Analysis

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…

State Street has seen a spike in interest, by fund managers and pensions funds in the region, in outsourcing their trading activities in recent months. The uplift appears to have been prompted by COVID-19 and the aim to reduce risk. Michele Hardeman, State Street’s Hong Kong-based head of global markets for Asia Pacific, has written…

In a letter sent to employees late in April, Aon chief, Gregory Case, says 70 per cent of the firm’s staff around the world will take a reduction of approximately 20 per cent of salary, which will be implemented in accordance with local practices. But proposed merger partner, Willis Towers Watson, is not following suit….

Historically, it’s been assumed that the economic multiplier of a fiscal stimulus is about 0.5, but recent work indicates it can be much higher than this in depressed times, such as the current conditions, according to a research note by Amundi Asset Management. In its latest research note in its ‘Thematic Views’ series, Amundi, the…

AXA Investment Managers has shown that, in the coronavirus crisis, funds and strategies which have an ESG bent outperformed those that didn’t. This is intuitive. The client note supports the notion that an observance to ESG principles adds value for investors, especially in market downturns. It’s mainly a risk thing. The AXA-IM note, authored by…