Analysis

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…

“If it ain’t broke, then break it” is not a bad way of thinking for active fund managers – not just contrarians and value managers; all active managers. And, it seems, journalists can help with that thought process. According to Matthew Benkendorf, the CIO and managing director of global manager Vontobel Asset Management, his portfolio…

Here’s a party trick: how many factors are there? Most investment professionals can name a dozen or so. Chris Briant, the managing director of Parametric Portfolio Associates in Australia, believes there are at least “several hundred” but only a handful that really matter. Parametric, the global specialist implementation manager, has recently started to push its…

Passive investing could pose a threat to global financial stability if the sector’s growth continues unabated, according to a new International Monetary Fund (IMF) study, published last week. In an updated chapter to its ‘Global Financial Stability’ report, the IMF says the prolonged low-rates, low-return period has given a tailwind to the “already remarkable growth”…

Sam Mann, the hedge fund manager who set up the former K2 Advisors in Australia, has now established his own business in partnership with Ironbark Asset Management. Mann, the chief executive, and Andrew Flitcroft, the chief operating officer, have established Longreach Alternatives, which is providing a range of bespoke alternatives strategies for the retail, family…

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…

Brandywine Global Investment Management should know a lot about the Australian institutional market, for which it manages about US$4.4 billion. Big super funds are worried about China and they’re worried about currency. But things are looking up. On a regular visit to Australia, Tad Fetter, Brandywine director and head of business development and client service…

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…

A ‘lower-for-longer’ environment, as it has come to be known, has prompted various responses from big investors, including going out the risk curve. Increasingly popular, though, is the use of single-manager multi-asset strategies. Multi-asset funds can incorporate non-market directional strategies which can provide an absolute return and/or downside protection. In the case of Insight Investments’…

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…

Big super funds tend to take comfort in the knowledge their international fund managers and global custodians will satisfy requirements in relation to new European regulations – and there are a lot of them – without too much fuss or flow-on costs. But MiFID II may hit home more directly than they think. And some…