News

The issue of manager fees, which are still considered by some asset owners to be too high despite several years of compression, under the wider umbrella of general ‘compensation’, is about to get more interesting. We’ve recently seen zero fees. Now, how about ‘negative fees’? Luba Nikulina, Willis Towers Watson’s global head of manager research,…

It may be unpalatable to hear, but, at least within the investment options of profit-for-member super funds, so-called ‘sustainable’ investment funds don’t do as well as your plain vanilla balanced-type options. Fees are an issue and returns are lower, according to new SuperRatings research. The results of a SuperRatings study on the subject were published…

The Global Impact Investing Network is today (April 1) releasing its ‘Sizing the Impact Investing Market’ report, an in-depth analysis of the current size and composition of the impact investing market. This is a world first. The GIIN estimates the global impact investing market to be US$502 billion. Although impact investing has become increasingly popular in…

by Greg Bright NAB Asset Servicing has won two new clients – both from BNP Paribas Securities Services – in a welcome relief after a couple of tough years, from a business sense. Importantly, the wins were made on its own. NAB and Citi, its international partner, now do their own pitches. REI Super, the…

It’s actually not easy to work out what’s in a member’s best interests. It can be a complex and difficult question to answer, according to Ian Fryer. The head of research at Chant West says there are many different ways to do all the things that are, in fact, in a member’s best interests. From…

This year’s Chant West Awards night, the seventh annual event for super funds, which takes place on May 22 in Sydney, appropriately, is focused on how super funds are going about their business of acting in the best interest of members.  Here are the finalists…

by Patrick Liddy* My old man was an immigrant from Ireland. His official name was ‘James Liddy’, but he was called ‘Seamus’. In Northern Ireland when he was born it was illegal to christen your child with a Gaelic first name. Can you imagine? I named my son, my first born, after him. He’s officially…

The world’s largest active-only fund manager visited last week last week. Andy Budden, Singapore-based investment director with the Capital Group, said the philosophy behind the US$1.8 trillion asset manager’s flagship global equities fund remained as relevant today as it did on its launch 45 years ago. A frequent visitor to Australia and New Zealand, Budden…

The world’s biggest and most famous, or infamous, private equity firm has revisited its opinions on the macro environment just two months after already delivering its original views, in January. The verdict is: it’s OK. Thanks for the insight. The KKR white paper published recently by Henry McVey, the firm’s head of global macro and…

Has the factor magic disappeared? New research by index provider FTSE Russell suggests the answer to that question lies in the eye of the beholder. A just-published FTSE Russell paper says recent reports of the death of factors may be premature. Factor, or ‘smart beta’, investing targets a number of allegedly persistent characteristics buried in…

by Greg Bright If there was likely to be any triumphalism expressed at last week’s CMSF, post Royal Commission and with the flood of money leaving bank-owned commercial super funds in favour of profit-for-member funds, Ian Silk put paid to it in the opening plenary session. There is no room for complacency. Silk, the chief…

The AIST has 55 profit-for-member fund members. There are another 142 APRA-regulated large funds, 117 of which are for-profit commercial funds. A majority of the total of 194 APRA-regulated large funds has already outsourced most or all of its investments and many have outsourced other administrative or even trustee-type functions. APRA in late 2017 identified…