Uncategorized

BT Financial Group has picked up the award for Best Use of IT in Private Banking or Wealth Management at the international Banking Technology Awards in London for its Panorama client platform. “It’s always great to get external recognition,” John Shuttleworth, BTFG’s general manager of platforms and investments, said last week. “Panorama is a significant…

Yarra Capital Management, which last week announced the recruitment of Mark Burgess as its independent chair, is on track for a January launch, following the management buyout of the former Goldman Sachs Asset Management Australian equities and fixed income businesses. Burgess, the former fund manager and chief executive of the Future Fund, has been building…

by David Chaplin NZ fund managers have gained a tenuous toehold in the approximately NZ$6 billion (A$5.8 billion) ‘iwi’ investment market, the indigenous funds consisting mostly of real assets, according to Phil Barry, director of Wellington-based consultancy firm, TDB Advisory. Barry said just-published TDB Advisory research into iwi assets found only two groups – the North…

By Greg Bright NSW Treasury, which oversees the $70 billion NSW Government’s T-Corp amalgamation of the underlying investments of three separate Government-controlled funds, is expected to announce the winner of Australia’s largest-ever custody tender in the next couple of weeks. After a review and tender process, which lasted more than a year, JP Morgan has…

With her promotion to Manager, Operational Consulting, at JANA Investment Advisers recently, Jo Leaper is testament to two trends: the increasing importance of investment operations strategies and processes and the expansion of the big consulting firm’s governance advisory capabilities. Leaper, a former custodian with NAB Asset Servicing (NAS), has tended to focus on operational issues…

The soon-to-be-renamed former Goldman Sachs Asset Management Australian equities and bonds business has recruited a senior investment operations executive from VFMC as its new chief operating officer. Brett Davidson left VFMC after 10 years there as chief operating officer (COO) to join the Goldman Sachs Asset Management team in Melbourne last week. The ex-Goldmans team…

In a surprise decision, Mercer has won the bidding for Pillar Administration for a similarly surprising low headline price of $35 million, pipping the frontrunner for the deal, Link Group. The sale process was not a happy one for the NSW Government. Mercer, which has an estimated market share of just 2 per cent under…

By Matthew Lee Women In Super, which advocates for better retirement outcomes for women, has celebrated the stand taken by the super industry against domestic violence and for the rights of women, at the Women in Super, NSW, Christmas lunch in Sydney last Friday (December 2). The event, attended by more than 480 people from various…

By Patrick Liddy* Whistleblowers are in the news again, following the annual Sydney and Melbourne conferences of the industry association IMCA last week. This year the conferences featured Jeff Morris, the Commonwealth Bank financial advisor who alerted the world to fraudulent bevaviour at the bank, and Adele Ferguson, the Fairfax Media investigative journalist who went…

Citi has expanded its transitions and portfolio solutions capability with the appointment of Greg Woodham as a vice president. He previously ran the Goldman Sachs’ Australian transitions business, which was shuttered in August. Woodham will be responsible for the management of multi-asset class portfolio transitions, derivative overlays, currency overlays and other portfolio related solutions for…

George Vassos, a well-regarded funds management industry identity, passed away last Thursday, December 1, after a battle with cancer. He was 47. Vassos was a co-founder and the managing director of Omega Global Investors, a $3.4 billion Melbourne-based global investment boutique, which was launched at the height of the global financial crisis in 2008. The…

Changing the behaviour and processes of a big organisation, such as a super fund, is never easy. There are usually several stakeholders involved who need to be convinced of the changes, including, arguably the most important, the humble administrator. At the PwC/Parametric roundtables on investment efficiencies last week (see separate report), Shannon Goard, the national…