News

Even a passive portfolio consisting entirely of Aussie equities can provide some of the defensive and yield-bearing characteristics that retirees usually need with a couple of smart-beta-type tilts. The latest short research note from Parametric, the implementation-focused manager, examines what such a strategy, which it calls ‘Keep Calm and Carry On Investing’ would have done…

Hyperion Asset Management is Morningstar’s ‘Fund Manager of the Year’ as well as the top Australian large and small-cap manager, it was announced at the annual awards gathering on Friday night (February 26). A contender with Morningstar for the past three years in a row, the manager has already picked up the Money Magazine ‘Best…

Fund managers have enjoyed a strong bounce in fund flows, according to Morningstar data, and these flows are continuing in the first quarter of the year. In a webinar for clients last week (February 23), Grant Kennaway, Morningstar’s Melbourne-based director of research, said that while 2020 had been a difficult year for fund managers, it…

In one of the more ambitious of big super fund mergers, the BOC Super corporate fund is to follow the similar-sized Toyota Super and join with the new blended industry and corporate fund structure known as ‘Togethr’. Set to be announced within the next week, BOC Super (formerly known as BOC Gases) will also add…

The world piled on a further US$24 trillion (A$30.1 trillion) in 2020 increasing the total debt mountain to a new peak of US$281 trillion (A$361 trillion), according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF) analysis of 61 countries. As governments and corporates scrambled to cover COVID-related revenue needs the average global debt-to-GDP jumped a massive…

J.P. Morgan has increased its lead on the other major third-party asset servicing firms in Australia, with an 18.7 per cent jump in assets under custody to $973.2 billion in the six months to December last. The latest figures from the Australian Custodial Services Association, compared with the six months to June, represent a strong…

Bryan Gray, a genuine stalwart of, and major contributor to, the strong position of Australia and New Zealand’s asset servicing sector, has retired. He spent 12 years at State Street followed by nearly 20 years at J.P. Morgan. Gray is the only person to have been chair of the Australian Custodial Services Association twice, in…

David Knox, Mercer senior partner, actuary and founder of the global pensions systems index, threw down a challenge to the Retirement Income Review to look at a ‘universal pension’ for all Australians. He is now talking to the industry. Knox, the lead author of the Mercer Global Pension Index, says Australia, which already has one…

People talk about the importance of taking the time to build a platform for any endeavour. If that’s the case for developing a commercial mass-market range of retirement solutions, Allianz and PIMCO have given themselves a head start with their platform – Allianz Retire+. Starting in 2015 in PIMCO’s Sydney office, the notion of putting…

It’s easy to miss the wood from the trees in the mish mash of arguments back and forth about a range of views on what our super system should look like. But in the current melee, the importance of last year’s Retirement Income Review is not being missed. ASFA took the opportunity to publicly release…

They may be late to the party compared with Europe but companies and investors in the Asia Pacific region have taken to ESG principles and practices in a big way. They are particularly concerned about ‘greenwashing’, according to BNP Paribas. In a webinar for the region’s media earlier this month (February 5) three ESG specialists…

Investors should increase allocations to active management strategies against an increasingly uncertain global backdrop, according to a new Willis Towers Watson (WTW) report. It is a “cyclically fertile ground for alpha”. The WTW analysis, ‘Outlook 2021’, says “skilled active management offers growing value for money” as a number of factors converge to add risk to…