News

(Pictured: Paul Wells) La Trobe Financial, which is Australia’s largest and oldest privately owned mortgage lender and credit fund manager, has entered the RMBS market with a $102 million public raising. La Trobe* and its long-time banker, Commonwealth Bank, which is lead manager, have priced a capital markets residential mortgage-backed securities issuance covering 586 “near prime”…

(Pictured: Gerard Noonan) Comment by Greg Bright Media Super has taken the unusual decision to do away with the role of chief investment officer, terminating Jon Glass after five years with the $3.5 billion fund. This has been done to save on costs. Graeme Russell, the chief executive, will now oversee investments with the support of…

(Pictured: Tim Unger) Institutional investors are expected to become more aggressive with their investments next year, according to their fund managers, as most equity markets remain positive and emerging markets provide for longer-term growth. The results of the annual survey of 128 global fund managers by Towers Watson, published last week, were complemented by the latest…

(Pictured: Larry Fink) Pension funds need to address the problem of longevity risk and increase their allocations to growth assets as well as an increasing range of alternatives, according to Larry Fink, the founder and chief executive of BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager. Fink spoke last week at the UK National Association of Pension Fund…

(Pictured: Gary Bailey) Gary Bailey, head of institutional business for Fidelity International in Australia, has resigned and left after nearly five years with the firm. He said that he decided that he “really needed a change” and resigned at the end of January after returning from a month’s leave. His last day was February 28. Michael…

(Pictured: Lounarda David) Sunsuper has recruited Lounarda David, a former worldwide partner of Mercer and head of the Mercer Sentinel regional custody, transitions and implementation arm of the firm. She will be head of investment operations at Sunsuper – a new role. Reporting to Sunsuper CFO, Bruce Wilson, David had recently been doing some consulting work…

(Pictured: Timothy Schuler) While many hedge funds delivered on their promise, or close to it, during the global crisis, changes have been afoot to their strategies and processes since. Greater transparency and more backoffice resources to cope with regulatory changes and client demands have received most attention. However, there has been a more subtle change too….

(Pictured: William Priest) Last year was a record, of sorts, for share buybacks and other capital restructurings in the US. Fund managers who focus on company cashflows and what is done with them to deliver shareholder returns did very well. It’s not only about the increased flexibility cash delivers a company through the safety of liquidity,…

(Pictured: Salvador Saiz) Financial advice is the most important service that super funds can provide their members in the run-up to retirement, according to a survey of members of all types of funds. Only 13 per cent of those currently using an adviser do so from one inside their fund. The survey of 997 members aged…

(Pictured: Phil Gardner) Philip Gardner, the Australian head of Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM), has retired from the company. He will leave this Friday, take a holiday and consider various options. “I don’t have a plan,” he said last Friday. “I don’t even have a plan to make a plan.” He may stay within the…

(Pictured: Stephen Maloney) Ausbil Dexia has recruited its former asset servicing client servicing manager, Stephen Maloney, to sort out a technical problem to do with the fees charged on one of its funds. Maloney was made redundant, along with about a dozen others, by NAB Asset Servicing last year. He had worked with Ausbil Investment Management…

(Pictured: Alex Hutchison) Energy Industries Superannuation Scheme, the A$4.3 billion NSW-based fund, has changed asset servicing provider following a review. Northern Trust is replacing JP Morgan. The fund did a “detailed search and due diligence” under the supervision of chief executive Alex Hutchison and with the help of consultants. This is a relatively new trend whereby…