News

Eaton Vance has mounted a case for both investors and governments to better appreciate the benefits of economic transparency on sovereign bonds. In a research paper, ‘Economic Transparency Means a Creditworthy Sovereign’, the global manager looks at economic transparency as it correlates to yield spreads, credit ratings, stock price volatility, and trust in government across…

The Your Future Your Super Bill continues to be roundly criticised by the industry after the deadline for comment has passed and notwithstanding doubts about its passage to legislation. Proposed regulations, requiring comment by May 26, included two concessions to the barrage of criticism from almost every quarter of the industry – from the profit-to-member…

The recovery from 2020’s “massive period of turbulence” hasn’t lifted all boats, and there are still plenty of bargains to be had if you know where to look. Gareth James, Morningstar’s Sydney-based equity research strategist, expects Link Group, for instance, to bounce back from “a tough few years” of regulatory changes and the loss of…

No evidence has been presented to support the need for new proxy advice regulations. Rather, an army of investors have argued against them. So who do the reforms really benefit? The Government is facing an uphill battle on proxy advice changes as industry stakeholders, including the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, savage proposals that would…

Magellan Financial Group’s ‘FuturePay’, launched with a fanfare last week (June 1) after considerable pre-launch publicity, heralds an escalation in a retirement products arms race. Both big super funds and fund managers are scrambling for positions in the race, which is expected to have strong demographically driven growth for years to come. Magellan, arguably the…

Asia-Pacific financial markets could experience some turbulence as bond issuers globally switch to new pricing mechanisms later this year. According to a new report published by Bloomberg and the International Capital Market Association (ICMA), up to US$190 billion (A$246 billion) of bonds issued in the APAC region could remain linked to the traditional LIBOR benchmark…

NSW’s Local Government Super has launched a sweeping rebrand as part of a bid to win new members. Can funds of a similar size – $13 billion – survive in a new world of mergers? Local Government Super will be renamed ‘Active Super’ in a move that was considered “very carefully” as part of its…

Super funds are under increasing pressure to do more on ESG but have been warned to keep their noses out of the climate debate. Super funds need to “close the gap” between commitment and implementation of ESG principles, with only a quarter of funds having a quantifiable performance target in place to ground the implementation…

Bfinance, the fund management search and research firm, has sounded a word of warning for big investors looking to select a manager for the burgeoning asset class of real estate debt. In a note to clients published last week (May 26), Trevor Castledine, bfinance senior director, private markets, says funds are using five key levers…

Aura Group, an alternatives and wealth manager with a strong presence in Asia, has opened its second venture capital fund to wholesale investors. Damien Hatfield, of Mantis Funds, is lending a hand. Tristan Terry, Sydney-based director of venture capital for Aura, says the target raising for the Aura Venture Fund II is $50 million, following…

In a year of bad-news headlines for the super industry, it was fitting that the biggest fund, the quintessential industry fund, took out the ‘Fund of the Year’ award from Chant West. AustralianSuper, the bellwether fund and champion of the not-for-profit sector, also won the ‘Best Fund of the Year: Investments’, an increasingly difficult task…

Nobody questions the need to fix super, although there appears little consensus on what needs to be changed and how. Treasurer Josh Frydenberg’s October “recovery” Budget delivered an unwelcome surprise to the $3 trillion super industry: a slew of reforms under the title ‘Your Future Your Super’ which could fundamentally alter retirement outcomes. The changes,…