Meredith Brooks … ‘I have to say, genuinely creative fund managers are very rare’ On the surface it seems like an odd mix of professional interests: investment management and the arts. There are massive differences, of course, but there are also similarities, according to Meredith Brooks, who has excelled in both environments. She spoke with…
(Pictured: Stephanie Weston) Stephanie Weston, the director of investment management of AMP Financial Services who oversaw about A$90 billion in assets, left the firm last Friday because of the review of her 17-person team which will now be either abandoned or integrated into the investment teams at the associated AMP Capital Investors. Weston, a former…
(Pictured: Andrew Lill) Morningstar is looking to better integrate its investment management group, Ibbotson Associates, in the Asia Pacific region and globally, with the appointment last month of Andrew Lill, the respected former asset consultant, as CIO for Asia Pacific. This will allow Daniel Needham, who was promoted in May last year to global Morningstar…
(Pictured: Tim Martin) What are alternatives these days? And do they need to fit into their own “bucket”? What is the future for portfolio construction as big super funds grow very big? Tim Martin, head of alternative assets at Tyndall Asset Management, presented some interesting observations last week. He said, at the 10th annual press…
(Pictured: Ross Bernays) The proposed merger between Health Industry Plan and Prime Super, which has been under discussion for at least three months, will result in a more sustainable and competitive fund of $2.4 billion and 150,000 members. Under the announcement last week, HIP members will transfer under the ‘successor fund transfer’ on May 1,…
Investors who have enjoyed the rewards from two strong years of equities performance may now be thinking it’s time to lock in the gains. How do you do that? Towers Watson says options should be used more extensively. In its annual ‘Global Investment Matters’ series of articles published last week, Towers Watson says investors who…
(Pictured: Chris Clayton) BT Investment Management has filled the role of head of sales and marketing, vacated last year by Martin Franc, with the recruitment of the similarly experienced Chris Clayton from National Australia Bank. The move was announced last Friday, together with the recruitment of Hayden King from FuturePlus as chief operating officer. Clayton…
Jack Gray, academic, fund manager and usually polite stirrer, this month addressed the board of America’s largest pension fund, CalPERS, in Monterey, California, on “Risk Inflation”. He spoke to Greg Bright about that presentation, his investment beliefs and a potentially better world for financial services. Like most US public sector funds, the US$280 billion CalPERS…
(Pictured:Â David Carruthers) Active Australian equities managers added more value last year than they have for nearly 25 years, according to the latest survey results from Mercer Investments. David Carruthers, a principal and global product manager at Mercer, said: “Not only did 2013 mark the second calendar year [in a row] of +20 per cent returns,…
(Pictured:Â Doug Hodge) Doug Hodge, a 24-year PIMCO veteran who has spent a lot of time in Australia and the Asia Pacific region, has become the new chief executive of the world’s largest bond manager. He has already participated in video links with other PIMCO executives around the world, including Australia, following the shock resignation last…
