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(pictured: Wylie Tolette) It may be three times bigger than Australia’s largest super fund, but there are still lessons to be learned from its investment and operational strategies by big Australian investors. Here’s why, and how, CalPERS has cut its manager roster by more than 25 per cent. The US$302 billion Californian public sector fund, which…

(pictured: Joachim Fels) The increased danger of deflation, rather than inflation, has prompted commentators such as Joachim Fels, PIMCO managing director and economic advisor, to wonder whether it would be so bad if central banks were no longer independent of government. In a paper produced last week, ‘The Downside of Central Bank Independence’  Fels argues that…

(pictured: Neil Woodford) by David Chaplin Australian and other fund managers would do well to watch the fee disclosure debate currently erupting in the UK. The recent move by high-profile UK manager Neil Woodford to publish all-up fund costs “in an easy-to-find and easy-to read way” has set a new disclosure benchmark. According to Guy Dobson,…

(Pictured: Andrew Bascand) By David Chaplin, Investment News NZ Many shares will need interest rates to stay at record lows forever to justify current prices, according to the latest Harbour Asset Management monthly report in New Zealand. The same applies for Australia. The Harbour note, published last week, says the New Zealand share market is characterised…

(Pictured: Michael Armitage) Shock horror! Milliman says that diversification may not deliver what we have thought it would deliver since way back, since the dawn of Modern Portfolio Theory, when we were kids. A new study……download PDF……. shows that investors need a ‘multi-layered’ approach. Michael Armitage, the Sydney-based head of fund advisory services for consulting…

(Pictured: Tim Murphy) By David Chaplin Real returns achieved by retail investors generally fall below published fund performance figures, a new analysis by Morningstar Research shows. The study, to be published this week, supports the age-old notion of ‘fear and greed’. The analysis by Morningstar head of manager research, Tim Murphy, suggests the ‘fear and…

(Pictured: Fiona Mackenzie) By David Chaplin, Investment News NZ The New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZS) has slimmed down to 36 external managers following its latest mandate cull. The big sovereign wealth fund tends to be a bellwether for others in Australia and New Zealand. After dispatching four real estate investment firms (covering five mandates) last week,…

(Pictured: Bill Priest) The best thing you can say about global, and in particular US, equity markets is that they will probably outperform bonds this year. But that is not saying much. Epoch Investment Partners’ Bill Priest has co-authored an interesting research note on the topic. Priest, Epoch’s chief executive and joint CIO who is…

(Pictured: Sarah Hayward) By David Chaplin and Greg Bright Calastone, the global fund transactions admin company, has established a beachhead in New Zealand with two foundation clients confirmed last week. The expansion will also benefit Australian-based fund managers. Calastone, via its Sydney office, signed up the Auckland investment administration firm MMC and New Zealand’s Public…

By Greg Bright Risk premia and smart beta strategies will quadruple in the next four years, according to a Citi Investor Services survey. Lars Jaeger, a pioneer in the risk premia space, held a roundtable in Australia last week. He says it’s a natural progression. Here’s why. The Citi survey of big pension funds around…

(pictured: David Gallagher) The Centre for International Finance and Regulation, the university-backed and mainly federally funded investment research body, is likely to cease operations at the end of this year following the Government’s failure to renew its funding in last week’s Budget. Professor David Gallagher, CIFR chief executive, wrote to supporters and other stakeholders last Friday…

(pictured: Kevin O’Sullivan, MC Pauline Vamos and Warren Chant; Mark Delaney; Andrew Howard, REST, and Scott Hartley, Sunsuper) The Australian super fund industry is held up as a model for the rest of the world but “in true Australian fashion” we tend to talk down its achievements, according to Warren Chant. The Chant West Awards…