Kwan) Not since the development of ETFs has there been a potential disruptor in funds management like this. A group of international equities managers has launched a performance-fee-only plus pay-for-research series of funds, with full transparency of holdings and with administrator Fundhost’s first all-electronic application and redemption process. The firm, Atlas Trend, has designed…

(pictured: Heather Brilliant)  Morningstar has tested the standard ‘4 per cent rule’ of how much an investor needs in retirement for Australia and New Zealand and found that in the Antipodes expectations are “probably a bit too high”. And the local share market is more volatile, requiring a lower bottom end of the drawdown range…

By Andy Schofield* Global megatrends are reshaping the world economic order. Rapid economic growth in emerging countries is leading to mass urbanisation in cities across Asia, Africa and South America. As these cities undergo a gradual transition from production to consumer industries, and increase their financial and business services, exciting opportunities will emerge for global…

(pictured: Tony Nejasmic) Calastone, which has become the major facilitator for transactions between fund managers and platforms in the past four years, doesn’t see many threats to the major platform providers from the mushrooming fintech disruptors. Calastone’s new business development director, Tony Nejasmic, said last week that the industry was witnessing the evolution of platforms and…

(pictured: Marcus Ohm)  There was an improvement in the market for small-cap IPOs in Australia in the past 12 months, perhaps reflecting the higher returns from small-caps after several years of lagging large caps, but new small listings remain below historical averages. The annual study by accounting and advisory group HLB Mann Judd, ‘IPO Watch…

(pictured: James Gruver) Global real estate manager Heitman has appointed James Gruver as managing director of global sales as part of a three-person expansion in its sales and marketing efforts. Gruver is a former head of BNY Mellon Asset Management in Australia from 2003-2009. Heitman is headquartered in Chicago but has offices throughout Europe and Asia…

Elmer Funke Kupper The ASX has selected US-based firm Digital Asset Holdings,(Digital Asset) to develop solutions for the Australian market using ‘distributed ledger technology, joining 12 other financial services companies in taking a small shareholding in the company too. ASX has paid A$14.9 million to acquire a 5 per cent equity interest in Digital Asset,…

Rachel Alembakis Just a few weeks after the last edition of the investment trade title Insto Report, Global Custodian Australia, another weekly newsletter catering for the local institutional market, has been shut down. The publisher, Asset International, which publishes the biggest magazine and online news service for asset servicing globally as well as other titles,…