AMP

With equities and bonds both fully priced, investors are increasingly looking at alternative strategies. A new one, although difficult to access, is ‘greenfields infrastructure’. According to David Neal, the chief executive of IFM Investors and a former CIO and chief executive of the Future Fund, the conundrum for investors was well expressed by Stein’s Law…

Alexis George, AMP’s new CEO, faces the task of returning Australia’s oldest wealth manager to its founding principles. The question is how deep the rot runs. What’s to say after nine days in the job? Not a lot. Alexis George took the reins just over a week ago and, sensibly, has not hit the ground…

All about the Benjamin’s, market flat but dividends galore, Telstra holds, AMP cuts The ASX200 (ASX: XJO) finished flat on Thursday with Rio Tinto’s (ASX: RIO) massive dividend dragging the stock 6.9% and proving too much for a resilient communications sector (+2.3%) to overcome. It was a broadly positive day with more sectors gaining than losing and reporting season ultimately driving…

BlackRock, the biggest investment house in the known universe, now holds sway over about a quarter of the NZ retail fund market after cementing a deal with ASB last week to oversee some $20 billion. The ASB move to outsource most investment decisions to BlackRock coincides with the transition of an estimated $10 billion of…

A new financial advisory firm-run KiwiSaver scheme is set to launch with former AMP Capital multi-asset CIO Sean Henaghan in charge of investments. Henaghan, well known in Australia for his 15 years at AMP Capital, was an ex-pat Kiwi stranded back home last year under covid-19 border restrictions. He returns to active duties at Aurora…

The Australian Council of Superannuation Investors has found that company boards are failing to address sexual harassment despite the issue surging in importance through 2020. ACSI surveyed 118 S&P/ASX 200 companies and conducted in-depth interviews with representatives of 16 of them, finding “a range of maturity” across respondents in managing the material risk of sexual…

No evidence has been presented to support the need for new proxy advice regulations. Rather, an army of investors have argued against them. So who do the reforms really benefit? The Government is facing an uphill battle on proxy advice changes as industry stakeholders, including the Australian Council of Superannuation Investors, savage proposals that would…

ASX stagnates at 7,000, Tabcorp receives another bid, Bingo deal approved  The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) remains stubbornly anchored to the 7,000 point level, falling 0.2% on Tuesday as most sectors were once again hit by the threat of increasing inflation. The materials sector was the biggest positive contributor, with the likes of BHP Group (ASX:BHP), Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO), and Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) all adding 1%…

Perth in lockdown, ASX flat for the week, retailers smashed  Perth has entered a ‘snap’ three-day lockdown following another hotel quarantine outbreak. Despite this, the market finished slightly ahead on Friday, 0.1%, and finished the week flat. The highlights over the week were Megaport (ASX:MP1) and Monadelphous (ASX:MND), which jumped 10.5% and 8.6% respectively. All attention has been on a number…

AGL CEO had enough, Brambles keeps shipping, markets break losing streak  The ASX200 (ASX:XJO) broke a two-day losing streak, shooting 0.8% higher as business conditions and investment intentions hit their highest level in 27 years. The energy and IT sectors were the main laggards, with energy falling 0.6% as India reported the highest number of new cases…