Pictured: Fiona Reynolds Six large European pension funds, led by Denmark’s national fund, ATP, have criticized the governance of United Nations’ PRI organization, and have said they will “remain outside the organization until it again lives up to basic requirements for good corporate governance”. Fiona Reynolds, the former chief executive of AIST, who moved to…
About 30 per cent of investors who use a financial advisor are at risk of leaving their current advisor, according to a report by research firm CoreData. Most of the ‘at risk’ clients had little or no recent contact with their advisors. The report was based on a survey of 1,525 advised and unadvised consumers…
Market movements and investor flows drove the Australian managed funds industry up $36.10 billion during the September quarter, according to Morningstar research. Total assets under management rose above the $1.0 trillion mark for the first time, settling at $1.02 trillion at September 30. Morningstar says the driving force behind much of this growth was positive…
Piers Bolger … ‘you need both an investment and a moral compass’ Piers Bolger, the head of research and strategy at BT Financial Group, says you need both an investment and a moral compass to capture the opportunities from market cycles. And after more than 20 years as an investment specialist, he has seen a…
(Pictured:Â David Murray) Comment by Greg Bright Widespread disquiet within the broad superannuation and funds management industry over David Murray’s appointment to chair the Inquiry into the Financial System threatens to spoil the process and question the findings before it even begins. At the moment, the disappointment is being expressed primarily through the usual grumbling mechanisms…
(Pictured: Ian Irvine) The ASX Managed Funds Service – formerly known as AQUA II – is almost completed and awaiting regulatory approval for a launch in the new year. The 64 initial providers, including REs, managers, unit registries and administrators, have been told to be ready to go in the first quarter, which is earlier…
Australasian Wealth Investments has confirmed the purchase of a second managed funds purchase and advice portal, agreeing to pay up to $12.5 million for YourShare, a small business based in the NSW southern highlands. The deal was foreshadowed in a presentation coinciding with AWI’s annual general meeting last month, at which was decided to turn…
(Pictured:Â Jane Ambachtsheer) It is often said that performance, in the form of investment returns, is difficult to predict, but costs are not. Yet investors continue to leave money on the table due to “friction costs”, according to a recent paper by Mercer. The paper, “Behaving Like an Owner: Plugging Investment Chain Leakages”, splits the frictions…
By Rob Prugue* When I read the piece [last week’s edition of Investor Strategy News] advising investors to “beware” of high dividends and payouts, I wanted to see if there was a ‘comment’ section underneath as I wanted to challenge such a view. (Investor Strategy News does not have ‘comment’ sections under individual reports but…
(Pictured:Â Rick Lacaille) The predictions for next year have started. Aided by a media which is still required to fill columns no matter what is happening, or not happening, fund managers and others are about to embark on their annual market forecasts. The Sunday papers are particularly fond of these predictions, most popularly asking various high-profile…
