News

by Nicholas Way* Barrie Dunstan, devoted husband and father, dedicated Magpies (Collingwood) fan, and highly respected business and finance journalist – by both his peers and the wider business and finance community – died from cancer in Melbourne last Tuesday, January 15, aged 80. His family, friends, former colleagues, business leaders, and his many readers,…

Despite an end-of-year slowdown last quarter and lack of market price support for the year, Australia’s ETPs reached another record, up 13 per cent to $40.8 billion in total market cap in 2018. This was due solely to fund inflows. BetaShares is predicting an increase of between 22-34 per cent this year. Alex Vynokur, BetaShares…

The great Jack Bogle died last week, on January 15, aged 89. He was the founder of Vanguard, in 1974, inventor of index funds and champion supporter of the interests of individual investors. Vanguard remains the largest mutual organisation in the world, owned by its investors. Famous for his passion about the importance of keeping…

Both active and passive fund managers may have to adjust pricing models this year with the emergence of two new fee trends: ‘free’ and ‘fulcrum’, according to a new report by global consultancy Deloitte. The report says the launch of the first zero-fee index fund last year – by US firm Fidelity – “was a…

by Greg Bright Mark Lazberger has temporarily checked out of the investment management industry, taking his first ‘sabbatical’ in about 37 years. He says he is likely to turn up in another role again, although he is in no hurry to do so. Tracing his career to date is like tracing the history of funds…

Long the poor cousin of commercial and retail sectors of direct property, industrial – in particular warehouses – has been coming to the fore in the past couple of years, thanks to changing consumer buying patterns. Forget the old notion of a dusty warehouse. These are often new buildings, increasingly multi-storied, with robots in abundance….

ASIC has launched proceedings against a financial information and advice provider, Port Phillip Publishing, and its chief executive over two articles which promoted an investment strategy allowing consumers to ‘piggyback’ the Future Fund’s allocations. Kristan Sayce, the chief executive, however, told the advertising and marketing industry newsletter Mumbrella that the proposed penalties were “excessive” and…

AIMA Australia is looking to introduce a Code of Conduct for its members – mainly hedge funds and other alternatives managers – at first covering the issue of diversity, the lack of which is a common problem throughout the financial services industry. Flagging a dialogue with members about diversity and a local Code of Conduct…

The business case for diversity among corporates at board and management levels is compelling, according to Research Affiliates, but the investment case requires more work to measure the excess returns from having a culture that embraces diverse and dissenting views. The Californian-based smart-beta manager, which partners with others to implement its strategies, says in a…

With the rise in impact investing – the most active direct investing segment of the ESG trend around the world – a group of 35 North American specialist private equity managers has co-published a report showing how the alpha potential is being realised in the nascent asset class. The report published last month, ‘The Alpha…

Castle Hall has launched the first of three in a series of due diligence ‘primers’ which outline key issues for investors to consider when research managers in a particular asset class or topic area. The consulting and research firm is a specialist global due diligence consultant, with an Australian and New Zealand office run by…

Factor investing continues to expand and mature, based on broadly favourable outcomes and investor satisfaction, but the real test will come, perhaps soon, when the many relatively recent adopters take their factor strategies through a market downturn, according to a new study. This may prove an inflexion point in which, should factor continue to meet…