News

Andrew Lill has stepped down as chief investment officer of the $86 billion Rest, bound for parts yet unknown. The fund he leaves looks very different to the one he joined.

Authorities have had enough of greenwashing excuses, and they’re lobbing record fines at transgressors. Funds will have to lift their game.

AMP will reduce the headcount across its superannuation and North platform businesses and press ahead with changes to its redundancy policies even as the Finance Sector Union warns that “staff deserve better”.

True diversification means owning assets that are truly uncorrelated. But that fact hasn’t stopped big investors from piling into the private markets while pretending that the Fed Put can protect their public portfolios.

The circa $350 billion AustralianSuper has appointed its first chief liquidity officer to drive the development and implementation of its liquidity strategy as it tries to “get ahead of the curve” of risk management across its portfolios.

Perpetual, Victor Smorgon Partners and Rixon Capital took out some of the top gongs at the Australian Alternative Investment Awards, but the big win was for those who have worked tirelessly to professionalise Australia’s hedge funds landscape.

Client alignment, investor psychology and clashing fee streams are top concerns for Leda Braga, CEO of Systematica Investments, who says that poor decision making around drawdowns is still rife in the market,

Long-term investing is not static investing. But – given a distant investment horizon and well-calibrated asset allocation – super funds don’t need to shake up the portfolio every time the world changes.

Equip Super and TelstraSuper will merge to create a $60 billion profit-to-member fund, with Northern Trust a shoo-in for its custody and fund administration needs.

The $15 billion value house Ariel Investments sees diversity as a competitive advantage at a time when “the whole conversation is being turned on its head” and active managers are under pressure to perform.

‘Once-in-a-decade’ events are becoming more and more common, but avoiding them altogether is just one way of protecting portfolios. ART is building new capabilities to absorb their impact – and come back from them even stronger.

With almost 50 per cent of its nearly $100 billion FUM now internally managed, Cbus has seen fees come down and gained more control over its ever-growing portfolio. But in hindsight it “could have pushed a bit harder”.