News

The Actuaries Institute has been holding its annual conference over the past three weeks, as other big associations have done. A highlight during last week’s sessions was to do with workers’ mental health issues and what insurance companies are doing. It looks like progress is slow, notwithstanding all that we hear about what employers and…

We’ve all heard plenty of jokes about actuaries. “They’re like accountants but with less personality…” That sort of thing. According to Jas Singh, who works with a lot of actuaries, many of the jokes suggest they are naturally pessimistic. If that’s the case, right now, there is no choice but to be optimistic – in…

New Zealand ethical investing analysis website Mindful Money has channelled about NZ$10 million (A$9.7 million) into its approved KiwiSaver funds over the last 12 months. In a new report published last week, Mindful Money says it “has set a target of NZ$50 million for year two”. “Anecdotal evidence from investors and fund providers suggests that…

Following its re-signing by Telstra Super in July, J.P. Morgan has won the asset servicing business of the $16 billion CareSuper away from incumbent NAB Asset Servicing. Both were competitive tenders, but the latest decision was more of a surprise. And it was a long, drawn-out process. A statement from Care last week (August 19)…

by Greg Bright Except for a couple of well-known cases, Australia’s fourth-largest super fund system in the world has eschewed venture capital as an investment. And, to make matters worse, any money the big funds have spent in recent years has tended to go offshore. We wonder why Israel has become the new Silicon Valley….

Schroders has had a good-size presence in Australia for a long time, since the 1960s in fact, with investment banking first, and, more importantly in the past 50-or-so years, funds management. The family controlled British company dates back to the first half of the 19th century. But it is not set in its ways. Private…

The longer-term risks are well-enough known, according to the speakers at last Friday’s Portfolio Construction Forum (August 14) virtual conference. The problem is they are not getting a lot of attention. COVID-19 is both a wake-up call and a reason we have recently become so short-term focused. What starts out looking like a non-financial risk…

Perhaps a major risk for media outlets is to spend too much time examining the risks associated with COVID-19 and not enough time on everything else going on in the world, which is analogous with the Portfolio Construction Form search for the “next big shock” (report this edition). Research Affiliates has done an analysis of…

by David Chaplin AMP Capital will swing towards more-lucrative private markets as its ASX-listed financial services parent seeks to regroup after a disastrous couple of years. In a move that will see a reorientation of its listed markets fund business, Francesco De Ferrari, AMP’s chief executive, outlined the new private asset strategy for AMP Capital…

It is clear that COVID-19 will have a lasting impact on the way that all businesses, including funds management and wealth management, will operate beyond when, hopefully soon, the pandemic has abated. One of the impacts will be to accelerate the use of digital services. A new white paper, by digital player Infosys, has outlined…

Maryann Mannix-White, AIST’s chief membership officer, is leaving the organisation having held a variety of senior executive roles, including the general manager role, for more than 15 years. She will leave on October 7 and is looking forward to a holiday before deciding on her next adventure. During her time at AIST, Maryann drove the…

Integrated Portfolio Solutions has appointed Damien Hatfield, one of the founders of the hedge fund industry in Australia who, more recently has focused on marketing a range of alternative and some traditional investment strategies for big and small providers, as the newest member of its board. Integrated Portfolio Solutions (IPS) is a low-cost platform which…