Analysis

Adopting a robo-advice platform will increase member contributions as well as investment-option performance, while improving diversification, according to a study of French savings plans. While the buzz surrounding its introduction just over 10 years ago has abated, an increasing body of research is building on the value of robo-advice. More than a marketing tool for…

The next iteration for the private equity sector, long-time best performer among alternatives, is for general partners to combine the operations of their portfolio companies to boost flagging returns. Karim Khairallah, a senior managing director and co-portfolio manager at Oaktree Capital in London, and François Mann Quirici, a founding partner at Nexus Associates, also in London,…

Like all big investors, global asset managers have to have a view on China. Most also have a view on alternatives, even if seen only as competition to traditional investment management. Against this backdrop, UBS Asset Management held its inaugural global investor conference, virtually, last month (May 19-20), in which many discussions inevitably led to…

Private capital has shot away from the rest of the alternatives sector in the past few years and did well enough during the worst of the pandemic to support long-term growth predictions. A webinar organised by the Australian Investment Council, in association with researcher Preqin, last week (June 10) provided some colour around the annual…

The NZ Government will release climate risk scenario guidance for the financial and corporate sectors by year-end to support impending new carbon reporting standards. Alex White, Ministry for the Environment (MFE) sustainable finance team leader, told a funds industry gathering in Auckland last week that the in-production scenario analyses would help NZ investors better understand…

Sovereign Wealth Funds are embracing more active roles in domestic economies and sustainability while building on relationships with the private capital industry, according to research by Preqin and Baker McKenzie. A study, ‘Sovereign Wealth Funds in Motion’, was published last week (June 2) by alternative assets data provider Preqin, in partnership with global law firm Baker McKenzie.  The prominence of sovereign wealth…

Karl O’Shaughnessy, former hedge fund manager and head of foreign exchange for NAB, has been battling his concerns about FX trading for more than 25 years. He is now advising institutional investors on how to improve their returns. O’Shaughnessy recently formed SuperClear FX, an advisory business which also offers wholesale clients an implementation ‘product’, which…

“When it comes to both real estate and infrastructure there are a lot of things which are going to change,” says Kumar Kalyanakumar, the head of real assets in Australia for AXA Investment Managers. According to Kumar, covid-19 is a “punctuation mark” in history and he believes events like this cause us to re-prioritise our…

With records still being set by both equities and bond markets, investor uncertainty abounds. It would seem these times are made for both active management and experience. With bond markets, the possibility of higher inflation, especially in the US, prompts fears of rising interest rates and therefore falling prices, with investors looking further into the…

Six years after the Paris agreement on climate change action, most of the institutional investment world and the majority of major countries agree on what needs to be done. COP26 represents a gear shift. Being billed by some investors, including Paris-based global manager Amundi Asset Management, as a “make it or break it Moment”, the…

While Australia’s birth rate continued to slide during the height of covid-19 and immigration came to a halt, a portfolio manager at Martin Currie has recently been studying pre-natal medical records. Against a worldwide trend, and Australia’s multi-year pattern, the early indicators are that the rate of natural population growth is set to pick up….

The rise in impact investing in the past few years has been spurred along by the rise in ESG investing generally, which in turn has been spurred along by climate-conscious investing. For fund flows, climate wins hands down. Nuveen, the active funds management arm of TIAA in the US, is one of the oldest and…