News

AXA Investment Management, a big global manager with a strong ESG pedigree, announced last week that it had boosted its ESG capabilities and that it would move to integrate ESG principles across all its portfolios. That is actually easier said than done. Matt Christensen, the global head of AXA IM’s responsible investing oversight, said that…

In a typically controversial session at the Investment Management Research conference last week –  formerly run by the Paul Woolley Centre for the Study of Capital Market Dysfunctionality – the US academic, Professor Anat Admati, of Stanford University, took a big aim at Australia’s banks. Banking, it seems, is not just potentially immoral, it’s dangerous….

Pinnacle Investment Management’s newest affiliate manager, the ex-Macquarie long/short managers now known as Firetrail Investments, will today launch a listed investment company seeking up to $378 million. As of last week, the group had already reached close to its minimum requirement. At an investor and press briefing in Sydney on Friday, September 21, the Firetrail…

The top portfolio investment entity (PIE) tax rate could rise for non-KiwiSaver funds under proposals tabled to government last week by the mastermind of the $A38 billion New Zealand Superannuation Fund, Sir Michal Cullen. Papers supporting the Cullen-led Tax Working Group (TWG) interim report suggest increasing the top PIE rate from the current 28 per…

Some earnings disappointments and continued nervousness about the impact of a trade war have taken some of the shine off emerging markets in the short term but global manager Martin Currie has cautioned investors against reacting hastily to the current conditions. “We are starting to see some money being taken off the table,” according to…

State Super, the $43 billion NSW Government fund, which fits in the TCorp family, is restructuring its senior management, in the process creating four new investment roles. John Livanas, the chief executive, said the new roles included two executive positions and two senior management positions. The new roles are: Deputy CIO and GM Defined Contribution…

Hedge Funds Rock, the gala dinner held in Sydney last week, which includes the annual Hedge Fund Industry Awards, has raised nearly $4 million for children’s charities since it started in 2002 as a knock-about rock-and-roll night. It has managed to maintain its sense of fun while growing into a highly regarded event. Kim Ivey,…

Aided by “complexity and fear”, the family office-style fund manager Manikay Partners has bought into the privatisation of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. It’s the best sort of business, like a royalty stream, says Shane Finemore an heir to the famous trucking family company. Shane Finemore, the managing partner and CIO of Manikay, which invests…

Among the highlights of the AIMA Australia Annual Forum that showcased the alternative funds management sector was Australia’s newest hedge fund, Australian Students Asset Management (ASAM*). Launched at the Forum, ASAM is the vision of University of NSW student Doron Haifer who, with the support of his peers and specifically Michael Gallagher, AIMA General Manager…

Nanuk Asset Management has appointed Stephen O’Brien, formerly chief executive of Deutsche Asset Management (Australia), as head of institutional sales, marking a return to funds management after several years focused on investor relations. O’Brien has 30 years’ experience in institutional sales, including previous senior roles with investment firms Schroder, Tyndall (now Nikko) and UBS. Eric…

DTCC has published a new white paper to raise awareness of key risks and emerging threats facing the finance and investment industry and proposes actions to help address them. While the stability and resiliency of the global financial marketplace has improved significantly since the 2008 crisis, the paper published by DTCC (The Depository Trust &…

The $40 billion NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) has found a new head of investment operations in-house. In an appointment confirmed last week, Amy Hitchcock, previously NZS manager business solutions group, takes over the head of investment operations spot vacated by Nikki Bell. Bell had a more than decade-long career at NZS, rising to the head…