Analysis

by David Chaplin* Fixed income managers are latching on to the environmental, social and governance (ESG) trend pioneered among their equity counterparts “with a sense of urgency”, a new Russell Investments paper argues. The study authored by Russell global fixed income investment research director Yoshie Phillips, says over the last couple of years there has…

Australia, for once, is one of the top countries in its budgetary response to the current crisis, at more than 10 per cent of GDP in federal government-promised spending. The Australian States and Territories have added to this amount. It’s probably around 15-16 per cent in total. How do we recover that money when the…

In the current circumstances big funds are likely to have to sell at least some illiquid assets, presenting them with an operational issue. Enter the aptly named Melting Point Solutions, a San Francisco-based global specialist broker, represented in Australia and New Zealand by Allen Partners. Scott Riedel, an Allen Partners partner, says that there are…

A total of about 260 global asset owners, including 30-odd Australian fiduciary investors, completed a survey instituted by research and asset manager allocation firm bfinance late last week on how they are responding to the current COVID-9 crisis. We are more pessimistic than most other big investors. The survey also asked whether they were satisfied with…

Research Affiliates, the company which some folks think invented smart beta, even though they didn’t call it that back then, is expanding in Australasia. But its founder, Rob Arnott, is pre-occupied at the moment. Research Affiliates (RA) spends a lot of time looking at risks. And there’s a big one happening at the moment. Arnott,…

by Greg Bright A move away from the reliance on traditional strategic asset allocation as the overarching strategy for big investors and towards the use of a ‘total portfolio approach’, will deliver an additional return of between 0.5 and 1.0 per cent a year, according to new research. Roger Urwin, Global Head of Investment Content…

On a day of celebration for the late Mavis Robertson’s achievements in the advancement of women in the super industry, along with her many other achievements, today (March 2), Morningstar is publishing a report on the progress of gender diversity in the industry over the past 20 years. In a nutshell: it’s zero progress. The…

A group of three big global managers has linked up to promote the benefits of active management in Australia and New Zealand, ahead of what is generally expected to be a sharemarket correction sometime soon. Active managers have been through a rough time in the past two years. In the inevitable downturn, they should shine…

An often-expressed criticism of the ESG investing space, mainly by institutional investors, is the lack of robust benchmarks and/or ratings from independent bodies. ESG investing is complex. A new study by Research Affiliates indicates just how much work the industry needs to do to improve accountability. The study by Dr Feifi Li and fellow researcher…

AMP Capital, a big funds manager, has enjoined the asset servicing sector of the industry in seeking out opportunities for enhanced returns and better efficiencies through data analytics. Perhaps ironically, it’s the chair of the hedge fund group AIMA Australia – Alistair Rew – who is leading AMP’s charge in the field. Rew normally tends…

When Laurence Bailey, then head of Chase Manhattan (now J.P. Morgan) in Australasia, backed the embryonic Australian Custodial Services Association, formed by a former National Australia Bank asset services manager, John Gall, in 1996, he had some big aspirations. Gall was the first secretary of the nascent organisation and Bailey decided custodians deserved to make…

When blockchain burst into being more than 10 years ago it was heralded as the ultimate digital safe house for financial services (and everything else). But as a new report from global financial back-office giant Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) reveals, blockchain – also known as ‘distributed ledger technology’ (DLT) – is no set-and-forget…