News

(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…

(Pictured: Lawrence Au) The Asia ‘funds passport’ has taken an important step towards becoming reality with the signing of an agreement, amounting to a form of trial, by the finance ministers of Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and South Korea. Critics of the scheme, who have been numerous in the past, are daring to show some…

(Pictured: Sue Wang) As super funds increasingly search out new defensive assets to replace a declining exposure to local and global government bonds, Mercer has reaffirmed its support for high-yield debt to complement equities allocations. While market timing may not be optimal, compared with when Mercer first started suggesting high-yield debt for current conditions early last…

By Richard Fogarty* Insurance companies have been operating in a tough market since the global financial crisis began in 2008. Investment returns have been constrained by the low interest rate environment. Global sales, meanwhile, are lagging in most regions: total real premiums fell in three of the four years between 2007 and 2011 and in…

(Pictured: Nathan MacPhee) After a tumultuous year for Australia’s super funds, with the implementation of regulatory changes across a broad spectrum of their activities and with continued market uncertainties, the finalists in the SuperRatings Fund of the Year Awards should be well satisfied. The finalists are…  Super of the Year Finalists: AustralianSuper CareSuper Catholic Super…

(Pictured: Fred Ingham) The global hedge fund industry, which has over the past few years reduced its reliance on the high net worth market by appealing more to institutional investors, looks like going through another transformation as funds gain new exposure to the advised retail sector. In Australia, global manager Neuberger Berman (NB) has developed…

(Pictured: Roger Urwin) You might expect Roger Urwin to say that big pension funds should put more time and effort into their governance. The global head of investment content for Towers Watson has devoted much of his recent career to studying fund governance. Supporting his views, he presented a case study last week of three…

(Pictured: Michael Winchester) State Super Financial Services, which has about A$12 billion under advice and management, has introduced an alternatives program and is looking to allocate up to $200 million across its diversified portfolios to hedge funds over the next six months. Michael Winchester, investment strategist for SSFS, told the AIMA Australia conference in Sydney…

(Pictured: Rory Wainer) In an intriguing deal, Link Group, the big private equity-controlled super fund administrator and share registry company, has bought Syncsoft, a well-regarded systems business which boasts some of Australia’s largest super funds as its clients. The deal is expected to be announced today (Monday). Syncsoft’s 80-or-so staff have been told of the…

(Pictured: Hugh Dougherty) Towers Watson is doing a global search to appoint a hedge fund expert to one of its Australian offices as part of an effort to have “a much higher level of engagement” with hedge funds on behalf of its clients, according to Hugh Dougherty, the firm’s head of manager research, Australia. Dougherty…

(Pictured: Andrew Dyson) Affiliated Managers Group should have a better view of our world than most other fund managers. It owns or has interests in 27 affiliated firms operating in either regional or global markets.  And, according to Andrew Dyson, the global head of distribution, things are definitely looking up. Dyson, an executive vice president…