News

The circa $350 billion AustralianSuper has appointed its first chief liquidity officer to drive the development and implementation of its liquidity strategy as it tries to “get ahead of the curve” of risk management across its portfolios.

Perpetual, Victor Smorgon Partners and Rixon Capital took out some of the top gongs at the Australian Alternative Investment Awards, but the big win was for those who have worked tirelessly to professionalise Australia’s hedge funds landscape.

Client alignment, investor psychology and clashing fee streams are top concerns for Leda Braga, CEO of Systematica Investments, who says that poor decision making around drawdowns is still rife in the market,

Long-term investing is not static investing. But – given a distant investment horizon and well-calibrated asset allocation – super funds don’t need to shake up the portfolio every time the world changes.

Equip Super and TelstraSuper will merge to create a $60 billion profit-to-member fund, with Northern Trust a shoo-in for its custody and fund administration needs.

The $15 billion value house Ariel Investments sees diversity as a competitive advantage at a time when “the whole conversation is being turned on its head” and active managers are under pressure to perform.

‘Once-in-a-decade’ events are becoming more and more common, but avoiding them altogether is just one way of protecting portfolios. ART is building new capabilities to absorb their impact – and come back from them even stronger.

With almost 50 per cent of its nearly $100 billion FUM now internally managed, Cbus has seen fees come down and gained more control over its ever-growing portfolio. But in hindsight it “could have pushed a bit harder”.

State Street’s big Challenger win will no doubt look good on the ACSA tables, but an influx of expertise will also boost its Alpha-focussed business strategy in the land down under.

The sharp fall in markets in August was a sign of things to come, according to Ruffer, but one that investors haven’t heeded, with positioning and sentiment becoming even more extreme.

Donald Trump’s possible return to the White House would undoubtedly set back sustainability efforts, but the bigger problem is that his view of geopolitics is “one that anybody who runs capital wouldn’t want him to have”, according to Anthony Scaramucci.

The $127 billion Challenger has selected State Street as its new custodian and will be one of the largest invest managers in the region to deploy Alpha, its front-to-back asset servicing platform.