News

The NZ Superannuation Fund (NZS) has confirmed a trio of senior appointments, luring two overseas candidates to assume the plum positions. In an update last week, the NZS named Kathryn Kerner, Kevin Wong and Rachael Le Mesurier as respective head of data analytics, senior investment strategist and head of diversity, equity and inclusion. Both Kerner…

Value investors have staged their long-prophesied comeback during the highly volatile start to the year. But questions remain about whether this performance will be prolonged. March stands out as being one of the most difficult periods for investors in a generation. On the one hand, bond markets sent fixed income to its worst return in…

BlackRock has flagged an ESG-lite agenda ahead of the 2022 corporate proxy-voting season. In a note published last week, the BlackRock Investment Stewardship (BIS) group says the US$10 trillion manager – the world’s largest – will direct its considerable proxy power in favour of fewer shareholder proposals this year as companies face votes on more…

Investment management still trends “pale, male, and stale”. But a new mentoring program is aiming to close the female participation gap. It took the Global Financial Crisis for Ming Long AM, now the chair of AMP Capital funds management, to get the CFO role at Investa Property Group. The company had just been taken over…

As big super pursues an engagement-focused approach to sustainability, the challenge will be making its real-world impacts felt by both members and executives. Ask a dozen investment professionals what the key challenge for sustainability is and you’ll get a dozen answers: tracking error considerations borne out of Your Future, Your Super (YFYS); the need to…

With the advent of the Retirement Income Covenant (RIC), super funds can finally move forward on the decumulation phase. But they shouldn’t try to “boil the sea.” Despite the fact that a generation of superannuants are about to enter the decumulation phase, funds are still grappling with the challenge of producing a compelling retirement solution….

Active management will be increasingly important for defined contribution (DC) retirement savings schemes as value-for-fees, expected lower future returns and sustainable investment preferences come to the fore, according to a new MFS white paper. The analysis says the rising exposure to index investments in DC schemes has been built on at least three “misconceptions about…

The founder of Hyperion Asset Management and ECP has in recent years focused his philanthropic efforts on restoring master works from ages past. “The outstanding thing about all of them is the way the colours and the details jump out at you and talk to you,” says Manny Pohl, discussing the works restored by the…

Life isn’t always easy at the small end of town, but the $5 billion legalsuper is kicking against APRA’s orthodoxy that bigger is nearly always better. “It’s hard not to notice this incredible fixation in our industry that you’ve got to be big to be here in the future,” says Andrew Proebstl, CEO of legalsuper. …

The new corporate collective investment vehicle (CCIV) could create new markets for Australian fund managers and bring international managers to Australian shores. Australia is still viewed as somewhat incurious about the region it inhabits, despite gesticulations at the fact that its countries are our largest trading partners. But the newly-created CCIV – due to commence…

With a new CEO at the helm, the charitable listed investment companies first set up by Geoff Wilson in 2014 will now start funding organisations focused on addressing mental health issues before they occur. The two Future Generation LICs, focusing on domestic equities (Future Generation Australia) and global equities (Future Generation Global) – were set…

In less than 20 years there will likely be a trillion-dollar super fund. So how will it throw its awesome weight around? It might have been premature to label AustralianSuper our first mega-fund. After all, it gives little room to move when coming up with a descriptor for a fund that will someday manage $1…