News

Affirmative Investment Management, a global fixed income manager specialising in impact bonds, has recruited Fiona Reynolds as a senior adviser and the first member of a proposed new advisory board. She starts the part-time role in London on October 1, prior to her scheduled return to Australia around Christmas, covid permitting. The London-based AIM already…

Magellan will continue to spend big on ventures like upstart investment bank Barrenjoey and fintech Finclear as it diversifies away from its cornerstone global equities business. With investors continuing to question the lacklustre performance of Magellan’s global equities strategy, which has been the focus of (occasionally unfair) media attention for going on a year now,…

Liberal senator Andrew Bragg believes the Future Fund should be made Australia’s default superannuation fund. But national superannuation is a political minefield. In conversation with Simon Cowan, research director at the Centre for Independent Studies, Bragg called compulsory superannuation a “fundamentally illiberal, paternalistic policy” and said that the Australian government should “take its responsibilities more…

Rob Arnott, the founder and chairman of Research Affiliates, addressed investors on the unanswerable question as to what happens next following the recent rebound in fortunes for value managers. His webinar, on August 5 (US time) begged the question of when it will happen, but he left the audience in no doubt about what was…

State Street has recruited a 22-year Deutsche Bank veteran, Jeslyn Tan, to fill the position as head of product management, driving the end-to-end product strategy in the Asia Pacific region. The Singapore-based role was previously filled by Babloo Sarin, who has become head of ‘asset owner and official institution’ segments for State Street in the…

Aon has put its KiwiSaver and employer master trust schemes on the block, according to industry sources. It is understood Aon has circulated an investment memorandum seeking interest in the group’s two schemes, which collectively manage about $920 million split between the $730 million KiwiSaver and $190 million master trust. The move represents the first…

Record asset prices in major markets over the past six months have helped Australia’s asset servicing firms to a record level of assets under custody, rising to $4.4 trillion at the end of June. The latest figures from the Australian Custodial Services Association, published last Friday (August 6), show J.P. Morgan consolidating its number one…

bfinance has recruited its first senior executive dedicated to ESG, coinciding with a commitment to net zero carbon emissions by 2050 across its business, including manager searches. The global funds management search and research advisory firm has appointed Sarita Gosrani as ESG and responsible investment director. She heads up the new ESG advisory unit based…

The increasingly expansionary MSCI Group is to buy Real Capital Analytics (RCA), a property research firm. The Australian operation is earmarked for strong growth. MSCI announced last week (August 3) that it would pay US$950 million (A$1.3 billion) for RCA, which was founded in the US a little over 20 years ago, in 2000, by…

The Standing Committee on Economics is launching a new inquiry into big super. Not everybody is happy about it. Compulsory viewing for many professionals and reporters, the Standing Committee on Economics is infamous for its hardball interrogations of Australia’s biggest institutional investors, and the announcement of a new inquiry will likely have some stakeholders tearing…

Aon will pay a US$1 billion break fee to Willis Towers Watson after a proposed marriage between the two global insurance broking and professional services firms fell over last week due to US regulatory problems. In a joint statement (July 27), Aon and Willis Towers Watson (WTW) blamed the end of their 16-month engagement on…

Bryan Gray, who retired from full-time work this year after a distinguished career in asset servicing, has taken on a role as ‘brand ambassador’ at Goal Group in Australia. The new part-time role involves working with Goal’s clients and prospects on their use of the firm’s technology services behind class action monitoring, filing and recoveries…