Analysis

Once a stalking horse for a small cabal of noisy backbenchers, “Home First, Super Second” has found its way into the Coalition’s policy arsenal ahead of an unpredictable election.

The emissions intensity of the ASX has some investors with a home country bias looking for an exclusionary approach. But decarbonising Aussie equities isn’t as simple as ditching them.

As the super funds race towards massive size, the sector is still grappling with the positives and negatives for investments and culture.

A survey of 50 global pension funds shows that many are losing hope of achieving their net-zero goals, and the sector is still “in the foothills” of the transition.

While the media they use have been in a state of constant disruption for at least 25 years, the noble arts of sales and marketing remain steadfast in pursuit their goals. Next month’s MAX Awards will tell us how they are faring.

There’s not much growth ahead of the large-caps that have dominated indices for the last decade, and long-suffering small- and mid-caps (SMIDs) present an obvious answer for returns.

Big super’s long march toward the future will be fruitful. But adopting the Canadian Model of pension management means coming to grips with the dual questions of legitimacy and governance.

AMP Capital is effectively no more, sold off to a menagerie of domestic and international managers. But the challenge of turning AMP around has barely begun. The wretched story of AMP’s attempts to spin off its asset management arm, AMP Capital, has perhaps commanded more attention than even the savaging the wealth business received during…

Big super seems to be experiencing an identity crisis. But former federal treasurer Wayne Swan has provided a unifying vision for Australia’s gargantuan pool of retirement savings. Former federal treasurer Wayne Swan’s speech at ASFA’s 2022 conference comes as super experiences something of an identity crisis. Executives are fretting over how to maintain their culture…

The appetite for risk assets is turning negative, and the world’s largest investors are scurrying away from emerging market equities and debt amidst a rising tide of woe. Few would have predicted that the initial Covid market crash – in which it was determined, once and for all, that the windows on Wall Street don’t…

Australia’s superannuation funds are now parking member money further and further away from their old backyard. But a more divisive world presents them with challenges they’ve not faced before. It’s perhaps unsurprising that the opening of ASFA’s 2022 conference was dominated by conversations usually reserved for the war room. The rapid divestment from Russia –…

While exclusionary strategies seem to be rising in popularity, super funds should think about how to create a “just transition, not just a transition.” “Divestment should always be the last port of call, not the first port of call,” says Andrew White, director – climate risk, financial services at global consultancy Baringa Partners. “It’s critically…