(Pictured: Martin Codina) A Tony Abbott victory on the weekend now means certain parts of the Future of Financial Advice reforms, which became compulsory on July 1 this year, are likely to be rolled back. The new treasurer in waiting, Joe Hockey, has made clear that his government will remove the opt-in condition, i.e. the…
By Penny Pryor All Australian funds moved up the size rankings in the latest annual survey of the world’s top 300 retirement plans, produced by publisher Pensions & Investments and consulting firm Towers Watson. Of the 15 Australian funds that appear on the list, five are in the top 100, with the Future Fund having…
(Pictured:Â Matt Christensen) There has been a strong trend to incorporate environmental, social and governance considerations in investment processes in the past 10 years. But what of the next 10 years and what are the trends within the trend? AXA Investment Managers has produced an interesting analysis. In a series of briefings, including participation at last…
On the eve of its Australian conference, the global Alternative Investment Management Association has produced a new set of policy principles in relation to the regulation of capital markets, which updates the principles announced in 2009 in response to the global financial crisis. The four main categories addressed in the new principles are: Improving investor…
(Pictured: Ron Bird) The growth and size of the financial sector in developed nations – a trend dubbed ‘financialisation’ – are the subjects of increasing interest and some concern among regulators, academics and policy makers. The issue will be dissected at next month’s annual conference of the Paul Woolley Centre at UTS in Sydney. The…
The boss of a mid-size US-based hedge fund of funds, called Common Sense Investment Management, has been caught up in a police sting on a prostitution ring. James Bisenius, the CEO and CIO of the US$2.9 billion Oregon-based manager was arrested along with eight other men on charges of patronizing prostitutes, as part of a…
(Pictured: Stewart Brentnall) ANZ Wealth’s OnePath multi-manager offering and other investment processes across its Australian, New Zealand and Asian businesses have been centralised into a single CIO function of five divisions, following the ANZ’s termination of its relationship with ING last year. At the time, Stewart Brentnall was appointed Global CIO for ANZ Wealth. The…
(Pictured: James Norman) QS Investors, the top-down global manager, has launched an Australian-domiciled emerging markets fund, as investors are taking a second look at the asset class following the recent correction. QS Investors, which already has about A$1 billion in Australasian-sourced investments, offers an alternative to fundamentals-driven stock selection in these markets. The firm concentrates…
Chris Davies, the chief operating officer at UniSuper, will step up to a CEO role and Ben Samild, the well-regarded investment manager at industry fund LUCRF is to join the Future Fund in a yet-to-be-specified capacity. Davies is set to replace the retiring Martin Crowe at the $11 billion Telstra Super after a lengthy search….
(Pictured: Amanda Field) A benefit of a low-return environment is that investors tend to put a lot more emphasis on analyzing the efficiency of their implementation actions and assessing their decision-making processes. They should do this in good times too. One of the tools which is increasingly being used in Australia and elsewhere is the…
