News

by Greg Bright The cash holdings of big super funds outweigh any projected drawdowns because of the Government’s $20,000 early-release program for disadvantaged members by a big factor, according to figures compiled by Rainmaker Information. In fact, super funds have nearly $400 billion in ‘allocated’ cash and even more in ‘operational’ cash held mainly by…

by Alex Dunnin* In an endeavour to calm down the speculation around the COVID crisis and super fund liquidity, Rainmaker Information compiled a tally of March investment returns from 15 MySuper products run by not for profit (NFP) funds that declare daily unit prices or daily crediting rates. The results are that, in March, NFP super funds…

In 1999, towards the end of the internet bubble, there was a lot of talk about people now being able to work from home and, perhaps, being more productive and happier in their jobs, sounding the death knell for mainstream office space. It didn’t happen. Will it happen this time after we come through COVID-19?…

by Greg Bright Jim Savage and I were collaborating on an analytical article to attempt to ascertain the importance of luck in funds management. Suddenly, we may not be able to meet in person again for six months or more. But David Walsh, the gambler of MONA fame, has come to the rescue. His last…

Graeme Russell, the soon-to-retire chief executive of Media Super, has seen it all. On July 1, 2008, for instance, he was a trustee director of what was then JUST Super and a director of what was then the timber industry fund TISS. On that day, he was involed in two concurrent mergers with five funds…

by Denis Carroll* Group consensus is an amazing thing. How many times in the recent past, up until COVID-19 hit, have we heard expert commentators and fund managers tell us everything was looking good for a global recovery? Prior to the pandemic, the US continued to look strong going forward, Europe was making moderate gains…

Selvie Shaqiri has three main aims at her new job for Goal Group of Companies, running the APAC business for the global securities class actions recovery and withholding tax reclamation company: strengthen client engagement, improve efficiencies, and expand the business. Class actions are becoming big business around the world and especially in Australia, which has…

In 2011, professor John Cochrane of the University of Chicago came up with the term “factor zoo”. A fan of factor investing, he felt, however, it had become “too much of a good thing”. Since about that time, the growth in new factor strategies purporting to deliver excess returns from systematic investing techniques has accelerated….

In times of crisis value managers offer some comfort. They can see the silver lining, the light at the end of the tunnel, which other managers tend not to see. At this time of crisis, value managers, surely, after several years of underperformance, are about to come into their own. In a note to clients…

For a slightly different take on the same theme, GQG Partners, another US-based global manager, says that, to a certain extent, everyone is a value investor. No-one wants to over-pay for stocks, whether they seem ‘cheap’ or ‘glamourous’. Entry price is important across all styles. Rajiv Jain, the GQG founder, chair and CIO, says in…

by David Chaplin* Fixed income managers are latching on to the environmental, social and governance (ESG) trend pioneered among their equity counterparts “with a sense of urgency”, a new Russell Investments paper argues. The study authored by Russell global fixed income investment research director Yoshie Phillips, says over the last couple of years there has…

by Greg Bright After several years of shareholder complaints, customer complaints and a Royal Commission which also snared the big four banks plus AMP, IOOF is now in the firing line from Shine Lawyers in the latest big class action in Australian financial services. Shine, which has mounted several major class actions in recent years,…