News

Super funds are increasingly adding thematic passive products to their self-directed investment options as they face new competition from Gen Z focused start-ups – but the ultimate theme is still on the outs.

Australian Retirement Trust (ART) and QIC are continuing the trend of big funds investing in affordable housing, working in conjunction with community housing provider Brisbane Housing Company.

A big chunk of super funds are now in “limp mode” as their buffer against the performance test evaporates. And sustainable investing is getting harder when even tobacco exclusions eat up the tracking error budget.

“These financial cleansings are really important to how you set up asset markets; they’re really important for how the Fed regains credibility; and they’re very important for curbing excessive risk-taking.”

“In general, it is a healthy environment for hedge funds, with allocation from institutional investors expected to rise. As markets brace for uncertainty, investors expect hedge funds to offer positive returns while reducing portfolio risk.”

The hunger for sustainable investing continues apace with Perennial winning a $100 million mandate from Mercer Investments for its Better Future small- and mid-cap strategy.

Super fund members have been “spared the worst”, while the outperformance of the top ten funds was generated by active management and chunky allocations to private markets.

Australian investors are finally warming to Japanese equities after years of avoiding them for “good macro reasons.”

Recent market moves won’t be the end of ESG, but it’s as good a time as any to remind investors that there’s more to it than exclusion.

With investments in everything from music royalties to litigation financing, international private markets manager Northleaf is exploring a “robust pipeline” of deals Down Under.

Hostplus has topped the keenly anticipated performance charts for balanced super funds for the year to June, as well as the past 10 years, SuperRatings has confirmed. Only three funds showed positive returns for the 12 months.

“When it comes to super, all the evidence points to the more you pay, the less you get. There’s lots of reasons for that, the most fundamental of which is that active management really struggles to outperform the market.”