Opening up early access to super for housing would have a negative effect on the balances of even those members that don’t dig into their savings, with funds forced to adopt more conservative investment strategies and hold more liquid assets.
The circa $88 billion industry fund for workers in health and community services reckons that alleviating the affordable housing crisis will boost its other investments by easing the cost of living and inflation.
Winton brings its brainiacs to Australia
(Pictured: Andy Grimes)
Winton Capital Group, the UK-based quant shop, has opened its Sydney office as part of a global expansion program for this year. Offices in Tokyo and New York are to follow.
As previously reported, Winton has tapped Platinum Asset Management for its Australian rep – Andy Grimes. Before Platinum, where he had been an institutional investment specialist for the past five years, Grimes was a consultant at Towers Watson and, before that, at McKinsey & Co.
David Harding, Winton’s chair, said that, apart from opening up a new market, the appointment would “complement our expertise in scientific research and financial mathematics”. Grimes studied material science, economics and mathematics at Oxford University.
Winton is a very pointy-headed manager. Of its 300 staff, about 140 are “scientific researchers” with PhDs and Masters degrees at specialist campuses in London, Oxford, Zurich and Hong Kong. It manages about A$25 billion in mainly equity and futures strategies.
