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(Pictured: James Moore) Fund manager distribution models and the introduction of FOFA may present impediments to the introduction of the latest US-style retirement solutions to Australia, as well as uncertainty around future taxation of annuities, according to a paper by PIMCO. The paper, ‘Retirement Income Options: The Next Step for Australia’, looks at the worldwide challenge…

by Matthew Peter* Movie buffs will know that the full name of Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 satirical masterpiece is “Dr Strangelove or: how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.” It’s a mouthful, so it’s no wonder that most people only know it by the far shorter “Dr Strangelove.”   Compared to the threat of…

Australia led the way in the Asia Pacific region for dividend growth among listed companies in the past 12 months, according to the latest figures in the Henderson Global Dividend Index, a report from fund manager Henderson Global Investors. Australian dividends, in US-dollar terms, rose 2.4 per cent in the March quarter compared to the…

(Pictured: Rob De Dominicis) SMSFs are starting to get a similar level of sophistication at the back end of the administration systems being offered to them as the very big funds have, with the first live SuperStream messages for electronic choice contributions. Systems provider GBST and SMSF administrator Class Super announced their successful program last week….

Chris Taylor has spent more of his 25 years with State Street, where he started as a graduate fund accountant in Sydney, in either the UK or Asian offices. On his recent return to Australia to head up the firm’s Global Services and Global Markets businesses, he said he was “really struck” by the local…

(Pictured: Leeanne Turner) by Greg Bright Leeanne Turner, chief executive of the Motor Trades Association of Australia Superannuation Fund (MTAA Super), has won the 2014 Fund Executive of the Year award. While she doesn’t like to dwell on the past, the award recognizes a significant feat in turning around a fund which had previously been beset…

(Pictured: Andrew McGill) by Penny Pryor A chance encounter in London last year and a subsequent meeting of the minds has led to an alliance that will form one of the largest independent boutique incubator, or multi-affiliate, firms in the world. Treasury Group is to merge with Northern Lights Capital Group. Treasury Group shareholders will come…

(Pictured: Richard Keary) by Penny Pryor Commodities might be going through a rough spell, but with inflationary pressures increasing, investments that can act as a hedge, such as commodities, could be about to experience an upswing. An Australian-owned European manager thinks so. “Once the asset class actually picks up and produces some decent returns we are…

by Brendan Swift The $4 billion-plus Maritime Super has appointed Avoca Investment Management to oversee a small-cap mandate after the closure of Kosmos Asset Management earlier this year. Maritime first awarded a small caps mandate to Kosmos in 2009-10 however, the closure of the funds management firm this year forced the super fund to appoint…

(Pictured: Iain Perry) Iain Perry, a former research analyst at Perpetual Investments, has been appointed head of performance analytics and investment risk at Ibbotson Associates, part of the expanding Morningstar investment management division. Perry will be managing the daily allocation process for Ibbotson’s diversified portfolios, which total about $5 billion for Australian clients, reporting to chief…