News

by David Chaplin Google, Netflix and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway are among a group of 150 plus top US companies to miss the cut in the recently-released S&P 500 ESG (environmental, social and governance) index. S&P, which built the new ESG benchmark in cahoots with Swiss fund manager RobecoSAM, excluded Netflix and Berkshire Hathaway from the…

by Greg Bright For big profit-for-member super funds, good investment performance is a given. They have delivered for a long time. It’s the member services area which is top of mind. In the first of two articles based on discussions with senior executives of the finalists in the 2019 Chant West ‘Super Fund of the…

Two Queensland academics and pension fund advisors, Michael E. Drew and Adam N. Walk, have published a 170-page ‘monograph’, or ‘book’, as they refer to it, which examines in detail and sets out guidelines for the governance of pension funds. While written for a global audience, it could become a seminal work and a must-read…

With more than 2.8 million individual members, and more than $500 billion in assets, likely over the next 10 years to move into the pension phase of big funds, or out of them altogether if they’re not careful, the question is how to treat those assets, and their owners, in and around the process. It…

The latest annual study commissioned by AIST, using SuperRatings research and analysis, shows profit-for-member funds continuing to dominate commercial and retail-orientated funds for performance, and why. But the gap between the two opposing groups is narrowing. The study looks at the three main investment categories of fees, asset allocation and performance. The advantage profit-for-member funds have…

First State Investments, the global manager better known in Australia and New Zealand as Colonial First State Global Asset Management, has become the first Australian fund manager to make the list of the top 25 foreign managers dealing with either inbound or outbound China investments. According to the latest annual survey by influential China funds…

Don Hamson has a bee in his bonnet about proposed changes to the franking credit system. Last year he organised a petition by investors opposed to the proposal. Now, with the ALP looking likely to win the May 18 election, he is suggesting a compromise. The founder and managing director of Plato Investment Management, an…

Northern Trust is in discussions with a strategic partner to help build what it believes to be a “game-changing” platform for its blockchain technology. Northern Trust was the first of the global custodian banks to go live with blockchain technology for private equity two years ago. According to Peter Cherecwich, Northern Trust president of Corporate…

Should companies pay their employees more or less? Or should they concentrate on improving non-monetary benefits, such as culture? Should they allow workplace flexibility, for men as well as women? Or is all that fluffy stuff going to impede a company’s returns and stock price? A rare discussion on these aspects of ESG analyses was…

It may be difficult to distinguish between them, but the increasingly popular ‘trend’ or ‘thematic’ investing style is not about chasing the latest ‘fad’. For super funds and other long-term investors, it’s about studying ‘mega trends’ and working out how to get on board. According to a recent report by global manager Robeco, investing with…

Natixis Investment Managers joined an expanding presence of Australian financial services firms supporting this year’s American Australian Association’s ANZAC Day service and lunch in New York on April 25. Natixis, a multi-affiliate manager, accompanied Hostplus, a supporter, in the promotion of Australia’s interests alongside the more solemn ANZAC Day remembrances. David Elia, Host’s chief executive,…

A tough past six months for securities services companies generally was underscored last week with State Street’s quarterly result, which was the first presided over by Ron O’Hanley who was promoted to chief executive in January. Revenue and net income were down for the quarter. However, State Street remains the world’s largest securities servicing firm,…