News

(Pictured: Jason Clarke) It looks like, according to SuperRatings data, that when the final 2013 numbers are in, this year will be the first ever that there is negative growth in the memberships of Australia’s large super funds. If funds don’t do something about their membership leakage they will inevitably go into a slow decline…

(Pictured: Troy Rieck) Troy Rieck, the former head of “capital markets” at QIC, has left the firm after 13 years. The role, which covered development of strategies for big-picture risks, such as currency, will be assumed by Michael McNee. The capital markets team, which was set up just prior to the start of the global…

(Pictured: Denis Carroll) CheckRisk, the UK-based risk consultancy, has launched a new service for institutional investors, including Australian super funds, which aims to simplify the complexity of investment risk. Called the ‘total risk monitoring system’ (TRMS), the service consists of four modules developed with the assistance of academic research at the UK universities of Bristol…

(Pictured: Tom Hancock) Tom Hancock, who thinks of himself as the financial services industry’s first “career recruiter” has shut down his business, Thomas Hancock & Associates, and embarked on a new career in real estate. Hancock has sold his smart office space in Sydney’s Macquarie Street and informed clients he was getting out of the…

(Pictured: David Goldbloom) Australia’s group insurers paid out at least $260 million in death and total and permanent disability claims due to psychological problems last year, according to SuperFriend, and the total financial loss from mental illness was at least 1.5 per cent of GDP, according to the National Mental Health Commission. These figures and…

(Pictured: Tim Poole) AustralianSuper has been reducing its exposure to government bonds, in favour of corporate loans and shorter-term securities, and increasing its exposure to international listed equities, according to the fund’s annual report published last week. Following the trend started last year, Australia’s largest super fund has produced a detailed 64-page report, compared with…

China’s maturing QFII program for foreign investors to invest in the China A-shares market is set to cause significant upheaval for fund managers and pension funds, according to a special report from Z-Ben Advisors. The Shanghai-based funds management research firm says in the report, entitled “QFII: An Evolution and Revolution”, that this year will by…

(Pictured: Graeme Miller) Towers Watson has restructured its manager research in Australia, moving to an asset class orientation rather than geographical, and has made the position of head of manager research redundant. The new structure is more in line with the firm’s overseas practices. While Hugh Dougherty, who most recently held the head of manager…

(Pictured: Eddy Schipper) Industry Funds Management is opening its first Asian office, in Tokyo, and will relocate Eddy Schipper from Australia to oversee the office’s establishment. Schipper, chief executive Brett Himbury and some other executives will travel to Tokyo in October to start the process. Schipper, who has been executive director of business development at IFM…

(Pictured: John McMurtrie) Some of the Labor Government’s superannuation initiatives are likely to fall by the wayside under the Coalition Government, such as ‘auto consolidation’, and others may be repealed, such as the $3,800 fine for employers who don’t submit their data in a “complying form”, according to John McMurtrie, the chief executive of Link Group….

(Pictured: Ann Byrne) The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, which last week announced its new chief executive, has confirmed that the composition of Australian company boards is becoming more diversified, including the addition of more women. The results of ACSI’s 12th annual survey of top 200 ASX-listed companies show that directors’ fees have not moved…

(Pictured: Margo Lydon) Mental illness claims against super funds and their insurers are on the way up, according to Margo Lydon, putting additional cost pressure on funds, employers and other stakeholders on top of the human and societal costs. Lydon, the chief executive of SuperFriend, was speaking ahead of the organisation’s second annual symposium on…