The ASIC report into death benefit claims revealing the devastating impact of poor industry practices on grieving Australians has again highlighted the pressing need for change. While some funds have taken up the cudgels, others are still playing hardball on improving their service offering.
A Retirement Income Covenant obligation notwithstanding, there is still a paucity of these complex products on offer. The Advice Through Superannuation draft legislation might offer a way forward.
Henderson to hold first Aussie a.g.m.
(Pictured: Andrew Formica)
Henderson Global Investors, the UK and Australian-listed manager which was owned by AMP for a few years, will hold its first-ever annual general meeting in Australia this Thursday. Australian institutions constitute five of the top six shareholders, after staff.
Like most European-based global managers, Henderson had a rough time through the GFC but has bounced back in the past year or so. The £75 billion (A$135 billion) manager, which had inflows of £2.5 billion in 2013 and increased its share price by 73 per cent over the year, opened three new offices in the past two years, one of which is in Sydney, headed up by Rob Adams. It has an AFSL and is its own responsible entity. It recently bought Australian commodities hedge fund manager H3 Global Advisors. Its plan is to further diversify its business outside of the UK (Henderson is actually domiciled in Jersey which is not strictly the UK).
This week’s a.g.m. will be held at the Four Seasons hotel in Sydney and narrow cast to London. About 50 per cent of Henderson’s shareholders are Australian residents. The biggest shareholders, after the 10 per cent block held by staff, are: Wellington Asset Management (5.46 per cent), Perpetual Ltd (5.36 per cent), IOOF (4.4 per cent), AMP (3.93 per cent), AustralianSuper (3.85 per cent) and Bennelong Funds Management (3.74 per cent).
AMP bought Henderson, which dates back to 1934, in 1998 but then re-listed it after it demerging itself, hanging on to just the Australian and New Zealand parts of the business. Henderson became Jersey domiciled in 2008. In the past three years the company has bought fellow UK managers New Star and Gartmore. It has also launched a US real estate joint venture with the union-controlled TIAA-CREF.
Reflecting the company’s good fortune, the CEO, Andrew Formica, nearly doubled his total salary, including long-term incentives, last year. He earned £4.5 million (A$8.1 million), compared with £2.8 million in 2012. But this was still below his 2011 total remuneration of £6.4 million.
