News

Australia has a long way to go to catch up to its major trading partners in its planned spend on new infrastructure, notwithstanding Prime Minister Morrison’s pledge of $100 billion over the next 10 years. This should be something for investors to savour, as well as those who benefit from the multiplier effect for employment….

QSuper took out the SuperRatings Fund of the Year award for 2021 while also taking out two other important awards, for Pension of the Year and Smooth Ride Award, for consistency of performance, at an event broadcast live from Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art last week (October 29). The other major award winners at the…

Almost all fund managers have adopted some form of environmental, social and governance (ESG) analysis to enhance research but its influence on real investment calls remains unclear, according to a new Russell Investments global survey. The Russell 2020 ESG study, which tapped the views of more than 400 asset managers in most regions including Australia…

Central bank largesse lubricated the relatively squeak-free ride of the global asset management industry through the COVID-19 crisis to date, but liquidity risks remain high, according to a new Amundi Asset Management report. In a ‘blue paper’ published last week, Amundi says only 117 out of the 35,000 funds sold in Europe froze redemptions since…

Global fund back-office connector, Calastone, has sold a majority stake to US private equity player, The Carlyle Group. In a release last week, the UK-headquartered Calastone said the deal would see Carlyle acquire most current shares including those held by venture capital firms Octopus Ventures and Accel. Post the takeover, Calastone management, headed by Julien…

The MSCI group has launched a swathe of indices for the Australian market, its first single-country domestic indices outside the US. There are 52 Australian indices to choose from on top of custom indices, the first two of which are about to be launched by a big super fund. As well as a full range…

The $44 billion State Super NSW fund has made its first single-country market investment outside Australia, into an ‘All China’ equities strategy managed by Ninety One. The rare allocation and precise choice of mandate were focused on risk mitigation, according to State Super. State Super, an old NSW public service fund is closed to new…

Federated Hermes Investors is sharpening its focus on the Asia Pacific region, with the establishment of a subsidiary in Sydney, with a new head of distribution for Australia and New Zealand, and the recruitment of two new sales directors for its Singapore office. New strategies from US parent Federated Investors are expected to follow. Federated…

by David Chaplin The almost NZ$50 billion (A$46.7 billion) NZ Superannuation Fund has made several changes to its manager line-up and asset allocation over the last year including taking a $1.6 billion bond portfolio in-house. Northern Trust and BlackRock were the biggest losers. According to the NZ Super annual report released last week (October 21),…

The separation of qualitative from quantitative analysis and ratings at Morningstar, the global giant research, ratings and funds management company, goes way back, prior even to its expansion into Australia and New Zealand more than 20 years ago. That separation is now to end, at least at leadership level. The amalgamation of the two is…

As super funds still struggle to build and manage their own better pension products, conscious of the ticking demographic clock, one of the key aspects to doing so will be the establishment of the most appropriate benchmark. Parametric runs through the possibilities. In a brief research note, ‘Income Targeting in a Retirement Portfolio – too…

After 35 years in the super industry and having recently turned 60, Geoff Peck is to retire in December from Chant West, where he is head of client services. He is proud of the industry in which he spent his career. While most of his career – apart from the early years and the last…