The recent surge in demand for fossil fuels doesn’t mean the green energy revolution is dead. But investors need to proceed with caution lest they lose their mandate to manage the transition. There are two schools of thought on what Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means for fossil fuel production and consumption. Either it will hasten…
The appetite for risk assets is turning negative, and the world’s largest investors are scurrying away from emerging market equities and debt amidst a rising tide of woe. Few would have predicted that the initial Covid market crash – in which it was determined, once and for all, that the windows on Wall Street don’t…
The Your Future, Your Super (YFYS) test is here to stay – but CIOs are still adapting to the idiosyncrasies of their new benchmarks. “The performance test gives you an additional target,” Anna Shelley, CIO of AMP, told the ASFA Conference on Wednesday (27 April). “And you can be the best archer in the world,…
Australia’s superannuation funds are now parking member money further and further away from their old backyard. But a more divisive world presents them with challenges they’ve not faced before. It’s perhaps unsurprising that the opening of ASFA’s 2022 conference was dominated by conversations usually reserved for the war room. The rapid divestment from Russia –…
While exclusionary strategies seem to be rising in popularity, super funds should think about how to create a “just transition, not just a transition.” “Divestment should always be the last port of call, not the first port of call,” says Andrew White, director – climate risk, financial services at global consultancy Baringa Partners. “It’s critically…
Boutique global equities house Redpoint has boosted its impact investing capabilities with two key appointments from the newly-merged Australian Retirement Trust (ART). Hunter Page and Chris Parks have joined Redpoint as portfolio managers as the boutique looks to provide a “distinct investment strategy to leverage the opportunities presenting from sustainable development and the global transition…
Leading sustainable investment manager Australian Ethical has recruited a number of industry veterans for its investment committee as it enters merger talks with Christian Super. Sean Henaghan, former CIO of AMP’s Multi-Asset Group and current CIO of Aurora Capital, will join Australian Ethical’s investment committee. Also joining are Sandra McCullagh, current non-executive director (NED) of…
A “dramatic and sobering” first quarter has seen institutions re-think everything from ESG to hedge funds as the job of investing becomes harder in a more dangerous world. Recent surveys of global institutions have unearthed an increasingly gloomy outlook from our biggest investors as they scrutinise the new inflation paradigm and a more multi-polar geopolitical…
A rising tide lifts all boats – but this one is starting to recede. After the post-Covid liquidity mania, the best of the best will have a chance to prove themselves once again. The world’s stock pickers have been in a rut these last few years. A phenomenal bull market has given them little chance…
More diverse organisations have consistently outperformed those that are less diverse. But neurodiversity is still largely an unknown quantity in many of them. The term “neurodiversity” was first coined by researcher Julie Singer in the late 90s, and popularized by journalist Harvey Bloom. It holds that there is simply “a diversity of human minds and…
