News

(Pictured: Peter Murphy) by Penny Pryor Australia’s first social benefit bond (SBB) has announced an initial annual return of 7.5 per cent. The Newpin SBB Pilot return, as certified by Deloitte, was at the lower end of a targeted annual return of between 10-12 per cent for the seven-year life of the investment. Christian Super invested…

(Pictured: Rhys Octigan) As the systems they provide are changing with each technological advance, so too are the systems providers’ roles. A recent trend by big users of investment administration software overseas for instance, is for the provider to also host the data. According to Rhys Octigan, head of business development, Australia and New Zealand, for…

(Pictured: Al Clark) Multi-asset investing, alongside the broader concept of dynamic asset allocation, is is one of the trends of the moment in funds management. But investors with memories of the explosion in tactical asset allocation (TAA) strategies in the 1990s must be wondering whether it’s a trend or fad. Some fund managers are putting a…

(Pictured: Brian Slade) In a timely confirmation of something we all suspected – in a week when lawyers Maurice Blackburn announced their Class Action against each of the big banks over credit card charges – the Goal Group predicted that the number of securities class actions in Australia was about to rise significantly. Andreas Costi, who…

by Michael Delaney* I write and speak on account of your story on MTAA Superannuation Fund of August 11. I’m pleased for the fund and for my good friend Leeanne [Turner] by the award given to her (the FEAL Fund Executive of the Year). Like Leeanne, I do not usually dwell on the past in…

(Pictured: James Moore) Fund manager distribution models and the introduction of FOFA may present impediments to the introduction of the latest US-style retirement solutions to Australia, as well as uncertainty around future taxation of annuities, according to a paper by PIMCO. The paper, ‘Retirement Income Options: The Next Step for Australia’, looks at the worldwide challenge…

Australia led the way in the Asia Pacific region for dividend growth among listed companies in the past 12 months, according to the latest figures in the Henderson Global Dividend Index, a report from fund manager Henderson Global Investors. Australian dividends, in US-dollar terms, rose 2.4 per cent in the March quarter compared to the…

(Pictured: Rob De Dominicis) SMSFs are starting to get a similar level of sophistication at the back end of the administration systems being offered to them as the very big funds have, with the first live SuperStream messages for electronic choice contributions. Systems provider GBST and SMSF administrator Class Super announced their successful program last week….

(Pictured: Leeanne Turner) by Greg Bright Leeanne Turner, chief executive of the Motor Trades Association of Australia Superannuation Fund (MTAA Super), has won the 2014 Fund Executive of the Year award. While she doesn’t like to dwell on the past, the award recognizes a significant feat in turning around a fund which had previously been beset…

(Pictured: Andrew McGill) by Penny Pryor A chance encounter in London last year and a subsequent meeting of the minds has led to an alliance that will form one of the largest independent boutique incubator, or multi-affiliate, firms in the world. Treasury Group is to merge with Northern Lights Capital Group. Treasury Group shareholders will come…

(Pictured: Richard Keary) by Penny Pryor Commodities might be going through a rough spell, but with inflationary pressures increasing, investments that can act as a hedge, such as commodities, could be about to experience an upswing. An Australian-owned European manager thinks so. “Once the asset class actually picks up and produces some decent returns we are…

by Brendan Swift The $4 billion-plus Maritime Super has appointed Avoca Investment Management to oversee a small-cap mandate after the closure of Kosmos Asset Management earlier this year. Maritime first awarded a small caps mandate to Kosmos in 2009-10 however, the closure of the funds management firm this year forced the super fund to appoint…