Analysis

For many years super funds have been frustrated by managers who claim to have proprietary information in their processes. When revealed, the info is often no more than what is currently referred to as “smart beta”. Now, we can devolve these processes and highlight new strategies to explore. According to a new research paper by…

AIA, group insurer for some of Australia’s largest super funds, is having considerable success by taking an holistic approach to mental and physical wellbeing designed to focus on prevention, knowledge and awareness, as well as rehabilitation. The insurer, which has worked with various mental health organisations for many years, including the not-for-profit-fund-backed SuperFriend, recently launched…

Non-financial factors are likely to be integrated into the investment research and portfolio construction processes of institutional investors for “pretty much everybody” over the next five-to-10 years, according to Jens Peers, an expert on the subject. But, for Australian funds, too, there is still a way to go. Australian super funds rightly pride themselves on…

A large majority of asset owners in the Asia Pacific region, including Australia – 90 per cent – say they will go beyond negative screening and look to achieve better ESG integration in the next two years, according to a global survey by State Street Global Advisors. The survey showed that asset owners in APAC…

Liquid US infrastructure investing, which began its resurgence long before Donald Trump became President, is now being upgraded in proposed asset allocations for ‘foreign’, such as Australian, institutional investors. This is the latest research Eaton Vance Investment Managers has produced specifically for Australian investors which shows where US municipal bonds (muni bonds) can fit into a…

Big investors are lifting their exposures to risk assets but a lot of them – about half – think they will also have to reduce their return expectations going forward, according to the latest survey of institutional investors by the multi-affiliate manager Natixis Global Asset Management. The survey, conducted late last year by the Sydney-based research…

by David Chaplin A new study has found backing just average active global equity funds managers can pay off – but only for institutional investors. According to the just-published research, co-authored by Russell Investments Asia-Pacific senior investment strategist, Graham Harman, the 143 global equity funds in the study sample outperformed their benchmark on average by…

by Greg Bright Investment managers have forever been looking for new models with which to work. And, according to John Goetz, there is an unlimited number of factors which can go to make up those models. But models can’t do everything. The New York-based managing principal and co-CIO of global value manager Pzena Investment Management…

Comment by Patrick Liddy* The last few weeks have witnessed an interesting debate on energy reliability in Australia, although this debate is also happening around the world. It has exposed the inconvenient facts around renewables, regulation and market failure. And provided us with a bit of political entertainment in the process. It has also brought…

As big super funds insource more of their investment management they will probably be changing the way they think about their whole portfolio. A new research paper provides some interesting insights into the relationship between individual manager skill and total portfolio returns. The research, by implementation manager Parametric, goes to support the use of centralised portfolio…

By Emily Gordon* Data can be a powerful enabler of change, particularly when transparent, as we’re seeing when it comes to driving gender-diversity change and corporate-culture reform. It is an historical moment for markets when the ‘push’ for gender diversity becomes a ‘pull,’ as growing sets of data reveal the adopters from the laggards. Further,…

The financial services industry will lose its emotional connection with thousands of members and clients unless it finds new ways to stop advisers from prematurely retiring ahead of the introduction of the Life Insurance Framework, according to a white paper by ClearView. Titled ‘What’s old is new again’, the paper claims many mature advisers in their…