Vanguard Investments has boosted its senior management with the return to Australia of the former heads of the company’s European and Japanese operations – a move likely to lift the $7 billion of offshore funds already serviced by the Melbourne headquarters.
Jeremy Duffield, managing director of Vanguard in Australia, said last Friday that the local business had a lot of experience handling separate accounts, which gave it an advantage in servicing some of the offshore clients. In the US, most of Vanguard’s business comes through mutual funds. The offshore-sourced funds to date have come from a diverse range of countries, including Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and even Holland. They have also been spread across a range of Vanguard products, including international equities, global property, global bonds and inflation-linked bonds. Vanguard manages a total of $34 billion in a range of index funds from Australia. This includes a fund launched last year which replicates the active management of MLC’s Australian shares fund. MLC aims to benefit from Vanguard’s execution capabilities. The two recruits are Ian Alcock, who has been managing Vanguard Europe for the past three years, and Trevor Chudleigh, who has had a stint managing Vanguard Japan. Alcock takes up a new position as head of institutional business, which encompasses not only sales and client service but also investment operations. Duffield said this would free Eric Smith, the chief investment officer, to focus on investment processes and developing new products. Chudleigh has become principal, international, responsible for expansion in the Asia Pacific region. He remains on the board of the company’s Japanese operation.
A managed investment scheme holding 20 per cent or more in unlisted assets is deemed an illiquid scheme and is restricted from providing frequent liquidity, but there is no formal limit on how much super funds can allocate to these asset classes. The Conexus Institute writes this is a special privilege given to APRA-regulated super funds that should not be taken for granted.
David Bell and Geoff WarrenFebruary 6, 2025