News

(pictured: Marcus Ohm)  There was an improvement in the market for small-cap IPOs in Australia in the past 12 months, perhaps reflecting the higher returns from small-caps after several years of lagging large caps, but new small listings remain below historical averages. The annual study by accounting and advisory group HLB Mann Judd, ‘IPO Watch…

(pictured: James Gruver) Global real estate manager Heitman has appointed James Gruver as managing director of global sales as part of a three-person expansion in its sales and marketing efforts. Gruver is a former head of BNY Mellon Asset Management in Australia from 2003-2009. Heitman is headquartered in Chicago but has offices throughout Europe and Asia…

Elmer Funke Kupper The ASX has selected US-based firm Digital Asset Holdings,(Digital Asset) to develop solutions for the Australian market using ‘distributed ledger technology, joining 12 other financial services companies in taking a small shareholding in the company too. ASX has paid A$14.9 million to acquire a 5 per cent equity interest in Digital Asset,…

Rachel Alembakis Just a few weeks after the last edition of the investment trade title Insto Report, Global Custodian Australia, another weekly newsletter catering for the local institutional market, has been shut down. The publisher, Asset International, which publishes the biggest magazine and online news service for asset servicing globally as well as other titles,…

Jeffrey Levi Muted net flows into investment strategies were insufficient to overcome negative market performance worldwide in 2015, resulting in lower global assets under management, revenue, and operating margins for the first time since the financial crisis of 2008-2009. According to preliminary data from Casey Quirk & Associates, a specialist management consultant to asset managers…

Adrian Orr A group of six big sovereign wealth funds and pension funds, including the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZS), has backed the launch of a long-term investment index, announced last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos. In a statement, Adrian Orr, NZS chief executive, said his NZ$30 billion fund was considering how…

Dennison Hambling  With the Australian share market set to have its worst month since October 2008 at the height of the GFC and the total global market officially in a bear market, being off more than 20 per cent from its peak, one fund manager has provided some soothing advice. Don’t worry about the market,…

Lisa Gray and David Deverall Two of Australia’s largest fiduciary investors, Victoria Funds Management Corporation and NSW Treasury Corporation (TCorp) last week announced new chief executives to fill the vacancies from last year. VFMC has appointed former NAB executive Lisa Gray and TCorp has appointed former Perpetual Trustees chief executive David Deverall. Deverall resigned from…

(pictured: Debby Blakey) By Greg Bright Having an investment program which fits the culture of a super fund – aligning those investments with the beliefs of the members – is a way to attract and retain members in a competitive super landscape. Take impact investing as an example. The $32 billion HESTA health care industry…

Ana-Marie Lockyer In a cautionary tale of potential users of robo-advice websites and services, current bank customers are prepared to pay an average of only $53.50 for an online personal financial plan. And a significant proportion expect to pay nothing, according to a bank’s survey of its customers. The ANZ Bank survey, published last week,…

Trevor Dixon Distributed ledger technologies – usually beneath the headline-grabbing Bitcoin and blockchain examples – are going to present a major disruption to the operations of wealth management platforms and big super funds. So far, the big banks have made all the running. The others need to catch up. According to Trevor Dixon, a working…

The top six trends driving the outlook for the newly formed investment consulting and insurance giant Willis Towers Watson are combining to provide a generally “mediocre” outlook for markets over the medium term. In its January global markets paper the firm’s asset research team explains the three-to-five-year asset class weightings. It is a cautious outlook, with…