News

Leigh Gavin by Barrie Dunstan Australian fund managers may be under more pressure from their big clients to reduce fees following a comprehensive survey by asset consultant Frontier Advisors which was presented to clients at its 20th annual conference last week in Melbourne. Senior Frontier consultant Leigh Gavin said Australians paid far too much in…

Chris Cuff and John Sevior Chris Cuffe, who built Colonial First State into a retail powerhouse before moving to the “other side” as chairman of UniSuper, has raised serious questions about the future structure of the wealth management industry over the next two-to-three years. Speaking at the Frontier Advisors conference, he queried the future of…

Andrew Sisson While investment managers explore new products to provide income for retirees, no-one should underestimate the importance of Australia’s dividend franking system, according to veteran fund manager Andrew Sisson, managing director of Balanced Equity Management, a member of the Franklin Templeton Group. Speaking at the annual Frontier Advisors conference, Sisson said critics complaining that…

John Peterson Peterson Research Institute (PRI) has produced a strident defence of active management by institutional investors based on an assessment of manager skill as allocated in super funds’ investment risk budgets. John Peterson says: “The active/passive debate is over – the real numbers tell the real story”. Peterson, a former fund manager and asset…

John Phokos  The Australian Catholic Superannuation & Retirement Fund is building out its investment team following the recruitment of Michael Block in December 2014 to replace the retired Anne Whittaker. John Phokos joins today, June 1, as investment manager, private markets. Phokos has a 20-year history in financial services, most recently as senior investment analyst…

Charlie Lanchester BlackRock has recruited two senior investment professionals – Charlie Lanchester and Madeleine Beaumont – to launch a new fundamental active Australian equities capability. They will be recruiting further investment professionals and establishing the product offering for clients over coming months. The traditional stock-picking strategy, with a style bias to quality first, then value,…

Stafford Capital Partners, the global alternatives fund-of-funds manager and advisor, which took majority control of Australia’s Quay Partners in 2012 and bought three alternatives trusts from Macquarie Bank last year, has closed its seventh timberland fund 21 per cent oversubscribed. The Stafford International Timberland VII Fund raised US$484 million (A$630 million) compared with a target…

by Robert J Brown* The Australian master custody market is vibrant, competitive and facing more challenges than at any time in its 30-odd years as a recognised sector.   To add to the excitement, many of our market’s leading custodians have some new faces at the helm. Custodians really have only two things to worry about:…

Wade Matterson As low interest rates push aging retail investors to retain exposure to growth assets, portfolio risk management has become increasingly important, according to Wade Matterson, practice leader in Australia for global actuarial firm Milliman. Matterson said retail investors – particularly those in or near retirement – are faced with a difficult choice in…

The $50 billion Victorian Funds Management Corporation is about to end a long relationship with National Australia Bank for custody and investment administration, following a review which extended from March last year. VFMC is expected to announce within the next week the appointment of State Street Australia as its new securities servicing provider. The Victorian…

by Greg Liddell* In the period immediately prior to the UN Secretary General’s Climate Summit in November 2014, a number of large pension and endowment funds announced plans to divest their portfolios of fossil fuel companies. One of these was the Australian National University. What is a fund’s duty as a fiduciary in this case?…

Comment by Greg Bright Disruption in financial services from new technologies and new – and some old – participants is being talked about everywhere: in the financial media, in the general media, at industry conferences, including our own My Platform Rules, and, most importantly, in the capital-raising marketplace. But what does this really mean? Is…