by Greg Bright It never rains but it pours. John Streur, the president and chief executive of US specialist ESG manager Calvert Research and Management, based in Washington, was scheduled to speak at three gatherings in Australia two weeks ago. They were all cancelled. His message is still clear, though. And it is about the…
Managed accounts allow financial planners to become ‘more professional’, according to Toby Potter, the chair of IMAP. They now represent almost 10 per cent of all the wholesale/retail money on platforms. They have now eclipsed ETFs in assets under management after a 28 per cent rise last year. Not that the two are mutually exclusive….
Warakirri Asset Management has appointed Joe Marassa to the newly created position of head of ‘marketing and product’. Based in Sydney, this role will report to Jim McKay, Melbourne-based managing director. In this role, Marassa will lead the marketing, product and digital strategy for Warakirri as well as being part of the leadership team. He…
EY has promoted Rita Da Silva as its new ‘Oceania wealth and asset management leader’, effective from this Wednesday (April 1.) She replaces Antionette Elias, who is moving to a tax leader role for EY Oceania Financial Services. In the role, Da Silva will be responsible for leading EY teams of more than 400 wealth…
by Justin Hale and Joseph Grenny* These days it’s hard to get people to pay attention in any meeting, but when people aren’t in the same room, it can be especially difficult. And it’s particularly annoying when you make a nine-minute argument, pause for an expected reaction, and get: “I’m not sure I followed you”,…
by Greg Bright In 2008, with the global financial crisis gathering pace, a handful of countries, including Australia, banned short selling. This was later admitted by regulators, such as the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the UK’s former FSA, to have been a mistake. Hedge fund managers, and a few other groups, were at the…
J.P. Morgan, Australia’s largest securities services firm, has told several of its direct sub-custody clients that they need to look elsewhere for another provider. The biggest of these, Clearstream, is already going to tender. This doesn’t happen too often, but it happens, and reflects the intricate nature of the asset servicing business. J.P. Morgan Securities…
It’s not about the catastrophes themselves, which are bad in all respects, including for the insurance companies. It’s about how certain specialist fund managers enable their client super funds to trade in the risks and provide an enhanced bond-like yield. The specialist fund managers buy underlying investments which have nothing to do – uncorrelated –…
The world’s biggest venture capital managers did more deals last year, but their average value was lower than the year before, a report from GlobalData says. The report indicates a “more cautious approach by the managers”. Six of the top 10 global venture capital (VC) investors showcased year-on-year (YoY) growth in the number of investments,…
Some of the world’s largest and most influential investors are increasing the pressure on the world’s largest social media companies to do more to prevent “objectionable” content spreading across their platforms in the wake of the March 15, 2019, terrorist attack in Christchurch, New Zealand. Following the attack, more than 100 global investors representing about…
