Analysis

Aviva Investors last week (November 30) launched an Australian-domiciled global equities fund for institutional investors, targeting alpha from companies that are either providing solutions to climate change or transitioning their business models for a low-carbon economy. The strategy is based on the firm’s European version of the fund. The Climate Transition Global Equity Fund, which…

Australia and New Zealand have scored the highest in the latest annual ESG ratings by GRESB, the leading data collector and assessment organisation for property and infrastructure. ‘Oceania’ was first, followed by Asia, then Europe, then the ‘Americas’. GRESB (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) says in its annual global real estate assessment, published in Amsterdam…

Australia’s asset servicing market has broadened to such an extent that to call it ‘custody’ no longer does it justice. Its evolution over the past three decades, culminating in a deft handling of the pandemic’s impact, has left modern-day custodians in their strongest position ever. This, perhaps dramatic, view does not come from the custodians…

Early research on ethnicity as well as gender by Willis Towers Watson should significantly broaden the discussion about potential economic benefits from improved diversity among boards and management at super funds, corporates and other organisations. In the first public airing of its latest thoughts on what it terms ‘cognitive diversity’, Willis Towers Watson (WTW) says:…

Research Affiliates, US-based global quant manager which has established offices in Sydney and Melbourne in the past couple of years, has called for compulsory changes in the way companies report carbon emissions to assist the investment world make more informed decisions about responses to the impact of climate change. Vitali Kalesnik, partner and European director…

About half of institutional asset owner costs get lost in the wash, according to a new study by CEM Benchmarking. An analysis of 24 large global asset owners representing over US$4.4 trillion found 49 per cent of investment costs were unreported. “Our research indicates that, at best, only half of true total investment management costs…

Australia has a long way to go to catch up to its major trading partners in its planned spend on new infrastructure, notwithstanding Prime Minister Morrison’s pledge of $100 billion over the next 10 years. This should be something for investors to savour, as well as those who benefit from the multiplier effect for employment….

As super funds still struggle to build and manage their own better pension products, conscious of the ticking demographic clock, one of the key aspects to doing so will be the establishment of the most appropriate benchmark. Parametric runs through the possibilities. In a brief research note, ‘Income Targeting in a Retirement Portfolio – too…

Almost half of the top 500 global fund manager brands have disappeared in the last decade, the latest Thinking Ahead Institute annual review of the sector has found. A total of 232 names on the 2009 list of 500 largest asset managers were not on the 2019 list. Pre-dating the COVID-19 crisis, the Thinking Ahead…

Companies are increasingly making low-carbon investments, not only to reduce emissions and costs, but also to take advantage of revenue opportunities. When you step back and look at what’s required to reach the targets already set, massive disruption and investment means major business opportunities. The 189 parties to the Agreement, which took effect in November…

One of the great unanswerable questions for investors over the past 10 years is why value investing, the tried-and-true performer since it was identified in the 1930s but probably used innately well before, has stayed out of whack for so long. The chorus bemoaning value’s plight just gets louder and louder. But there are signs…

Big super funds appear to have taken at least one government change to their overall operations in their stride – the compulsion to hold a member annual meeting, with the first necessary before March next year. Some, such as AustralianSuper, CareSuper and UniSuper, have already been holding regular large meetings for members for years, as…