(Pictured: Margo Lydon) Mental illness claims against super funds and their insurers are on the way up, according to Margo Lydon, putting additional cost pressure on funds, employers and other stakeholders on top of the human and societal costs. Lydon, the chief executive of SuperFriend, was speaking ahead of the organisation’s second annual symposium on…
(Pictured: Lawrence Au) The Asia ‘funds passport’ has taken an important step towards becoming reality with the signing of an agreement, amounting to a form of trial, by the finance ministers of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea. Critics of the scheme, who have been numerous in the past, are daring to show some…
(Pictured:Â Sue Wang) As super funds increasingly search out new defensive assets to replace a declining exposure to local and global government bonds, Mercer has reaffirmed its support for high-yield debt to complement equities allocations. While market timing may not be optimal, compared with when Mercer first started suggesting high-yield debt for current conditions early last…
By Richard Fogarty* Insurance companies have been operating in a tough market since the global financial crisis began in 2008. Investment returns have been constrained by the low interest rate environment. Global sales, meanwhile, are lagging in most regions: total real premiums fell in three of the four years between 2007 and 2011 and in…
(Pictured: Daniel Birch) Foreign exchange transactions represent, perhaps, the final challenge for pension funds around the world as they look to improve efficiencies in the implementation of investment strategies. And from all accounts, it’s worth the effort to study the common practices in this market. A lot of money can be saved … or wasted….
(Pictured: Robin Burns) Equity Trustees (EQT) has outsourced about A$2.5 billion of custody and administration to State Street under its year-old “Project Foundation” management strategy. While senior management at EQT could have been forgiven for being distracted from the management plan due to the recent battle to acquire Trust Company, the deal streamlines the remaining…
(Pictured: Nathan MacPhee) After a tumultuous year for Australia’s super funds, with the implementation of regulatory changes across a broad spectrum of their activities and with continued market uncertainties, the finalists in the SuperRatings Fund of the Year Awards should be well satisfied. The finalists are… Â Super of the Year Finalists: AustralianSuper CareSuper Catholic Super…
(Pictured: Fred Ingham) The global hedge fund industry, which has over the past few years reduced its reliance on the high net worth market by appealing more to institutional investors, looks like going through another transformation as funds gain new exposure to the advised retail sector. In Australia, global manager Neuberger Berman (NB) has developed…
(Pictured: Roger Urwin) You might expect Roger Urwin to say that big pension funds should put more time and effort into their governance. The global head of investment content for Towers Watson has devoted much of his recent career to studying fund governance. Supporting his views, he presented a case study last week of three…
(Pictured: Carl Hess) If four of the major themes driving world economic growth play out, super funds will be looking to express that in their asset allocations and portfolio construction. For Towers Watson, this means: reduced home country bias, overweight emerging markets and incorporating thematic views both within and across the equities portfolios. At its…
