News

Justin White The importance of new products and investment strategies for fund manager inflows has jumped to record levels in the past two years, according to a white paper by Casey, Quirk & Associates. But the product development track record of most managers is “mediocre”. New active strategies are getting most of the inflows. Casey,…

Nicolas Le Clech  Super funds say that the increasing complexity of risk analysis and management is their biggest concern in the current market and regulatory environment. But whether they have the tools at hand to address their concerns is another story, according to the recent round of Fund Executives Association Ltd member lunches. Nicolas Le…

David Reckenberg UniSuper lawyer David Reckenberg has returned to private practice after about 13 years in funds management. He has joined the recently established financial services unit of innovative Melbourne firm Hive Legal where he links with several other former lawyers from Minter Ellison. Reckenberg said last week that he was strongly attracted to Hive…

Bryan Gray JP Morgan has won the unified custody and securities servicing role at the NZ$30 billion-plus Accident Compensation Commission of New Zealand fund, knocking Northern Trust out of a job in the process. According to an ACC spokesperson, the transition of Northern Trust-held assets to JP Morgan – amounting to about NZ$5 billion of…

Madeleine Senior Two of the largest securities servicing firms in the region, JP Morgan and Northern Trust, have new heads of their Australian and New Zealand businesses following reshuffles announced in the past few days. Both are experienced insiders at their respective firms. JP Morgan has appointed Nadia Schiavon as head of custody and fund…

Robin Bowerman  SMSFs took a more conservative stance with asset allocation last financial year, lifting their cash holdings and reducing direct shares. The number using financial advisors also declined, according to the latest survey by Vanguard Investments and researcher Investment Trends. The survey of about 4,000 SMSF trustees and 500 financial planners, conducted every two…

Stephen Knight by Greg Bright It took a while – 15 months in the evaluation and another 15 months to implement it – but the formation of NSW’s largest fiduciary investment fund within NSW Treasury Corporation (TCorp), with more than $70 billion under management, is starting to deliver benefits in both tangible and intangible areas….

Don Smith The combination of emerging markets and small caps can deliver an enduring premium for patient investors. That is certain, or as certain as anything can be in the investment world. Some big global managers, such as BNP Paribas Investment Partners, are combining them with interesting results. According to Donald Smith, who was recruited…

Tim Craighead  There’s a disconnect happening with the Connect, says Tim Craighead, with the hint of a smile. The difference between China A shares, listed on the Shanghai exchange, and China H shares, in Hong King, has blown out despite the Shanghai-Hong Kong Connect stock passport system. Craighead, the director for Asia Pacific at Bloomberg…

Geoff Wilson The three things that don’t fly with investors for listed investment companies are funds of funds, private equity and Asia, according to Australia’s LIC guru, Geoff Wilson. But what does fly, he is discovering, is a multi-manager product with very low fees and a charitable cause attached. Wilson last week finished up a…

Tom Hancock  Tom Hancock, well-known recruiter in the financial services industry, has returned to the fold after a one-year sabbatical in real estate. He has re-started his Thomas Hancock & Associates agency, based in Sydney. Hancock was the first career recruitment executive to concentrate on financial services in the 1980s, later establishing his own firm…

Victor Dominello With the endorsement of NSW Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation, Victor Dominello, Ian Dunbar’s portal-come-community for Australian and New Zealand fintech, called Afiniation, was formally launched last week. A mix of more than 50 start-up hopefuls and established players crammed into the NSW Department of Industry’s offices in Sydney’s MLC Centre to…