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Northern Trust has been appointed as the global custodian to the internationally invested funds of Magellan Asset Management, which plans to launch a UCITS fund in Ireland within the next few weeks. The new Northern assets total about $US2.5 billion of the Sydney-based manager’s $US6.7 billion. They encompass the Australian managed investment schemes, a global…

China’s two big funds which use a lot of external managers, the $US300 billion China Investment Corporation and the $US150 billion National Council for Social Security Fund, have embarked on a formal three-year review of all funds manager contracts. The review, which one experienced manager described as “brutal”, was scheduled for completion at the end…

As pension funds around the world gradually move to a risk-on set of strategies, questions linger as to how many have actually learned whatever lessons there are to be learned from the global financial crisis. Has risk been adequately assessed since 2008? The polite answer is: yes, it has been assessed in the light of…

While shortening the trading cycle from T+3 to T+2 and perhaps even T+1 is generally regarded as being a good aim for the investment industry, the operational changes required do not get the attention they deserve, according to Tony Freeman. Freeman, the London-based executive director, industry relations, for Omgeo, said that the sector had been…

An unintended consequence of increasing bank regulations, such as Basle III, is that retail investors can get better rates for some deposits, such as cash, than the big scale-conscious funds. And, with the new-style member-directed platforms, they can have the best of both worlds. Ian Dunbar, head of investment platforms for UBS in Australia, says…

Value manager GMO usually gets it right, eventually. But it may go for long periods of being wrong – that is, being too early in its calls. But its latest research report, “Feeding the Dragon: Why China’s Credit System Looks Vulnerable”, is a classic and thorough analysis which deserves to be widely discussed, whether or…

State Super of NSW, Australia’s largest defined benefit fund, has secured its CIO, Mark O’Brien, as a key part of its reconstruction under a new board and management. Four other investment professionals are currently being sought. State Super (SAS Trustee Corporation) is a $A36 billion closed fund overseen by the NSW Government for some of…

In contrast with its competitor Mercer, Russell Investments has more closely linked its Australia and New Zealand businesses with the rest of Asia by abolishing the position held by former chief executive Chris Corneil. Alan Schoenheimer, who has had responsibility for Australia, New Zealand and SE Asia since 2004, and who has been based back…

As authorities and banks trial various alternatives to the Libor index in the wake of its manipulation in the past, fund managers and their clients need to decide on a policy for measurement of short-term interest rate movements in the future. While many managers may well “muddle through” by continuing to use Libor without contingencies,…

Most pension funds had a good year for returns in both equities and bonds in 2012, according to the latest Towers Watson Global Pension Assets Study, to be published today. Australian superannuation assets rose from 96 per cent of GDP to 101 per cent, joining the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK and US as the only…

Telstra Super, Australia’s largest corporate fund, has filled its vacant chief financial officer position but is now searching for a new chairman ahead of the retirement of David Leggo. Paul Curtin has resigned from a similar position at industry fund Vision Super to take up the Telstra CFO role, which has been vacant since last…

IO&C, the conference business which produces this newsletter, has recruited the services of John Hamer, an experienced funds management executive, as a consulting conference producer. Hamer, who was most recently a sales and marketing executive in funds management at Pengana Capital, will be working part-time with IO&C, which is a business unit of Binalong Advisory…