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(Pictured: Simon Ho) Triple3 Partners, the volatility manager which comes under the Grant Samuel Funds Management umbrella, is launching a retail fund this week following some success in the institutional market. Can volatility be seen as a separate asset class? Volatility is well known to be an investible characteristic, although its derivatives dependency can make…

(Pictured: Marta Dusseldorp) Actress Marta Dusseldorp and comedienne and radio personality Wendy Harmer will be the guest speakers at Australia for UNHCR’s annual Mother’s Day Lunch this Friday, May 9. The event receives strong support each year from women in the financial services industry and this year’s sponsors are TAL (gold) and Antares Capital (silver). UNHCR…

(Pictured: Andy Grimes) Winton Capital Group, the UK-based quant shop, has opened its Sydney office as part of a global expansion program for this year. Offices in Tokyo and New York are to follow. As previously reported, Winton has tapped Platinum Asset Management for its Australian rep – Andy Grimes. Before Platinum, where he had been…

(Pictured: Craig Mowll) Certitude Global Investments has appointed BNP Paribas Securities Services as custodian and administrator for 14 unit trusts. The trusts have about $1 billion in assets under management. Certitude is an independent global fund-of-funds manager. Some of its underlying managers include Threadneedle Investments (UK), Lighthouse Partners (US), Marshall Wace Gavekal Asia-Pacific (Hong Kong) and…

(Pictured: Annie Gurton) The global accounting information firm CCH grew frustrated at clients’ reticence to adopt new and better systems, even when shown they would save money and improve efficiency. So, the firm commissioned an industrial psychologist to find out why. Her observations are applicable across most industries, including superannuation. Annie Gurton, a psychological therapist…

(Pictured: Fergal McGuinness)  A study by the Stanford Center on Longevity and Mercer in the US has shown that various psychological tricks, such as showing someone a digitalized photo of themselves as an older person, can improve savings rates. Researchers associated with the Stanford Center have been looking at ways to strengthen the “emotional connection”…

(Pictured: Damien Frawley) In an intriguing deal, QIC has spun off its small-cap Australian equities team into the boutique incubator Channel Capital, which was itself spun-off by Solaris Investment Management, which is itself incubated by Pinnacle Investment Management. Confused? QIC, the big increasingly global manager owned by the Queensland Government, announced last week that the small-cap…

Risk management is deeply ingrained in David Iverson, head of asset allocation at the A$20 billion New Zealand Superannuation Fund. Writing a book about it, however, proved to be more of an act of faith. David Chaplin finds out why. In the beginning there was the statement of investment beliefs. Or there should have been, according…

(Pictured: Sue Wang) While the sell-off in emerging markets last year has prompted renewed interest from value-oriented investors, Mercer Investment Consulting has cautioned that there has been increased dispersion between markets and also, in the case of equities, within markets. In a recent presentation on EMs, Mercer consultants Sue Wang and Simon Calder said the firm…

(Pictured: Daniel Celeghin) Casey Quirk, the US-based advisory and research business for funds management, has opened an office in the region, with partner Daniel Celeghin relocating from New York to Hong Kong last month. Celeghin, who has been a frequent visitor to Australia, along with his fellow partner and Boston-based Ben Phillips, who is well known…

(Pictured: Slim Feriani) Emerging and frontier markets have taken a caning in the past couple of years as their economies have dropped back a cog and investors appear concerned about the impact of the US Government’s tapering. For the brave, however, the climate presents many opportunities. Dr Slim Feriani, a former academic who is the chief…

 (Pictured: Tony Freeman) Omgeo, the global transactions systems company now owned by the US Government-owned DTCC, has appointed a new chief executive, Paula Arthus. The appointment is seen as a reflection of the evolution of Omgeo to become more of an industry utility. Omgeo was previously a joint venture between DTCC (the Depository Trust & Clearing…