News

It’s not just about the higher yields, although that helps. It’s also about the correlation between hard and local currencies. And Australian investors are in pole position. In a series of discussions with the firm’s Australian investors and others recently (August 23 – September 3), Grant Webster, head of Ninety One’s emerging markets ‘blended debt’…

The 10th annual Zenith Investment Partners funds management awards will be live streamed this year, on October 15, with the list of 22 awards having been fine-tuned for the occasion. A new award has been added – global small-cap equities – but two previously separate awards – Best Exchange Traded Fund and Best Listed Investment…

As investment managers turn their eyes to the reputational risks of ESG, the custodians that support them have a responsibility to do the same, according to BNP Paribas Securities Services. “Underneath the whole challenge of ESG, as our clients are looking what it means to be an investor and holding all of those investments, the…

The last of the independently owned asset servicing firms, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co, has succumbed to persistent overtures and will be acquired by State Street for US$3.5 billion. The deal announced last week (September 7), will undoubtedly reignite State Street’s own rumours of the past 18 months about a separation of its increasingly successful…

Debby Blakey, the chief executive of HESTA, has joined the board of the International Corporate Governance Network, the overarching global body representing asset owners for the advancement of good governance. The prestigious appointment follows her other industry directorships at FEAL, ACSI and ASI. Hers was one of three appointments at ICGN announced last week (August…

Mark Lazberger, a founding director of the CFA Society in Australia and a former board member of the global CFA Institute, has returned to the governing body as its chair. Lazberger, who retired from full-time funds management positions in 2018, previously held two of the most senior roles in the industry, as a country and…

The merger between Media Super and Cbus has been delayed until the first half of next year due to several factors demonstrating the complexity of these transactions. In its first communication on the merger with its members since the December 2020 announcement, Media Super sent a note to them last week (September 1) advising them…

A new network of investment professionals has backed the ESG integration trend among both asset owners and fund managers with a report which draws on the views of leading investors including the Future Fund and NZ Super. Titled ‘Alpha with Impact’, the report was published last Friday (August 27) to coincide with the first member…

While Australia’s sovereign wealth fund has seen a massive return of 22 per cent, the good times won’t last. China tensions are weighing heavily on Peter Costello’s outlook. Rebounding from a negative 0.9 per cent return during the depths of Covid-19 is no small feat, but Peter Costello, Future Fund chairman, told media on Thursday…

You can do a lot with a well-thought-out nudge, but you probably can’t solve either of the crises of the moment, covid-19 and climate change, according to Richard H. Thaler. The behavioural economist and Nobel Laureate addressed a predominantly Australian webinar audience last week (August 24), organised by the University of Sydney Business School, where…

Early reports by ASX-listed companies under the Commonwealth’s Modern Slavery Act are positive but many have not responded to requests for information and some high-profile companies are exposed to greater risks than others. According to a new study by Martin Currie Australia (MCA), which manages almost $10 billion in Australian equities, 18 per cent of…

Sir Michael Cullen, the political force behind the establishment of NZ Super and the KiwiSaver scheme, has died at 76 after a battle with cancer. The NZ Labour politician, deputy prime minister and finance minister, will likely be remembered more widely for his liberal views, including legalised euthanasia, and generosity of spirit towards the less…