News

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…

The recent surge in demand for fossil fuels doesn’t mean the green energy revolution is dead. But investors need to proceed with caution lest they lose their mandate to manage the transition. There are two schools of thought on what Russia’s invasion of Ukraine means for fossil fuel production and consumption. Either it will hasten…

Magellan has abandoned its long-standing Chinese positions and cast a keen eye over financials as it attempts to weather an environment of more persistent inflation. Magellan has remained in the headlines on a near daily basis, with continued uncertainty around the return of CIO and founder Hamish Douglass, who took medical leave in early February….

The Your Future, Your Super (YFYS) test is here to stay – but CIOs are still adapting to the idiosyncrasies of their new benchmarks. “The performance test gives you an additional target,” Anna Shelley, CIO of AMP, told the ASFA Conference on Wednesday (27 April). “And you can be the best archer in the world,…

Boutique global equities house Redpoint has boosted its impact investing capabilities with two key appointments from the newly-merged Australian Retirement Trust (ART). Hunter Page and Chris Parks have joined Redpoint as portfolio managers as the boutique looks to provide a “distinct investment strategy to leverage the opportunities presenting from sustainable development and the global transition…

Investors and their fund managers have dumped Russian holdings in recent weeks amid worsening horror at the invasion of Ukraine. But active managers could lessen the blow for investors through new opportunities on the other side of a Russian trade. For Ninety One’s emerging markets team, Russia is an “ugly sideshow” to the main investment…

Massive dispersion still remains in the aftermath of a relatively minor correction, and now is the time to scrutinise consensus expectations for some market darlings. “If you ask 100 engineers how much steel and concrete are required to build a bridge, and 99 engineers say x amount of steel and y amount of concrete, and…

Leading sustainable investment manager Australian Ethical has recruited a number of industry veterans for its investment committee as it enters merger talks with Christian Super. Sean Henaghan, former CIO of AMP’s Multi-Asset Group and current CIO of Aurora Capital, will join Australian Ethical’s investment committee. Also joining are Sandra McCullagh, current non-executive director (NED) of…

More diverse organisations have consistently outperformed those that are less diverse. But neurodiversity is still largely an unknown quantity in many of them. The term “neurodiversity” was first coined by researcher Julie Singer in the late 90s, and popularized by journalist Harvey Bloom. It holds that there is simply “a diversity of human minds and…

Regulators won’t be able to scrub out environmental, social and governance (ESG) ‘greenwashing’ in the investment industry, according to influential US finance academic, Aswath Damodaran. In a blistering attack on the ESG investing sector last month, Damodaran says greenwashing – or falsely marketing funds as sustainable (or the like) – is an indelible feature of…

Australia’s super funds are racing to achieve massive size in the understanding that it will create untold benefits for members. But “a little but of circumspection and caution” is required. “People seem to be taking it as a fact that you just need to be bigger, and that it’s obvious you need to be bigger…

ASIC’s investigation into whether super funds took advantage of inside knowledge when switching investments in early 2020 has ended with the regulator taking no action. The drawn-out saga of ASIC’s investigation into alleged “insider trading” at super funds has come to a close, with the corporate regulator saying it will take no further action against…