Analysis

Your Future, Your Super makes it harder for funds to push deeper into some sustainable investment strategies, but has “counter-intuitively” resulted in funds looking to take a more complex approach to stewardship.

Finance minister Katy Gallagher has confirmed that she held informal talks with the sovereign wealth fund’s Board of Guardians amidst speculation its mandate could be changed to align it with the transition to net zero.

Family offices are a lucrative target for cybercriminals, but few have a plan for dealing with attacks, even in the face of steep reputational, operational and financial damage.

Super funds have been able to earn “enormously good returns” from strong economic tailwinds and a calm geopolitical backdrop, but that period of stability is now at an end, and they’ll have to adapt to a more uncertain world.

Single default balanced options still rule superannuation even as it becomes increasingly clear that every member needs an investment strategy that more closely matches their age and risk profile.

Global equities, machine learning mandates and trend following in cocoa markets helped NZ Super to generate 14.9 per cent for the year, but the fund just undershot its own benchmark even as it remains ahead of return expectations.

Institutional investors have gotten more sophisticated, and so have the asset consultants they look to for advice. But as those consultants push deeper into the lucrative wealth and family office segments, can they keep product conflicts from getting in the way?

The benchmarks that are supposed to measure performance and create alignment with end investors are working against asset managers, and the industry must find new ways to demonstrate value before it’s too late, according to MFS.

The use of outsourced trading could be the “future state” for everything from massive sovereign wealth funds down to investment minnows, but lingering concerns about loss of control and connectivity are an obstacle to further uptake.

Global pension funds posted an atypical aggregate net below-benchmark annual investment performance during 2023, with the shortfall largely attributable to increased use of private markets assets.

When you’re handing out billion-dollar mandates, managers will “part the sea for you”. But there’s more than just returns to be weighed when answering the question of what makes a good external manager relationship.

Member switching and top-down regulation mean Australia’s super funds will face more bumps on the road to the “Canadian model” of heavy private markets allocations than the Maple Eight pensions they’re so keen on aping.