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Chant West has introduced a new category of awards in its upcoming 2017 Awards assessment, to be presented at a black-tie dinner at Sydney’s Ivy Ballroom on May 24. The new award is ‘Best Fund: Advice Services’. Warren Chant, Chant West director said there was good reason to introduce the new award. “Increasingly, it’s the…

Women in Super and AGSM @UNSW Business School announced their annual scholarship program for 2017 at the Women in Super NSW lunch last week, which featured David Neal, Future Fund chief executive, as guest speaker. The scholarship offers NSW WIS members the opportunity to attend one of AGSM’s Executive Education programs to further their learning…

One of the ways investment firms can avoid herding and therefore promote investment outperformance is through their organisations’ culture and everyday work practices. David Neal, the Future Fund chief executive, provided his insights and the fund’s outlook for markets at a sold-out Women in Super lunch in Sydney last week. The outlook is dangerous but…

Russell Investments in Australia is exiting the actuarial part of the industry, announcing last week that it has sold its Australian and New Zealand actuarial practice to Willis Towers Watson. The deal involves the transfer of 22 actuarial staff. Pete Gunning, Russell’s chief executive for Asia Pacific, said the sale reinforced the firm’s focus on…

The NSW Government’s $75 billion fund T-Corp, which represents an amalgamation of the investment operations of three fiduciary investment pools, is finalising its senior management team after a spill of several positions. The key CIO role is to be filled by an outsider. Stewart Brentnall will take up the role, replacing the acting CIO Mark…

Steve Merlicek, IOOF Holdings’ star fund manager, is retiring from full-time work in funds management, from the end of June. His deputy, Dan Farmer, will take over as CIO. Merlicek, who has taken most of the multi-manager retail funds from bottom to top quartile in his seven-year tenure as CIO of IOOF, foreshadowed his move…

After several years of insourcing big parts of their investment portfolios it is now clear that the process can add value for super funds, according to Damian Moloney, the chief executive of Frontier Advisors. Commenting on the recent news that the US$35 billion Harvard Endowment was to outsource most of its investments, making redundant more…

It’s been a long time in the making but, finally, Martin Currie Investment Management has launched a global developed markets big-cap version of its popular Asian ‘long-term unconstrained’ fund. The new fund is a pure match blending sustainability and growth. The Legg Mason Martin Currie Global Long-Term Unconstrained Fund, as it is called, is a…

Martin Currie has been investing in China for many years, with considerable success, from its home town of Edinburgh. In the past few years it has also been looking to set up shop there. That is easier said than done. According to Willie Watt, Martin Currie’s chief executive, the funds management industry in China is…

Australian ex-pat fund manager Chris Ryan has resigned from his position as managing director and head of Asia Pacific for MSCI Inc, based in Hong Kong. A search is underway for a replacement. Ryan, who had been in the position since September 2012, left the firm last month. Although a long-time Hong Kong resident, he…

Ultra-high-net-worth advisory groups Escala Partners and Family Office Research & Management have merged to form a national consulting firm with an estimated $4 billion under advice. They will soon be joined by another eight advisors from Deutsche Bank. Pep Perry, Escala chief executive and co-founder, said last week that a new Sydney office was being…

by Greg Bright  She will be a hard act to follow. Not since the late Mavis Robertson has an industry association’s chief executive had such an impact – such an impact on such an important industry. It is difficult to imagine, but Andrea Slattery is leaving the building. The SMSF Association founder and chief executive…