(Pictured: Harry Liem) With a lot of attention being devoted to risk since the global financial crisis, Mercer has issued a reminder of the importance of modeling tools which go beyond mean-variance analysis. Harry Liem, a Mercer principal, says they should be seamlessly integrated. These increasingly advanced modeling tools include: risk factor analysis – examining…
(Pictured: Michael Winchester) State Super Financial Services, which has about A$12 billion under advice and management, has introduced an alternatives program and is looking to allocate up to $200 million across its diversified portfolios to hedge funds over the next six months. Michael Winchester, investment strategist for SSFS, told the AIMA Australia conference in Sydney…
(Pictured: Rory Wainer) In an intriguing deal, Link Group, the big private equity-controlled super fund administrator and share registry company, has bought Syncsoft, a well-regarded systems business which boasts some of Australia’s largest super funds as its clients. The deal is expected to be announced today (Monday). Syncsoft’s 80-or-so staff have been told of the…
(Pictured: Hugh Dougherty) Towers Watson is doing a global search to appoint a hedge fund expert to one of its Australian offices as part of an effort to have “a much higher level of engagement” with hedge funds on behalf of its clients, according to Hugh Dougherty, the firm’s head of manager research, Australia. Dougherty…
(Pictured: Rachel Botsman) It won’t be all good news for the super industry executives attending the SuperRatings conference and awards night in Melbourne on October 15. Rachel Botsman has some confronting views for funds and managers on the big new institutional risk of reputation. Botsman, billed as one of the world’s most sought-after speakers, says…
(Pictured: Andrew Dyson) Affiliated Managers Group should have a better view of our world than most other fund managers. It owns or has interests in 27 affiliated firms operating in either regional or global markets. And, according to Andrew Dyson, the global head of distribution, things are definitely looking up. Dyson, an executive vice president…
(Pictured: Paul Chadwick) There was some good news – the hedge fund industry is too small to pose a systemic risk – and some bad news – the prospect of a nuclear holocaust is greater than you think. But the best news was that Australia’s hedge fund industry, under the auspices of AIMA, put on…
(Pictured: Simon Ford) Simon Ford, head of alternative investments for ANZ Wealth and Private, delivered a few home truths to the faithful at the AIMA conference. He told them they needed to merge and keep merging until they got to at least $1 billion in assets under management. But in any case, 98 per cent…
(Pictured: Ken Marshman) Ken Marshman, the chair and head of investment outcomes at JANA Investment Advisers, who is due to retire from full-time consulting at the end of this month, has been awarded a major accolade as the “fifth most influential consultant in the world”. And another Australian, Frontier Advisors’ most senior investment person, Fiona…
(Pictured: David Chaplin) The first comprehensive study of the New Zealand financial advisory market demonstrates a massive concentration of ownership by AMP and four Australian banks, as AMP last week increased its lead with the purchase of another four financial planning practices. The study, “AFA Today – an Analysis of New Zealand’s Investment Adviser Market”,…
