While the West will continue to inch towards recovery, thanks to the US, but with some further setbacks in Europe, and the East will deliver slower growth, the investing world’s economic backdrop is likely to mean much lower beta market returns in the immediate future, according to speakers at the Russell Investments conference in Sydney…
Benjamin Graham is generally considered to be the father of value investing, following his work during the 1930s. He was also the father of quality investing. Quality investing, however, is a little more difficult to describe and is not one of the generally accepted investment styles measured and analyzed by institutional investors. Jamie Nicol, one…
The biggest decision fiduciary investors, especially those in Australia, usually have to make – and cannot not make – is about currency. With the A$ having remained away from fair value for a long time until its recent decline, the currency decision is and should be at the top of investors’ to-do list. In February,…
Comment by Greg Bright People of a certain age tend to overstate recent change and look fondly on a fuzzy past of seemingly greater consistency. So, maybe it’s just me approaching retirement age but it looks like there is a generational change happening at the top of superannuation and funds management. While attempting not to pass…
Who has been the most successful funds manager, in terms of building a business, that Australia has produced? The late Robert Maple-Brown? Kerr Neilson? Chris Cuffe? Mike Crivelli? Perhaps John Wilson should be considered. Here are Wilson’s credentials after he announced last week that he was leaving PIMCO. In 1997, having left the old Bankers…
Funds management is a tough business. Tribeca Investment Partners has decided to do away with a specialist sales and marketing position. Jim Savage, who joined the boutique equities firm in 2005 and was a shareholder, left last week. David Aylward, the managing director, said that associate company Grant Samuel, which owns about 40 per cent…
JP Morgan and Credit Suisse have both closed down much of their transition management businesses internationally, but JP Morgan confirmed Friday that its Australian business was unaffected by the offshore moves. According to the newsletter ‘aiCIO’, Credit Suisse has quietly closed at least part of its transitions business, but declined to comment on the matter….
Michael Block, the former general manager of investments at FuturePlus and, before that, Workcover NSW, has accepted the position of chief investment officer for Papua New Guinea’s main pension fund, Nambawan Super Ltd. Block expects to take up the position, based in Port Moresby, towards the end of June. Block left FuturePlus Financial Services, which…
In a cautionary tale for super funds going down the member-directed investments path, a US academic has produced a paper, based on court filings and other independent pensions research, which is highly critical of large investment menus being afforded by corporate-sponsored savings plans. Mercer E Bullard, a professor of law at the University of Mississippi,…
Mercer has launched an Australian shares fund which highlights the benefits of tax-aware portfolio construction for various investors, especially those which don’t pay tax, such as foundations and charities. The firm published a client note on the fund, which is open for tax-exempt investors, saying: “At Mercer, we believe that tax-exempt investors have a distinct…
