Analysis

Australian super funds seem to be well ahead of their international counterparts in terms of engagement with members if the response to a presentation by Empirics Data Solutions chief executive, Darrell Ludowyke, at a global CEM Benchmarking conference is any guide. Ludowyke presented at the conference in Chicago earlier this month – an annual event…

Good investment performance used to be all a fund manager needed to deliver. It’s still essential, but it is no longer a sufficient ingredient for success, according to Joe Sullivan, the president and chief executive of multi-affiliate manager Legg Mason Global Asset Management. Sullivan visited Australia last week to speak at Legg Mason symposiums in…

The odds are that the overall market returns from emerging market debt strategies – their beta – will be more subdued in the next couple of years than the recent past. But the allocations are just as necessary for yield-hungry investors. Here’s what one specialist manager suggests investors should do. Denise Simon, who has been…

Here’s an article for the serious quants. But, it should also be one for all of us. There is so much jargon surrounding factor investing, smart beta and passive management, including the increasing use of ETFs, that it is hard, if not impossible for ordinary institutional investors to get a handle on the trends. Research…

Australia’s Local Government Super has moved up to number one in the world for asset owners in dealing with the risks associated with climate change, according to the latest report by the well-regarded AODP organisation. And First State Super has come in third in the world ranking. The AODP (Asset Owners Disclosure Project) fifth annual…

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…

All managers are aware of the behavioural biases that most investors exhibit and how to bet against them. Not many, though, concentrate their whole philosophy on those biases. ClariVest Asset Management, however, does so and with considerable success. ClariVest, which is a US-based boutique that started in 2006, focuses on the interaction between a company’s…

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…

Reflecting the growing influence of SMSF trustees on the investment management landscape, Shed Media today launches a newsletter catering for this market – ‘The Rub’. Starting with an email-push distribution base of more than 33,000 investors and accountants who administer SMSFs, the newsletter will provide weekly news and information dedicated to the interests of individual…

The big challenge for industry and other not-for-profit super funds is to “keep the flame and the motivation alive and not let their culture die”, Garry Weaven said last week. It was clear from his short talk at an AIST lunch in Sydney that he has not lost that flame. The lunch included the launch…

Commodities as an asset class have always inspired vigorous discussion, from academics who question the risk premia to investors who are wary of the relatively short cycles. But the current environment is looking very good, at least on the cyclical front. Two of Australia’s most experienced commodities specialists, brothers Andrew and Mathew Kaleel, believe that…