Paul Gardiner Link Group today (November 23) launches a smart phone super fund app, enabling members to manage their super account on what has recently become the most-used online platform. For big super funds, the pressure is now acute to have the mobile numbers and email addresses of all their members. According to evidence from…
 Seth Merrin Fund managers and their institutional clients all know about alpha losses due to market impact and other trading-related leakages but the losses are often hard to quantify. According to a study by the global trading network Liquidnet, volatility is on average 250 per cent higher for brokers and smaller dark pools. The results…
Martin Skancke The United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) organisation plans to open two new “regional hubs”, according to chair, Martin Skancke. The UNPRI will be adopting a regional structure to improve what has probably been “under-servicing” of members in some regions. Skancke told the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) conference in Auckland last…
Simon O’Connor The Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) will launch a new online tool next year to link investors with appropriate products and advisors as retail demand doubles. Simon O’Connor, RIAA chief, told the group’s NZ conference in Auckland last week that consumers were increasingly interested in ethical investing. Retail demand in Australia doubled over…
Russell Mason Not-for-profit funds will continue to lead the pre-retirement savings market in Australia over the next 20 years, but the post-retirement market will be the domain of SMSFs. And retail funds will soon overtake industry funds for total market share. These are among the important trends in the structure of the super market in…
With just days to go before the crucial vote on the US$18 billion merger of global asset consultant Towers Watson and big insurance broker Willis, doubt has been cast over the result. The two largest proxy voting firms and at least one fund manager are urging a ‘no’ vote. The vote, on November 18 (US…
K.C. Nelson Driehaus Capital, an event-driven specialist manager which has sided against the proposed Towers Watson-Willis merger (see separate report), has produced a guide to this murky asset class. The ‘event’ space has changed, Driehaus says, and big super funds should take notice. Event-related activity has boomed this year, as it did through most of…
Alice Breheny By Alice Breheny* The best commercial real estate opportunities are likely to be in cities that are poised to benefit from long-term megatrends. TH Real Estate explains how these opportunities can be identified after ranking several hundred world cities. It is not all about population growth. In real estate investing, as with all…
Philippe Jordan Capital Fund Management (CFM), the Paris-based global hedge fund manager, which has been attracting Australian institutional interest over the past seven years, will launch its first local retail offering this week, which blends six alternative beta strategies. The fund – the ‘CFM Institutional Systematic Diversified Trust’ – is being distributed by Winston Capital…
Craig Hurt There is a bit of a backlash against indexing through the use of smart beta strategies by big super funds and ETFs by individual investors, as well there should be. However, before we throw the baby out with the bathwater, investors should consider improving on the latest batch of quant-driven semi-passive options. AXA…
