News

(pictured: Lawrence Au)  Lawrence Au has stepped down as head of Asia Pacific for BNP Paribas Securities Services and will become an advisor for the bank on key client relationships as he transitions to retirement. He has been replaced by Philippe Benoit who will also based in Hong Kong. Au has had a career in…

(pictured: Gilbert Kaplan) The founder of Institutional Investor (II) magazine, now a listed company with varied media interests, Gilbert Kaplan, who went on to become a world renowned classical conductor, has died aged 74. Kaplan started II in 1967 to cater for, primarily, fund managers which were mushrooming around Wall Street in particular. He fostered…

(pictured: Tony Crescenzi) Predicting global interest rates is going to be a lot easier in 2016 than it was last year. PIMCO has published a handy guide as part of its January Outlook for the US Federal Reserve. You start by assuming three more rate hikes. Tony Crescenzi, PIMCO portfolio manager, says you adjust your…

The year ahead promises only “limited upside potential for investment returns”, according to the Russell Investments ‘2016 Annual Global Outlook’. The multi-manager and consulting firm believes “the bar keeps rising” but Australia’s yield-bearing shares are “less compelling than they appear”. In the report, published just before the China-inspired global equity market plunge that greeted January, Russell…

Matt Brown  Matt Brown, the chief executive of NAB Asset Servicing, resigned and left the job just before Christmas, after less than a year. The news has rocked the custody sector, as Australia’s largest – and only Australian owned – firm struggles in a new landscape for securities servicing. Brown, who joined NAB Asset Servicing…

Andrew Mehrtens Andrew Mehrtens, a former senior sales executive at Centric Wealth, a subsidiary of the accounting and planning group Findex, starts a new finance career in securities servicing this year. He joined NAB Asset Servicing (NAS), based in Sydney, last month. Mehrtens, 42, best known for his sporting prowess as a 70-cap rugby international…

Darren Howlin Brisbane-based qualitative manager research firm mfund Research is expanding into New Zealand. It has partnered with the NZX-owned FundSource and has completed reviews of about half-a-dozen managers. According to Darren Howlin, head of mfund Research (known as Research IP in New Zealand) the firm has embarked on a busy schedule of NZ manager…

Taiwan’s Bureau of Labor Funds (BLF) has gone to tender with US$5.3 billion worth of new investment mandates, including four for the increasingly popular multi-asset partnerships. The mandates are for global multi-asset and enhanced Asia-Pacific mixed equity under its four affiliate labour pensions and national pension schemes. In Australia, Sunsuper announced last month its new…

Phil Tindall Towers Watson, a keen promoter of smart-beta strategies for its big fiduciary clients, has come up with a term for us to categorise the old-style beta: “bulk beta”. More importantly, the consulting firm has produced a paper describing the implications of smart-beta trends for what we used to know as “alpha”. The paper ‘Into…

Imran Gulamhuseinwala The level of fintech adoption among consumers is set to grow significantly this year – a change that will require traditional financial services companies to revisit their customer service strategies to compete effectively with new market entrants, according to EY’s first ‘FinTech Adoption Index’. According to a survey of 10,131 “digitally active” consumers…

(pictured: Bruce Watson)  The $9.5 billion industry super fund Mine Wealth + Wellbeing will soon change its administration systems provider, choosing a relatively small fintech company with its early experience in the SMSF market – Recreo Financial. The move, which includes the fund buying a minority stake in Recreo to cement the partnership, is a…

(pictured: Wouter Klijn) by Greg Bright Specialist publishers, such as those of us in the funds industry ‘trades’, have thought that we may well be the last people standing as the digital revolution rolled over generalist magazines and newspapers first. That may be true, but it’s still a very difficult market segment. Last week was the…