News

(Pictured: Chris Andrews) With first-home buyers dropping to a record low of about 12 per cent of all residential property buyers in the past five years, parents are increasingly stepping in to help their children in the process. But there are potential pitfalls which one fund manager is looking to alleviate. Credit specialist La Trobe Financial…

(Pictured: Warren Chant) by Greg Bright Maverick superannuation researcher Warren Chant has stepped up his criticism of the mandatory MySuper default funds for disengaged members with a measured presentation at the Frontier Advisors annual conference. He added that the regulation was favouring retail funds over industry funds. Chant, the principal of Chant West Financial said: “We…

(Pictured: Fraser Murray) Institutional investors around the world are facing some interesting challenges. A big one is what to do in an environment of rising interest rates. An even bigger one is what happens if we get GFC Mark II. A peculiarly Australian problem is that of capacity in the local equity market. The Frontier Advisors…

by Brendan Swift Institutional investors may have an overly optimistic view of the value of alternative assets according to new research, which suggests such investments have a stronger correlation to mainstream assets than previously predicted. The authors of the ‘Asset Allocation: Risk Models for Alternative Investments’ paper argue that alternative investments, such as private equity…

(Pictured: Russell Mason) In a new report that highlights a high level of inadequacy in the superannuation system, Deloitte calls on superannuation funds to introduce more member-directed investment (MDI) options and the Government to consider compulsory deferred annuities. “Perhaps SMSFs are so attractive to people when they retire because large institutional funds are not offering them…

Comment by Penny Pryor As long as I’ve been writing about superannuation (close to a decade and half), longevity has been an issue. The global financial crisis only heightened the fear of ‘running out of money before you die’. I’m therefore encouraged when anyone in the industry strikes up a debate and throws in some…

(Pictured: Jeppe Ladekarl) Affiliated Managers Group is preparing to launch an Australian trust on behalf of its affiliate First Quadrant, called the Global Alternative Return Fund, which comes off the back of increasing demand for the strategy and some major institutional wins in the US. The strategy, recently endorsed by the State of Connecticut which awarded…

(Pictured: Mamadou-Abou Sarr) After 25 years of ESG investing, Northern Trust Asset Management is to better coordinate its efforts in the space and lift product innovation with the promotion of Mamadou-Abou Sarr to a new position as global head of ESG. Abu Dhabi-based Sarr has been at the forefront of Northern’s ESG activities, which tend to…

(Pictured: Vanessa Stoykov) With the endorsement of the Financial Services Council and support from leading research houses, marketing and television company Evolution Media has launched an investment version of its No More Practice online and broadcast series. The premiere show will be on Sky Business at the prime time of 8.30pm, next Sunday, July 6. It…

(Pictured: Peter Hiom) Allowing the trading of international shares may well be the next challenge for ASX as it rolls out its “investment supermarket” strategy for Australian investors, but right now the mFund initiative is taking precedence, according to a roundtable organized last week by BNP Paribas Securities Services. A total of 18 fund managers, fiduciary…

(Pictured: Ken Chapman) by Penny Pryor The Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) is offering to help ratings providers finance research on retail corporate bonds. It has issued a request for a proposal through which it will help finance the ratings of retail bonds once the Simple Corporate Bonds and Other Measures Bill legislation, currently before parliament, is…

(Pictured: Grant Forster) While global institutional investors have gone cold on emerging markets as the place to be for the next few years, there are some interesting nuances to emerge in the latest CREATE-Research report commissioned by Principal Global Investors. Splitting investors into classes such as “buy and hold” or “opportunistic” and “true believers” or “non-believers”…