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by David Chaplin Up to a quarter of all asset management firms could be losing money by 2028, a new study by specialist global consultancy firm, Casey Quirk, has found. And that’s if markets continue to rise and fee compression is static. According to the Casey Quirk report, while fund managers have been shielded by…

Market conditions and changing investor preferences are creating new challenges for hedge fund managers’ capital raising ambitions, allowing alternatives funds to gain favour with investors, according to EY’s annual alternative funds survey, ‘Global Alternative Fund Survey – At the Tipping Point: Disruption’. The 12th annual survey (formerly the EY Global Hedge Fund Survey) found that 20…

by Greg Bright Asset consultants hate this, but members love it. It’s when single-industry funds invest back in their own industries. Cbus has been doing it, famously, for years in property, as has Media Super, less famously, in film and TV production. Media Super has now passed $200 million in film and TV investments. This…

Australia looks like being at or near the top of the charts for long-term performance for both equities and bonds, according to work by Research Affiliates. Rob Arnott, the firm’s founder, told seminars in Sydney and Melbourne last week that most mainstream asset classes in most developed countries, however, offered less than investors expected. Australia…

Wells Fargo Asset Management, the San Francisco-based fund manager, has been growing its international business at a fair clip of late. Non-US-sourced funds under management have reached US$36 billion, or about 8 per cent of the total, after a 22 per cent annual growth rate in what are generally seen as difficult times. According to…

UK-based fund manager Octopus Group has quietly built a presence in Australia over the past 12 months and is raising an initial $150 million in capital for one of the firm’s arms, a renewable energy business. To start, it will focus on solar power in Australia. Initially, at least, the solar sites, for which there…

The world of quantitative investing is changing. A lot has been written about the integration of quant techniques with fundamental research. But it’s more than that. As George Mussalli says: “The race in the quant world is getting shorter and shorter.” Mussalli is the CIO and head of research for Boston-based global manager PanAgora Asset…

While ESG considerations are now undoubtedly on the minds of all fiduciary investors, in Australia and New Zealand at least, the main body of research on the subject has delivered mixed results in quantifying the relationship with investment performance. Jonathan Treussard, the head of product management for Research Affiliates, told the firm’s seminars in Australia…

Morningstar Investment Management has recruited a new CIO for the Asia Pacific region, based in Sydney, to allow Andrew Lill, who currently holds the position, to take up the role of CIO of the Americas in the new year. The funds management and advice arm of Morningstar is run by another Australian, Daniel Needham, who…

Close to NZ$1 billion (A$940 million) is up in the air in one of the biggest superannuation fund tenders in New Zealand for years approaches touchdown. It is understood the almost $1 billion Air NZ corporate superannuation fund had short-listed a handful of candidates for the top-flight gig with a decision expected before Christmas. Air…

Big money must start throwing its weight around, responsibly, the Thinking Ahead Institute (TAI) says in a new report which analysed about US$19 trillion of fiduciary investment money around the world. TAI, the think-tank unit associated with global consultancy firm Willis Towers Watson (WTW), says the top 100 asset owners earmarked in the study represent…

by Greg Bright Michael Dwyer is stepping down next month after an illustrious career in the superannuation industry. In a lot of ways that career – including running two super funds, starting an association and active industry participation – mirrors the industry’s modern history. Here are some highlights and observations. Big multi-employer super funds are…