News

(Pictured: Garry Weaven) Garry Weaven is “sanguine” about the leakage of members from big super funds to the SMSF market, but his old boss at Westpac, Ian Macoun, is not.  Nor were too many others as relaxed, at the FEAL national conference, about the estimated A$16 billion which was transferred to SMSFs last year. The benefits…

(Pictured: Robyn Petrou) Robyn Petrou, the chief executive of the A$4.2 billion Energy Super fund, has been named “fund executive of the year” at the annual Fund Executives Association Ltd members’ dinner prior to the national conference in Melbourne last week. The award, which comes with a $20,000 education grant courtesy of AMP Capital, the sponsor,…

The Harwood Superannuation Fund, reputedly Australia’s oldest super fund, is to be outsourced to a master trust or merged with an industry fund. The fund, for various CSR Ltd companies, dates back to the depression period of the 1890s. Tender documents and advice have been prepared by Deloitte. The corporate fund is a complicated one,…

(Pictured: Connie Mckeage) Financial systems company and SMA administrator OneVue is acquiring the retail unity registry business of Computershare, which was recently earmarked for closure. OneVue will lift out Computershare staff from the business unit and hopes to provide a seamless transition for funds managers and securities services clients. The move should help bolster Australia’s…

(Pictured: John Morton) BlackRock’s latest quarterly earnings statement in the US surprised analysts, not so much by the company’s overall positive position but because there appeared to be an inflow of funds into fixed interest products rather than the expected outflow. What has been termed the “Great Migration” may turn out to be no more…

In the six weeks between May 22 and mid-June, the way markets all acted together should have caused a change in approach to the asset allocation mix by institutional investors, according to CheckRisk. Negative correlations have gone and diversification is a questionable and expensive tool. The UK-based investment risk consulting firm points out that US…

Australian super funds tend to pride themselves on their international outlook and the level and diversification of their offshore exposures, notwithstanding the historical volatility of the Australian dollar. However, after adjusting for the size of the Australian market and several other factors, we are ranked only 11th in terms of avoiding ‘home country bias’. A…

Mike Turner, the manager of communications at the Harwood super fund, has taken a redundancy package ahead of the proposed outsourcing of the fund to a master trust or industry fund (see separate report this edition). Turner, a former securities servicing and super administration executive, said last week that he was taking a holiday before…

(Pictured: Martin Franc) Invesco Ltd has recruited a new country head for its Australian asset management business following the departure of CEO Mick O’Brien after seven years with the firm. Invesco, which has about US$750 billion under management globally but has struggled to gain traction in Australia since it acquired County Investment Management in 2001,…

(Pictured: Garry Weaven) With big super funds under increasing pressure to retain high-balance members because of an onslaught from SMSF service providers, new research indicates that the situation will only get worse over the next few years. SMSF trustees are getting younger and their number is tipped to double. The research, conducted by Macquarie Bank…

(Pictured: Peter Baker) Australian custodians are gearing up for the application of Stronger Super regulations with service providers Milestone Group and Ausmaq already coming to the party with their new procedures for funds to be able to post details of all their underlying securities by mid-next year. The “look-through” regulation remains controversial due to several…

(Pictured: James MacNevin) State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has confirmed the board and senior management of its new Chinese joint venture, SSGA Fund Management Co Ltd, which will be 51 per cent owned by Zhongrong International Trust Co (ZRT). The new funds management firm, which will be based in Beijing, will be focused at least…