Analysis

UBS Wealth Management last week (July 17) launched its annual ‘Global Family Office Report’ for 2020. The big fund manager and global bank surveyed principals and executives in 121 single-family offices around the world. Those family offices handle an average total family wealth of US$1.6 billion. This represents a significantly larger dataset than that of…

by Greg Bright In one of the most stunning corporate failures in recent years, the big German payments fintech company Wirecard AG went into liquidation late last month and is now subject to fraud investigations, including money laundering and even dealing in the armaments trade. It is the first DAX 30 index stock – Germany’s…

After more than 30 years of arguments among and between fund managers, academics and, even, regulators, the passive versus active debate may wax and wane but it remains unresolved across the broad investor audience. In a timely paper, Wellington Management has listed seven concerns about “the push for passive”. The consensus about current market conditions…

by Greg Bright When Research Affiliates set up an Australasian office in mid-2018, it probably knew it would cause a stir. It agreed for Australian Mike Aked to go home to Melbourne to set up the new business. He is country head and head of research and strategy. He was the former head of asset…

by Wietske Blees* Making well-informed investment decisions isn’t easy at the best of times but throw in a pandemic and a decade worth of quantitative easing that’s fuelling a growing disconnect between equity markets and underlying fundamentals, and reliably predicting future growth prospects becomes a significant challenge. A recent ‘Leading Minds’ webcast hosted by Fund…

Fund manager business risks have spiked upwards during the coronavirus crisis with further fall-out likely as the shockwaves reverberate, according to a new paper by Mercer. The firm sees the possibility of casualties and M&A activity, but not yet a widespread collapse of funds management firms. The ‘Riders on the storm’ report, authored by David…

While an estimated four out of five big international investors, including Australian super funds, gain their China equities exposures through emerging markets (EM) strategies and funds, a new study by bfinance, the global research and mandates search firm, says that a single-country exposure to China is likely to deliver the best results. More big investors…

AXA Investment Managers, which has been in the sustainable investment space for many years, is ramping up its impact investing – the pointy end of ‘sustainable’ – which aims to make a difference to society while still turning a good profit. AXA IM has put its money where its mouth is with its fourth global…

Westpac Bank has sold its final 9.5 per cent holding in Pendal Group, after the market closed on June 18, sweeping clean its stake in the business. It will continue to withdraw from the $14 billion in assets that Pendal currently manages for Westpac. The Pendal story would make a good book – and, in…

The increasing flow of money into the ‘impact investments’ asset sector is very pleasing for long-term dedicated participants, such as Nuveen’s co-head of impact, Rekha Unnithan. But there are still industry matters to be dealt with, such as an agreed definition of ‘impact’. One of the issues is that managers who may have previously shown…

by David Chaplin Almost all impact investors hit both monetary and non-financial targets in 2019, according to the 10th annual global survey of the sector. The Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) survey of about 300 investors worldwide, including one in Australia, found that the overwhelming majority of respondents reported meeting or exceeding both their impact…

Martin Currie, the Australian and global active equity specialist, has called on other asset managers to create coalitions in order to drive change in the way firms and their clients invest. “Group efforts multiply the value of ESG investing”, Martin Currie, says, having been a leader in that space for many years. In its recently…