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(pictured: Mellody Hobson, photographed by Annie Leibovitz for Pirelli) Not too many fund managers have graced the pages of a Pirelli Calendar, not even the thinking-man’s edition shot by Annie Leibovitz last year. But Mellody Hobson is no ordinary fund manager. And she is speaking this week at the CMSF conference for all to hear. Greg…

(pictured: Kristi Mitchem)  On the day before International Women’s Day, last week, State Street Global Advisors announced the launch of its latest exchange traded fund: the SHE. Perhaps gender diversity may become the newest smart-beta factor for quantitative investing. When fund managers think they can make money out of a trend you know one thing:…

(pictured: Steven Hall)  In its second annual think tank involving family offices, high net worth investors and their specialist advisors, Brookvine dissected the value of diversification. The differences between these investors and big super funds are fascinating. The super funds are not always right. Steven Hall, managing director of Brookvine, a fund manager and distribution…

(pictured: Richard Murphy and John McNiven)  With the increasing popularity of bank hybrid securities, especially for yield-hungry retirees and SMSF investors, comes increasing concern that not everyone understands the products compared with other fixed income options. The results of a survey undertaken by the Australian Corporate Bond Company at last month’s SMSF Association conference in…

(pictured: Raewyn Williams) New research by Parametric Australia has quantified real and potential drag on the performance of big super funds through the Australian and international equity trading activities of their managers. Costs can blow out to as much as 119bps for an Aussie equities portfolio. According to Raewyn Williams, head of research of the Australian…

(pictured: Nick Bullman) CheckRisk, the UK-based global investment risk consultancy, has strongly criticised negative interest rate policy (NIRP) for being, well, too negative. It should not happen, the firm says. In a client research note published over the weekend, CheckRisk, founded by chairman and managing partner Nick Bullman, says that the latest move by the ECB,…

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has already short-listed technology providers to reboot NZClear after scuppering plans to sell its securities settlement business last week. According to a Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) spokesperson, the central bank is “well-advanced” in its search for a systems provider to modernise NZClear, beginning a tender process…

(pictured: Daryl Sisson) NAB Asset Servicing has consolidated data feeds under one preferred provider, Thomson Reuters, through its ‘DataScope Select’ platform, and installed the information company’s terminals in its business. David Knights, acting head of the NAB custody arm, said in a statement last week that Thomson Reuters was appointed “not only because they offer…

(pictured: Geoff Warren) While there is broad agreement among big super funds on the areas they must address in their insourcing of investment management, a new study by the Centre for International Finance and Regulation points to considerably varying opinions about which areas matter most and in what way. The study (“In-house Investment Management: Making and…

(pictured: Warren Chant) Six not-for-profit funds – AustralianSuper, First State Super, QSuper, REST, Sunsuper and UniSuper – have qualified as finalists in both the Super Fund of the Year and Pension Fund of the Year Awards for the upcoming 2016 Chant West Awards. The Awards cover 12 categories. There are 10 finalists in each of the…

(pictured: Lori Holland) Multi-asset investing via strategic partnerships with managers, being pioneered in Australia by Sunsuper, is branching out in the US and elsewhere across the spectrum of fund sizes and types. In Australia last week to present at Neuberger Berman client conferences in Sydney and Melbourne were several of the firm’s US-based fund managers including…

(pictured: Will Geyer) As Australian financial markets move to T+2 settlements from today (March 7), the investment industry is looking increasingly to technology to solve growing regulatory and investor demands. A global broker and fintech group, ITG, believes technology can be a performance differentiator. ITG launched a new trading and portfolio management platform last year….