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Toby Potter, the chair and one of the founders of the Institute of Managed Account Providers, probably has more experience in this growing part of the industry than anyone in Australia. He founded, just over 10 years ago, what became the recently listed Managed Accounts Ltd and  developed what is now a portfolio of more…

(Pictured: Kimon Kouryialas) Martin Currie, the Edinburgh-based global manager, is to integrate the Australian equities business of Legg Mason in a deal announced in the UK last night. The deal involves Martin Currie becoming a wholly owned affiliate of Legg Mason. Kimon Kouryialas, Martin Currie’s director of Pan Asia sales and client service, said completion of…

(Pictured: Greg Liddell) by Greg Bright Russell Investments’ consulting arm hasn’t been formally laid to rest, although the industry has been increasingly concerned about its health for several years. With the latest departure – that of Greg Liddell – maybe it’s time to say goodbye. Liddell, Russell’s managing director of Advisory Services in Australia, has resigned…

(Pictured: Andreas Faeste) Andreas Faeste, an experienced funds management marketer, has formed his own firm, Breakwater Advisory, and will represent in Australia the diversified former ING subsidiary in the US, the publicly listed Voya Investment Management. Voya has been doing business, as ING, in Australia for more than 15 years, mainly through private placements of Australian…

(Pictured: Andrew White) by Penny Pryor  The ASX’s tri-party collateral management service, ASX Collateral, has reached $500 million in balances in fixed income assets and expects that figure to reach $2 billion by the end of the month. ASX Collateral started with fixed income in July last year, in partnership with Clearstream Banking, and plans to…

(Pictured: Indy Karlekar) The adoption of a responsible property investing (RPI) strategy will reduce operating costs and increase operating income as well as asset values over the medium term, according to Indy Karlekar, the managing director, global research and strategy, for Principal Global Investors. Karlekar was in Australia last week for a CIE conference, where he…

(Pictured: Ross Bernays) Ross Bernays, the former chief executive of Health Industry Plan (HIP), which merged with Prime Super in May, has launched a funds management servicing company, Investment and Financial Services Logistics. The company will blend third-party marketing and events with placement agency offerings. Bernays said that the service aimed to support investors, fund managers…

Students of ancient history will remember leafing through text books and coming across the term ‘Pax Romana’, Latin for the Roman peace referring to the calm experienced across the Roman Empire in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Markets and economies now appear to be living through the Pax Central Banker age. The US Federal Reserve…

(Pictured: Jeff Bresnahan) Not-for-profit funds have dominated the top ranks for super fund returns in the year to June, according to figures released over the weekend by SuperRatings. Corporate fund Telstra Super had the best performing balanced, growth and Australian shares options of the top 50 funds. The median return for balanced options among super funds…

(Pictured: Adrian Stewart) After more than a year of searching and, possibly, soul searching, PIMCO last week announced two key appointments for the region – head of Asia Pacific and head of Australia. Adrian Stewart, former head of institutional business at Macquarie, is the new Australian chief, based in Sydney, and Eric Mogelof is the new…