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Nominations for the annual Chief Investment Officer and Chief Operating Officer of the Year Awards, for fiduciary funds in Australia, close this week – on April 19. Winners will be announced at a function in Melbourne on May 7. The Awards, organized by La Trobe Financial*, with the support of 13 financial services firms or…

Comment by Greg Bright While the SMSF market will bear the brunt of the proposed new effective cap for super, and even though it is unlikely the proposals will ever see their way to legislation under last week’s announcement from the Government, big super funds need to be paying much more attention to the paradigm…

The Australian Government’s superannuation changes announced on Friday ended rampant speculation and were arguably brought forward to stop accusations of class warfare against the wealthy who felt they were being unfairly targeted. While there was some removal of tax concessions on superannuation income, the introduction of the Council of Custodians of Superannuation, which will be…

If there was ever a funds management merger which was handled badly – and there have been lots – then the worst in recent memory has surely to be that of BlackRock and Barclays Global Investors in Australia. The fallout continues with some new senior staff changes. The head of Australian institutional sales, the 13-year…

Brushing aside concerns about bird flu, 30,000 dead pigs floating down the Huangpu River, which feeds into the majestic Bund of Shanghai, and the possibility of nuclear war with DPRK, the Australian Government has progressed its China dialogue with a view to improving relationships over the long term. The Government last week published its “implementation…

Alexander Hughes, the Paris-based global recruitment firm specializing in financial services, has opened a Shanghai office. The office, which is being overseen from Alexander Hughes’ established Hong Kong business, is being established by the firm’s Asia Pacific head of research, Shirley Zu. Zu is a PRC national, born and educated in China, with work experience…

The proposed Asia Pacific version of Europe’s UCITS funds, an Asian Funds Passport, was given a positive airing last week at the annual ASIC Forum for industry participants. The regulator’s forum was addressed by Martin Codina, the Financial Services Council’s director of policy, and Catherine Simmons, State Street’s v.p.for regulation, industry and government affairs in…

The CIO of the $US6.5 billion Wyoming Retirement Sydney has been placed on “administrative review leave” after pleading guilty to four counts of insider trading, which took place prior to him joining the public sector fund. John Johnson, who became CIO of the fund in 2010, faces up to 20 years in prison. A report…

The voices among investment commentators who are concerned about Asian property are getting louder and more numerous ahead of three big property IPOs slated for the Hong Kong market and at least one in Singapore. The theory is: the smart money is getting out. The March 30 newsletter from James Gruber, former journalist, analyst and…

After signing up its first client – AustralianSuper – to its pre-trade Tax Analyser program, trading technology provider GBST is set to bring on board four to five fund managers by the end of this financial year and is already running back data analysis for other big funds like UniSuper. Cbus is another existing client…

A three-way collaboration between Northern Trust, MSCI and governance consultancy ISS will provide the first emerging markets ESG index for managers and big investors to track or measure themselves against. Northern Trust’s passive funds management arm has a corresponding fund for the new MSCI Emerging Markets Custom ESG Index, which was announced in London last…

Registrations for the Investment Operations & Custody Conference – World’s Best Practice – taking place in Shanghai, April 29-30, close on April 17.  A total of 28 speakers and panelists are confirmed in the latest draft Agenda, available at: www.www.ioandc.com The conference, the first of its kind in the region, follows the new format of…