News

The annual MAX Awards, the sales and marketing awards for the funds management industry, will go ahead via live stream video on June 11, complete with an entertaining presenter, comedian Jean Kittson. The 105 finalists across 21 categories were announced last week. The Awards are ‘people’s choice’ style, with all industry participants eligible to vote….

by Wietske Blees* If investment risk professionals spent 2019 preparing for volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous markets, 2020 is proving to be the year in which that ‘VUCA’ environment has materialised. In these “unprecedented” times, how well equipped are risk models to help navigate volatility and predict a reliable distribution of possible future returns? Strictly…

In a letter sent to employees late in April, Aon chief, Gregory Case, says 70 per cent of the firm’s staff around the world will take a reduction of approximately 20 per cent of salary, which will be implemented in accordance with local practices. But proposed merger partner, Willis Towers Watson, is not following suit….

Historically, it’s been assumed that the economic multiplier of a fiscal stimulus is about 0.5, but recent work indicates it can be much higher than this in depressed times, such as the current conditions, according to a research note by Amundi Asset Management. In its latest research note in its ‘Thematic Views’ series, Amundi, the…

by Greg Bright Ahead of this week’s Chant West annual super industry Awards, being held via live stream video on May 14, rather than the usual black-tie dinner, several of the finalists for the top awards speak about the current difficult climate and what the industry has achieved. We have taken the opportunity to profile…

The Chant West Awards presentation, taking place via live video feed on May 14, includes a focus on the long-term sustainability of super funds and the way they invest. There has probably been no better year to adopt such a theme, with the summer from hell being followed by a global health and subsequent financial…

BetaShares has ticked over the $1 billion mark for its three ESG-orientated ETFs. This represents roughly 10 per cent of all of its ETF money and 70 per cent of all the ETF money in ESG and ethical strategies listed on the ASX. The BetaShares story in the ESG space emulates a bigger evolution in…

AXA Investment Managers has shown that, in the coronavirus crisis, funds and strategies which have an ESG bent outperformed those that didn’t. This is intuitive. The client note supports the notion that an observance to ESG principles adds value for investors, especially in market downturns. It’s mainly a risk thing. The AXA-IM note, authored by…

Northern Trust has announced a new service to help institutional investors and their managers analyse their portfolios for ESG factors. It’s available through the big custodian’s Investment Risk & Analytical Services (IRAS) group. According to Serge Boccassini, the senior vice president for global product, accounting and analytics, who has been at Northern for more than…

Applying professional after-tax management in the transitioning of portfolios by super funds can save at least 30bps in the portfolio’s change-over costs, according to new research by Parametric, the specialist implementation manager. Transition managers don’t always look closely at after-tax impacts. The research report, ‘The Sting in the Transition Tail’ says that both specialist transition…

by David Chaplin, with Greg Bright* AMP confirmed last week that it officially ended an almost two-year long mission to offload its ‘manage for value’ NZ wealth business. In the process, David Murray, AMP chair, managed to bemuse the industry with a call for more pay for the beleaguered company’s senior executives. As previously reported,…

JANA Investment Advisers, the staff-controlled associated company within the NAB group of investment management and advice offerings, is making a major foray into the wholesale market, expanding on a beachhead established last year. JANA, which was previously fully owned by NAB but, since 2017, 55 per cent owned by staff, launched its first set of…