Analysis

In its latest quarterly statement on monetary policy, the Reserve Bank of Australia declared its preparedness to “ease monetary policy further if needed”.

by Greg Bright In an important and timely report published last week, Adviser Ratings, a research and advice firm which studies both individual financial advisors and the overall retail advice sector, has confirmed massive changes ahead. The changes will affect the whole super industry. The report, ‘Adviser Musical Chairs Report’, says that total advisor numbers…

Value is poised for a major comeback that could “generate some of the best returns in a quarter century”, according to a recent research paper by US quantitative and multi-asset shop, QMA. The study, published last month, says value stocks have been heavily beaten down over the last 18 months despite underlying fundamentals that belie…

As most psychologists will say: you should fret only about things which you can influence. For super funds and their managers, that tends to be about costs rather than revenue. The big costs are tax and implementation costs. They may be problematic, but they are at least under your control. According to a new paper…

Ausbil Investment Management has become the first Australian company to sign the landmark ‘Investor Declaration on Plastic Pollution’. The global declaration pledges to find solutions to the worldwide problem through corporate commitments, programs and policies. MÃ¥ns Carlsson-Sweeny, the head of ESG research at Ausbil, said: “This is an active engagement approach with the major users of plastic…

Over the last year, 10-year German Bund yields have gradually declined. Investor sentiment deteriorated over the course of this period as the US-China trade dispute dragged on, taking global growth down with it.

What’s the purpose of a business? For a long time, the textbook answer to that question has been purely “to make as much money as possible for its shareholders”. But business leaders – who often themselves get huge payouts from this model – are beginning to challenge this orthodoxy.

by Greg Bright In the rapidly developing world of class actions, involving recovery of losses by investors and other affected parties, recent trends are impacting the industry. Here are some of them. With more cases being brought before the courts, in Australia and elsewhere, Financial Recovery Technologies (FRT), a global firm which specialises in shareholder…

BGL Corporate Solutions, a leading developer of ASIC corporate compliance and SMSF administration software and systems, is “incredibly concerned” by ASIC’s ‘Are SMSFs for you?’ letter to self-managed fund trustees. In a statement last week, on October 24, Ron Lesh, BGL’s managing director, said: “The document, in our opinion, contains numerous calculation and logic errors….

The unwillingness of the major (and other) banks to immediately cut their headline mortgage rates by as much as the Reserve Bank cuts its cash rate always attracts bad press, as well as condemnation from treasurers and prime ministers.

The debate about whether compulsory employer superannuation contributions should be increased from the current level of 9.5 per cent is constantly simmering, waiting for the next opportunity to boil over.

If you’ve seen the movie The Big Short you will remember Christian Bale’s quirky character Michael Burry – the manager of the Scion Capital hedge fund who realises the US mortgage-backed security market is a massive bubble. He goes on to make a fortune by betting on its crash.