Remember “endowment envy”? Perhaps endowments are showing signs of “average Mercer balanced fund envy”. The latest annual survey of US endowments shows, at last, a shift away from alternatives and towards listed US and international equities. For many years, the big US endowments had consistently higher returns than their pension fund counterparts. They also led…
(Pictured:Â Tony Klim) Despite the expansion of several Australian technology companies in Europe and elsewhere in recent years, only two are ranked in the world’s top 100 tech vendors to financial services companies, according to the long-running ranking by American Banker magazine and researcher Financial Insights. Bravura Solutions, which has made the top 100 for seven…
Ian Knox… ‘I wanted to input my own sense of values’ Ian Knox surprised his friends and colleagues when he decided to launch his own business in 2004. He had had a series of senior roles at large financial services companies – Lend Lease, Westpac and St George – before linking up with Charlie Haynes…
(Pictured: Ross Barry) Ross Barry, currently a contracted consultant at Towers Watson and previously its head of alternative investments, will leave the consulting firm around Christmas to join one of its major clients, First State Super, in the new year. First State Super’s CIO, Richard Brandweiner, has been expanding his internal investment team since joining the…
(Pictured:Â Matt Olsen) Matt Olsen, the head of manager research at van Eyk Research, is moving to the retail multi-manager Select Asset Management, after a short period of ‘gardening leave’. He will be replaced by a former senior fund manager at BT Funds Management. Rob de Silva, who was head of fixed interest for Asia Pacific…
(Pictured:Â Mike Davis) Peter Sartori, the founder of Treasury Asia Asset Management (Treasury Asia), will become head of Asian equity for Nikko Asset Management, (Nikko AM) following the firm’s purchase from the Australian multi-affiliate Treasury Group. Mike Davis, the managing director of Tyndall AM (owned by Nikko AM), says the purchase enhances the Nikko range in…
(Pictured:Â Michael Baldwin) The Fund Executives Association Ltd said goodbye to its long-standing and much-loved CEO, Michael Baldwin, last week. The speakers tried to not sound like they were delivering eulogies, but it was difficult. Baldwin, who has had a private passion for the arts for many years, has become the deputy head of the National…
(Pictured:Â David Chaplin) The KiwiSaver scheme, New Zealand’s incentivised retirement savings system, has reached about NZ$17 billion (A$14.9 billion) in assets covering 2.2 million members, according to a research report by David Chaplin. But recent growth has slowed. Chaplin, a specialist journalist who this year launched a funds management research firm studying both retail and institutional…
By Tony Freeman*Â In Australia and New Zealand – markets increasingly under pressure from regulatory change, globalisation and cost-pressures – one impending development is going relatively unremarked. It is the global trend towards shorter settlement cycles. This change will have a significant impact on Australasia. Â The disparity in global settlement cycles extends across asset…
(Pictured:Â Darren Stevens) Systems providers in the financial services industry tend to be a good leading indicator of the industry’s position. If that is currently the case, the industry is in ruddy good health, according to Bravura Solutions. Darren Stevens, Bravura’s director of strategy, says that his “pipeline” of new business possibilities has doubled in the…
