News

(Anne-Marie Corboy) If there’s one thing that women – and probably men – can learn from Anne-Marie Corboy’s career in super and elsewhere it is: “give it a go”. She told the annual Women In Super (WIS) lunch in Sydney last week not to automatically take the safe option: “You need failures to understand success”….

(Al Jalso) Russell Investments has added two new managers to its international fixed interest fund while reducing allocations to incumbents and layering on a novel currency “positioning strategy”. Al Jalso, Russell global bond fund portfolio manager, said the revised approach reflects the need to manage liquidity, introduce further diversity and add value in an increasingly…

(Andy Flynn) While super funds have been enthusiastic investors in separate domestic small-cap mandates alongside their broad-market Aussie equities strategies, they have not been so keen, historically, on separate global small caps to accompany global core equity mandates. Andy Flynn, of William Blair, made a good case last week for a change of heart. Andy…

(Darrell Ludowyke) Empirics, the data specialist business which is part of the Link Group, has launched a new service for super funds and other organisations to help them better assess sentiment, problems and other information being discussed by their members and clients. Empirics has been working on data from social media and other digital sources…

(Virginie Maisonneuve) PIMCO, the world’s largest fixed income manager with about US$1.6 trillion under management, has closed down two of its equity funds, which it has been nurturing since 2009, and lost its global head of equities. While the closures amount to less than US$1.5 billion of its US$50 billion in equities, it is a…

by Penny Pryor At a star-studded dinner at Sydney’s Ivy Ballroom, UniSuper and QSuper, won the two top awards at the third annual Chant West Awards night, but for many in the room, it was Bruce Watson of AUSCOAL who stole the show with an impromptu and heartfelt appeal for the victims of the Nepal…

(Bill English) The New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZS) has won important concessions in soon-to-be-passed legislation that allows it to assume majority control of some investment entities and fences certain underlying assets from public scrutiny. This could help the Future Fund lobby the Australian Government to relax some of its restrictions. Under the New Zealand Superannuation…

(Dietmar Roessler) The 2015 BNP Paribas Securities Services risk assessment survey of fiduciary investors paints a solid picture of confidence among senior management of 177 of the largest funds. But there are significant differences in risk tools and perceived challenges between regions. Important themes to emerge from the survey results included the abatement of regulatory change…

 by Rob Prugue* One of the anthems for baby boomers is ‘American Pie’ by Don McLean. Whenever I hear this song, a song so close to my youth, a flood of memories comes back.  Surprisingly, when I was recently asked if I could sing the whole song, I realised I could barely get past the…

A US study has found institutional index investors are using their powers to influence corporate governance behaviour. The University of Pennsylvania paper, titled ‘Passive investors, not passive owners’, says its research overturns the common perception that index investing is a hands-off exercise. “Many worry that passive investors lack both the motives and mechanisms to monitor…

(Stuart Zanchi) Citi Transitions & Pensions, the oldest and largest remaining transition management business in Australia, has recruited Stuart Zanchi from NSW Treasury Corporation. He previously worked at JP Morgan, which shuttered its transitions business last year, and Goldman Sachs. Zanchi will be responsible, after he starts in mid-May, for multi-asset class portfolio transitions, derivative…

(Justin Walsh)  FTSE Group, the LSE-owned global index provider, has appointed an executive director to head up Australia and New Zealand – Justin Walsh, who was most recently executive director and head of sales at rival MSCI Group. Walsh has had a mix of research and sales roles over the past 15 years, including as…