News

Smaller companies have disappointed since the global financial crisis, but they have still, slightly, outperformed large companies, at least in Australia. The disappointment comes from what is expected of smaller companies in rising markets. A research note published last week by State Street Global Advisors (SSGA), poses the question: “The underperformance of the smaller companies…

So much for the Chinese taking over Australian businesses. A special report from Link Group subsidiary Orient Capital says that investments from Chinese sovereign wealth funds and other institutions in ASX 200 companies has halved in the past five years. The latest report, ‘Ownership Trends in Australia’, is an update on a more fulsome version…

The NZ government could force the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC), New Zealand’s largest institutional investor, to sell down about NZ$1 billion of fossil fuel-related investments, a parliamentary committee concluded last week. In a thinly veiled threat, the ‘Education and Workforce Committee‘ review of the ACC ethical investment policies says the NZ$45 billion (A$42 billion) fund…

by Greg Bright In an important and timely report published last week, Adviser Ratings, a research and advice firm which studies both individual financial advisors and the overall retail advice sector, has confirmed massive changes ahead. The changes will affect the whole super industry. The report, ‘Adviser Musical Chairs Report’, says that total advisor numbers…

Value is poised for a major comeback that could “generate some of the best returns in a quarter century”, according to a recent research paper by US quantitative and multi-asset shop, QMA. The study, published last month, says value stocks have been heavily beaten down over the last 18 months despite underlying fundamentals that belie…

As most psychologists will say: you should fret only about things which you can influence. For super funds and their managers, that tends to be about costs rather than revenue. The big costs are tax and implementation costs. They may be problematic, but they are at least under your control. According to a new paper…

Ausbil Investment Management has become the first Australian company to sign the landmark ‘Investor Declaration on Plastic Pollution’. The global declaration pledges to find solutions to the worldwide problem through corporate commitments, programs and policies. MÃ¥ns Carlsson-Sweeny, the head of ESG research at Ausbil, said: “This is an active engagement approach with the major users of plastic…

by Greg Bright In the rapidly developing world of class actions, involving recovery of losses by investors and other affected parties, recent trends are impacting the industry. Here are some of them. With more cases being brought before the courts, in Australia and elsewhere, Financial Recovery Technologies (FRT), a global firm which specialises in shareholder…

BGL Corporate Solutions, a leading developer of ASIC corporate compliance and SMSF administration software and systems, is “incredibly concerned” by ASIC’s ‘Are SMSFs for you?’ letter to self-managed fund trustees. In a statement last week, on October 24, Ron Lesh, BGL’s managing director, said: “The document, in our opinion, contains numerous calculation and logic errors….

It’s always a good sign when a senior funds manager retains some elements of research in his or her job, perhaps following closely a handful of companies, or a sector. This is particularly so in the world of credit and loans, both of which are hot topics. Ralph Hinckley does this so he can “keep…

by Greg Bright For the third time in the last few years a custodian bank in Australia has tried to change its technology platform with messy results. JP Morgan was the first to try to ditch its system and then back-tracked. The Australian CEO, Jane Perry, left that position shortly after. BNP Paribas was next…

REAMS Asset Management, a US-based specialist fixed income manager, has started to market its unconstrained fixed income strategies in Australia, through third-party marketing firm Introvest. The firm, which launched in 1981and is led by long-time CIO, Mark Egan, has been managing unconstrained fixed income since 1998, with an average annual return of 9.3 per cent….