News

(Pictured: Andy Budden) Investing in broad market indices such as the S&P/ASX 200 may inadvertently give rise to unexpected geographic exposures, according to analysis by Capital Group, one of the world’s largest active fund managers. While investors have long known that many Australian companies are active in other countries, they may be surprised to learn that…

After its first custody review in more than 20 years, the $23 billion Cbus super fund is preparing to move securities servicing providers. The investment team has put a recommendation to the board to replace NAB Asset Servicing with JP Morgan Investor Services. The review, overseen by Trish Donohue, Cbus’s executive manager of investment management,…

(Pictured: Rob Harrison) Fischer Francis Trees & Watts, the US-based bond manager controlled by BNP Paribas Investment Partners, is looking to increase its marketing efforts in Australia to coincide with the search by super funds for alternative defensive assets. Rob Harrison, the global head of FFTW and North American head for BNPP IP, said last week…

(Pictured: Nick Bullman) The RBA could drop the official interest rate by another 25bps as soon as next quarter, according to the latest assessment by CheckRisk, the UK-based investment risk analysis firm. In its latest bulletin, CheckRisk says Australian investors have had a good year and the outlook remains positive. This has led to two interesting…

Target-date funds never really took off in Australia. However, the technology behind their delivery may well suit the new and clear trend to outcome-oriented investing. JP Morgan has built an open-architecture system based on its “cash allocation and rebalancing solution” (CARS). While CARS is not available in Australia, the system should be of interest to…

(Pictured: Rob Adams) Henderson Global Advisors has made its first acquisition in Australia since setting up shop early this year. The UK-listed manager has acquired all of the Ascalon-affiliated hedge fund manager H3 Global Advisors. H3 Global specializes in managed futures and commodities investments and has about A$340 million under management. Ascalon bought its 45 per…

(Pictured: Graeme Mather) Not many MySuper default options offered by both retail and not-for-profit super funds have sought to tailor the strategies to the needs of different groups of members. An analysis by Mercer shows only 15 of the 82 approved MySuper options have introduced lifecycle attributes to the funds. Retail and industry funds also took…

(Pictured: John Seo) In the search for genuinely uncorrelated assets, especially those with a coupon attached, catastrophe bonds are attracting more interest from Australian super funds and other defined contribution funds, alongside the instruments’ traditional customers among insurance companies and defined benefit pension funds. Of the top 20 pension funds in the world, consisting of a…

(Pictured: Mike Davis) Ignis Asset Management, a diversified UK manager with a strong capability in alternative fixed income strategies and liability driven investments, is entering the Australian market via a third-party arrangement with Tyndall Asset Management. For Tyndall, the deal rounds out its debt offerings and sets up its growing range of strategies, thanks to parent…

(Pictured: John Wilson) The $7.7 billion Queensland-based local government fund LGsuper has restructured its board along the lines of the new Government’s proposed 3+3+3 system, appointing three independent directors ahead of the independent chair’s retirement in the second half of next year. LGsuper is one of Australia’s oldest funds – going for nearly 50 years –…

Remember “endowment envy”? Perhaps endowments are showing signs of “average Mercer balanced fund envy”. The latest annual survey of US endowments shows, at last, a shift away from alternatives and towards listed US and international equities. For many years, the big US endowments had consistently higher returns than their pension fund counterparts. They also led…

(Pictured: Tony Klim) Despite the expansion of several Australian technology companies in Europe and elsewhere in recent years, only two are ranked in the world’s top 100 tech vendors to financial services companies, according to the long-running ranking by American Banker magazine and researcher Financial Insights. Bravura Solutions, which has made the top 100 for seven…