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(pictured: Paul Bouchey) There’s growing evidence that investors large and small are increasingly nervous about the short-medium-term future for both equities and bonds. For Australians, this nervousness probably extends to property, as well. So, what do they do about it? Tumbling oil prices and the slowing Chinese economy are said to have been the main causes…

(pictured: Stephen Mackley) Thanks largely to their big administrators and systems providers, super funds have a chance of catching up with the bank-owned retail platforms in the use of data analysis to aid member retention and acquisition. Financial Synergy, the systems provider whose 30 clients have a total of about four million members, is introducing the…

Investors relying on a traditional negative correlation between equities and bonds could face a shock in 2016, according to a new asset allocation analysis by global fixed income giant PIMCO. The PIMCO 2016 asset allocation outlook says investors relying on the traditional stock/bond counterbalance should beware if the year ahead features stagnant growth combined with…

(pictured: Jose Minaya) This may not be a big trend – given that it represents a survey of two firms only – but if it is, remember where you heard it first. Two large global managers of unlisted assets have moved to combine their asset class business units at the very top of the management of…

(pictured: Adriaan Ryder) Maybe insiders were not surprised and, maybe, we should have seen it coming, but the announcement by QIC last Thursday that its long-standing chief investment officer, Adriaan Ryder, had resigned to join an unnamed “major middle eastern” sovereign fund, at least surprised the market. The decision follows the appointment last year of…

(Ian Webber) Ariel Investments, a US$10.7 billion Chicago-based boutique equities manager, has opened its first office outside of the US, recruiting experienced institutional marketer Ian Webber to cover the Asia Pacific region from Sydney. Ariel, which was established in 1983 and is almost wholly owned by its 88 staff, plus directors, refers to itself as…

(George Lucas) In a big week for fintech, three launches were announced in the past few days: SuiteBox, a cloud-based video-conferencing and document sharing service for financial advisors; Australia’s first ‘micro-savings’ smartphone-activated investment vehicle; and, a dedicated online publication focused on fintech hopefuls. At the same time, concerns about capital raisings for tech start-ups in…

(Jon Sage) While smart beta strategies have been attracting a lot of interest from investors, there are other ways to capitalise on quantitative factors in markets with the additional protection afforded by fundamental analysis. A recent paper by MFS Investment Management demonstrates this. MFS, which is best known in Australia for its flagship fundamental global…

(Ross Israel) QIC has expanded its infrastructure firepower with a landmark partnership with CalPERS, whereby the giant US pension fund is committing about A$1 billion to deals in Asia Pacific that will be sourced and managed by the Australian fund manager. It will be the first time that the US$300 billion fund – the largest…

(Stephen Dunne)  Two big industry funds have recruited an economist, Brian Parker, and a senior researcher, Andrew Baker, while AMP Capital’s long-time managing director, Stephen Dunne, announced his retirement from later this year and John Phokos left NSW Workcover. Sunsuper has recruited Brian Parker, an economist who has been with the NAB group for about…

(Justin Cowper) Investec Asset Management has announced the launch of an Australian-domiciled institutional fund to capitalize on the trend to multi-asset investment offerings and the firm’s large international multi-asset team. Called, the Investec Diversified Growth (Australian) strategy, the fund will be managed as part of Investec Asset Management’s range of global multi-asset strategies. Michael Spinks…

According to more than 250 of the world’s largest participants in financial markets – the owners and clients of DTCC, such as big custodian banks – cyber security is the number-one risk to financial markets. In its latest six-monthly survey of clients, DTCC (the industry-owned Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation) reports that almost half (46…