News

(Pictured: Michael Bargholz) Fidelity Investments should provide an interesting test for the outsourced unit registry market with its new strategy of reducing minimum managed fund entry levels to as low as A$25,000. Fidelity appointed Link Administration, a newcomer to unit registry, because of the shuttering of Computershare to new unit registry business. Link is best…

The review of custody for Cbus is understood to be close to a final decision, after several months of work with the help of specialist consultant Drew Vaughan of Dymond, Foulds & Vaughan. Cbus, the A$20 billion fund for the construction industry, has been a long-time client of NAB Asset Servicing. One of the famously…

One of the comforting factors about the annual Russell Investments/ASX “Long-Term Investing Report” is the regularity with which the lead changes for what is the best-performing asset class over even very long timeframes. Investment professionals know how difficult it is to predict a winner. The latest report books Australian shares as the top performer over…

(Pictured: John Brogden) The charity Lifeline is holding its 45th anniversary fund-raising dinner for the Sydney North Shore branch at Luna Park on August 31, with many financial services types booked to attend, including the Financial Services Council CEO, John Brogden, alongside NSW Premier Barry O’Farrell. Lifeline, which helps prevent suicide for people in crisis,…

(pictured: Ravi Nevile) Mercer Investments has permanently filled the gap at the top of Mercer Sentinel in Australia and New Zealand, with the planned transfer of Ravi Nevile from the firm’s Singapore office. Mercer’s COO, Jodie Hampshire, had been filling in as the Australia and New Zealand head of the specialist operational efficiency and transitions…

(pictured: Peter Dawson) Well-known recruitment executive Peter Dawson has published an e-book which calls for greater flexibility in the business models adopted by recruitment firms in financial services, due to the contraction in funds management and wealth management since the global financial crisis. “Clients should be able to direct the process, if they want to…

Undeterred by the current lack of demand from foreign investors for Chinese securities or funds, the Chinese authorities have nearly doubled the QFII quota and widened the reach for the smaller renminbi-QFII pilot program to include London and Singapore The China Securities Regulatory Commission, in conjunction with the People’s Bank of China and SAFE (State…

(pictured: Cate Wood) From next year big super funds, companies and other bodies with more than 100 employees will be forced to report on the gender balance within their organizations. Is this the only reason they should care? Research suggests no – a better gender balance, particularly at the top, has other benefits. Helen Conway…

(pictured: Kate Mulligan) Kate Mulligan, the chief executive of the investment industry legal services firm King Irving Consulting, has joined the board of the wealth management firm Netwealth, increasing the number of independents on the board to three. Netwealth is one of the largest privately owned wealth management and advisory companies. It is controlled by…

(picture: Angela Ashton) Comment by Angela Ashton and Vanessa Stoykov* Retail financial planning is at a bit of a juncture: FOFA, fee pressure, education standards, investor confidence, the bond bubble, changing demographics and lifecycle investing, SMSFs, limited licencing for accountants, continued competition from industry funds desperate to hold on to retirees. These are all issues…

BNP Paribas Securities Services has anointed Peter Baker to succeed Pierre Jond as managing director of Australia and New Zealand. Jond, who has been in the role for four years, will return to Paris at the end of the year. The company also announced last week that Michelle Crosbie, a New Zealander who had been…

(pictured: Andrew Mehrtens) Centric Wealth, the financial planning and individually managed account provider, has recruited another rugby international, former All Black Andrew Mehrtens, to market its platform and advisory services to super funds. Mehrtens joins an old rugby foe, Phil Kearns, the Centric CEO and a former Wallaby captain. Mehrtens, a history major who speaks…