News

The new kid on the block in super fund administration, IRESS, formerly known, in the institutional space mainly for its information software and individual investor services, has picked up another big super fund client. It has just won a competitive tender away from Mercer Outsourcing. The recent win, of the $2 billion and 80,000-member Guild…

Most, if not all, the big asset servicing firms are diversifying their offerings to fund managers and pension funds, moving from their traditional space in the backoffice through the middle office and to the front office. Northern Trust last week announced a potentially major deal with BlackRock to provide new services to its Aladdin information…

Comment Do we need to have to change the Government to get any sense from try-hard politicians? Tim Wilson MP has grabbed onto the coattails of the likes of Senator Andrew Bragg, last week suggesting HostPlus has a “conflict of interest” because it invests in infrastructure assets through a company in which it has a…

In an appropriately timed session at CMSF 2020’s virtual conference, IFM Investors sponsored the investment sessions, available last week, including ‘The Changing Face of Risk Governance’. It is obvious risk is complex. It would be good if Tim Wilson downloads it. Chaired by David Carruthers, principal consultant at Frontier Advisors, the session showed how funds…

The looming recession or possibly the current one – we will find out when the numbers come in – is expected to be both deeper and broader than the global financial crisis. For Australia, we don’t have a China story to save us this time. In fact, China may have a disproportionately negative impact on…

Conference producers are coming up with some innovative solutions to deal with their revenue slump because of lockdown rules. People who would not ordinarily participate in a webinar are now doing so regularly. Conference producer Fund Business has gone further, launching a new fortnightly series of industry discussions: ‘Leading Minds’. Fund Business, the leading producer…

by David Chaplin* Listed funds management businesses have emerged relatively unscathed from the first round of COVID-19 market disruption, according to research from consultancy firm Casey Quirk, a Deloitte subsidiary. The Casey Quirk study found median revenue among a group of 19 publicly listed asset managers fell just 6.7 per cent over the March 2020…

The US equities low-volatility index saw a record shake-up in constituents during the coronavirus market crisis, a new S&P Dow Jones analysis shows. At the latest low-volatility index three-month rebalancing date, on May 15, 64 stocks “rotated out” of the S&P 500 Low Volatility Index. “For context, the median annual turnover [of the low vol…

This year’s CMSF event, which typically attracts 1,200-1,300 industry participants, has gone virtual this year. The program includes 30 sessions and more than 24 hours of viewing. It is a mix of pre-recorded ‘download on demand’ sessions and live to air. And it’s very cheap to attend. In the first live session, entitled ‘Leadership Lowdown’,…

Martin Currie, the Australian and global active equity specialist, has called on other asset managers to create coalitions in order to drive change in the way firms and their clients invest. “Group efforts multiply the value of ESG investing”, Martin Currie, says, having been a leader in that space for many years. In its recently…

Russell Investments has published the results from a 3,000-member survey of working Australians which support the firm’s plans to launch a more sophisticated investment strategy for everyone approaching, or in, retirement. It will take account of personal goals as well as assets outside of super. The new service will be launched within the next couple…

State Street has seen a spike in interest, by fund managers and pensions funds in the region, in outsourcing their trading activities in recent months. The uplift appears to have been prompted by COVID-19 and the aim to reduce risk. Michele Hardeman, State Street’s Hong Kong-based head of global markets for Asia Pacific, has written…