Australia’s direct lending market is set to take off as the big banks withdraw and investors realise the vast opportunities offered by the businesses that form the backbone of corporate Australia. “We want to grow this market, because we believe we’re offering something that’s going to be highly beneficial to investors in Australia in the…
Going it alone is never easy. But it seems that for Dr Joseph Lai, the hardest part of starting his own boutique was picking a name. One candidate was ‘Iora’ – a colourful songbird found across many of the emerging markets that Lai has spent his career investing in. But Lai and his colleagues ultimately…
Magellan will continue to spend big on ventures like upstart investment bank Barrenjoey and fintech Finclear as it diversifies away from its cornerstone global equities business. With investors continuing to question the lacklustre performance of Magellan’s global equities strategy, which has been the focus of (occasionally unfair) media attention for going on a year now,…
Liberal senator Andrew Bragg believes the Future Fund should be made Australia’s default superannuation fund. But national superannuation is a political minefield. In conversation with Simon Cowan, research director at the Centre for Independent Studies, Bragg called compulsory superannuation a “fundamentally illiberal, paternalistic policy” and said that the Australian government should “take its responsibilities more…
The sixth report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has lit a fire under fund managers – literally. The problem is figuring out what they can do about it. “In order to get to any kind of stable climate outcome, we need to reduce emissions, and we haven’t done that yet,” says Pablo…
The public facing aspects of Your Future Your Super (YFYS) risk creating a “pseudo ‘best in show’, according to new research from Deloitte. The research, titled “New ways to judge the past“, highlights a number of mostly unexamined pain points in the YFYS legislation and regulations – notably around the ATO’s YourSuper comparison tool and…
In his final speech to the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors (ACSI), Ian Silk defended the organisation against all comers. But the Morrison Government is unlikely to relent. “To be prudent stewards of capital and to act in their members’ best interests, investors must remain focused on ESG issues in their portfolios,” Ian Silk said…
Rachel Halpern has gone from corporate cop to an adviser to some of the largest super funds in the country, and brings a “forensic approach” to the risks of Australia’s sustainability boom. “The direction that investors are going in is systems level thinking,” says Rachel Halpern, JANA’s newly appointed head of sustainability. “Methods to ensure…
Alexis George, AMP’s new CEO, faces the task of returning Australia’s oldest wealth manager to its founding principles. The question is how deep the rot runs. What’s to say after nine days in the job? Not a lot. Alexis George took the reins just over a week ago and, sensibly, has not hit the ground…
Grey swan risks abound in fixed income markets, with stickier than expected inflation and fresh lockdowns posing a threat to the orthodox view of a global recovery. The great inflation debate has gripped markets as they come to terms with the implications of the massive fiscal and monetary stimulus unleashed through 2020. But while many…
