News

Magellan Financial Group’s ‘FuturePay’, launched with a fanfare last week (June 1) after considerable pre-launch publicity, heralds an escalation in a retirement products arms race. Both big super funds and fund managers are scrambling for positions in the race, which is expected to have strong demographically driven growth for years to come. Magellan, arguably the…

Asia-Pacific financial markets could experience some turbulence as bond issuers globally switch to new pricing mechanisms later this year. According to a new report published by Bloomberg and the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), up to US$190 billion (A$246 billion) of bonds issued in the APAC region could remain linked to the traditional LIBOR benchmark…

NSW’s Local Government Super has launched a sweeping rebrand as part of a bid to win new members. Can funds of a similar size – $13 billion – survive in a new world of mergers? Local Government Super will be renamed ‘Active Super’ in a move that was considered “very carefully” as part of its…

Super funds are under increasing pressure to do more on ESG but have been warned to keep their noses out of the climate debate. Super funds need to “close the gap” between commitment and implementation of ESG principles, with only a quarter of funds having a quantifiable performance target in place to ground the implementation…

Bfinance, the fund management search and research firm, has sounded a word of warning for big investors looking to select a manager for the burgeoning asset class of real estate debt. In a note to clients published last week (May 26), Trevor Castledine, bfinance senior director, private markets, says funds are using five key levers…

Aura Group, an alternatives and wealth manager with a strong presence in Asia, has opened its second venture capital fund to wholesale investors. Damien Hatfield, of Mantis Funds, is lending a hand. Tristan Terry, Sydney-based director of venture capital for Aura, says the target raising for the Aura Venture Fund II is $50 million, following…

In a year of bad-news headlines for the super industry, it was fitting that the biggest fund, the quintessential industry fund, took out the ‘Fund of the Year’ award from Chant West. AustralianSuper, the bellwether fund and champion of the not-for-profit sector, also won the ‘Best Fund of the Year: Investments’, an increasingly difficult task…

Nobody questions the need to fix super, although there appears little consensus on what needs to be changed and how. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s October “recovery” Budget delivered an unwelcome surprise to the $3 trillion super industry: a slew of reforms under the title ‘Your Future Your Super’ which could fundamentally alter retirement outcomes. The changes,…

Index operators could face tighter regulatory controls in the US after a major provider copped a multi-million dollar fine last week. In a settlement announced last Monday (May 17), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI) US$9 million (A$11.6 million), alleging a hidden feature in one of the firm’s…

BNZ, NAB’s NZ subsidiary, has appointed State Street Global Advisors to replace Vanguard as its core international assets index manager among a raft of investment mandate changes. In disclosure documents filed last week (May 19), BNZ named SSGA to take over passive management duties from Vanguard in global equities and fixed income covering its KiwiSaver…

Treasury’s proposed changes to proxy voting advice have met with fierce resistance from Ownership Matters, which warned the reforms could have a chilling effect on corporate accountability in Australia. The reforms, which were proposed in the interests of “strengthening the transparency and accountability of proxy advice”, would require proxy advisers to provide their research to…

Chant West, scheduled to hold its annual awards dinner this Wednesday evening, May 26, has announced the 10 finalists in the last two categories decided upon – Best Fund: Innovation and Best Fund: Integrity. Two funds are in both categories. The finalists are: Best Fund: Innovation – Aware Super, QSuper and its proposed merger partner…