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(Pictured: James Gruver) The waters, in the search for alpha, have been muddied of late because of the – possibly – incompatible search for yield. Well, how about emerging markets credit? That seems to tick both boxes. James Gruver, well known to the market from his former role as head of BNY Mellon in Australia, has…

(Pictured: James Savage ) Franklin Templeton has expanded its Australian team with the recruitment of James Savage as head of institutional sales. Savage, an experienced quant-orientated manager, should add some grunt to the firm’s traditional asset management capabilities. His new role is as ‘senior manager, institutional sales’, reporting to Keri Pratt. She said the role reflected…

(Pictured: Connie Mckeage) OneVue is about to sign a “brand name” manager which will bring six managed funds to the ASX’s mFund service. It will change the perception of the market, Connie Mckeage, the OneVue chief executive, told the company’s annual meeting last week. The inaugural annual meeting of OneVue as a public company – following…

 (Pictured: Ian Perkins) BNP Paribas is looking to provide a greater array of services to its custody clients in Australia, helping fund managers, for instance, to expand their businesses internationally. Ian Perkins says there are enormous opportunities, especially in Asia. Perkins has been appointed acting head of BNP Paribas securities services in Australia and New Zealand…

QSuper has beaten its industry and retail superannuation brand counterparts in generating more member recommendations and greater member value and satisfaction, a new study has found. But, overall, the story is not good. QSuper topped the ‘Superannuation Benchmarking Study’ of the most popular super brands, conducted by Engaged Marketing. It followed a survey of more…

 (Pictured: Roger Bridges) The surprise move, the Friday before last, with the Japanese Government going to another round of quantitative easing, was not such a big surprise for Nikko Asset Management. The Tokyo-based firm was given a ‘heads up’ in September and is confident the latest initiative will prove fruitful. Roger Bridges, the Nikko head of…

(Pictured: David Neal) by Barrie Dunstan The investment management industry is, very slowly, raising its eyes from its short-termism to take on a long-term perspective. But David Neal thinks fund managers need to move faster. Otherwise, he says, those investors taking a long-term view, which are increasingly moving to internal funds management and becoming more professional,…

(Pictured: James Leplaw) Research by Eureka Report, the News Corp investor newsletter which is about to enter the SMSF platform market through a deal with OneVue, raises doubts about the sector’s future allocation to direct shares and offers hope to fund managers who have largely missed out on the rapid growth in SMSFs. In a timely…

(Pictured: Greg Cooper)   What fund managers and institutional investors are doing now, as they have done for the past 20-or-so years, has a high probability of producing a poor outcome over the next 10 years, according to Greg Cooper, the chief executive of Schroder Investment Management in Australia. He told a session on investment product…

 (Pictured: Rob Wilson) by Greg Bright Investment analysts are a quirky bunch. I’ve always thought they are a bit like journalists: inherently sceptical. So, when MFS Investment Management, the Boston-based global manager, hired its first full-time ESG specialist last year, it decided to go with someone who had a traditional analyst’s background. Rob Wilson, who was…