Frontier

Fund managers are subject to behavioural biases like all of us, such as over-confidence, short-termism and memory distortions. Take their predictive abilities. They are not, on average, especially good. In a unique report for clients, Frontier has published what amounts to a longitudinal study based on eight years of conversations, surveys and other communications with…

The trend towards super consolidation is continuing apace, but there will be fewer mega mergers. It’s now just a matter of mopping up. Mega fund mergers are likely to slow as boards realise the “significant transition planning and integration activity” required to pull them off – but the established mega funds will continue to gobble…

Difficult to define and more difficult still to measure, the culture of any organisation is widely regarded as having a major impact on performance. Funds management is no exception. Asset consultant Frontier has this year been striving to add some detail and colour to the picture to help its clients, and itself, in the process…

The first thing funds usually consider in a merger is cost to member – but that won’t necessarily be what leaves them better off. The trick is getting the alignment right. According to David Carruthers, senior consultant and head of the members solutions group at Frontier, the top priority for any fund considering a merger…

Fiona Reynolds, the former CEO of the UN-supported Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI), has continued a barrage of board and executive appointments with a director position at Frontier. Reynolds will join the board of Frontier as a non-executive director as she concludes a nine-year posting as chief executive for the PRI. The move comes as…

Investment consultants like JANA, Frontier, and Willis Towers Watson, are banding together to “drive real change” by confronting the “daunting” task of accomplishing a net zero transition. The Net Zero Investment Consultants Initiative (NZICI) will see consultants embed advice on the transition to net zero into their advisory work and support clients on developing policies…

With complaints about its efficacy still reverberating through the super industry, the YFYS performance test is to be extended next year to cover certain member investment options. Sustainability will be a big loser. Having delivered its first-year test results last month (August 31), the Treasury-instigated APRA-implemented test for big super funds found that the MySuper…

Supported by record retail inflows, ESG-focused investing has, finally, become ‘the norm’, according to panelists at least two of the sessions at last week’s (August 31-September 2) AIST ASI conference. But one of the interesting, most recent, trends within this trend, is how climate change action and inaction has given a very short-term focus to…

Gold has intrigued investors for almost as long as its existence, first as a store of wealth and currency and now as, well, what? Frontier, has taken a look at gold’s worth to professional investors. And it’s not about an inflation hedge. Frontier’s Chris Trevillyan, director of investment strategy, and Nicholas Thomas, senior consultant, have…

The Your Future Your Super Bill continues to be roundly criticised by the industry after the deadline for comment has passed and notwithstanding doubts about its passage to legislation. Proposed regulations, requiring comment by May 26, included two concessions to the barrage of criticism from almost every quarter of the industry – from the profit-to-member…