All publishers regularly review the relevance of their titles, and all are trying to make sense of the combined effects of the global financial crisis, an advertising recession and the digital revolution. We are not the first and we will not be the last to rationalise our product line-up as a result.

But at Conexus Financial, we also see a major and overdue change in the focus on what is important in the financial services industry, and more particularly in our compulsory superannuation sector.

Catalyst for a more informed world

We have done some soul searching on what our purpose is. We are clear that it is to be “a catalyst for a more informed world”. The way we put that vision into action is by focusing solely on the asset owners – the people who are the ultimate beneficiaries of everything this industry does.

We focus on the asset owners in a variety of ways. On the institutional front, it is via their trustees, super funds’ internal staff and consultants. On the retail front it is via our audience of financial planners, accountants and private bankers. We operate five domestic and global specialist publications, and we stage 18 conferences and events annually, in Australia and overseas, all dedicated to this aim.

Our sector has never needed more than now to focus on members’ and investors’ needs and value, especially given our generous (and soon to increase) compulsory superannuation system.

I&T News does not fit comfortably with the Conexus aim of focusing on the ultimate asset owner. It has primarily been focused on the sell side of the industry, which is in any case a shadow of its former self.

Sustaining the stable

Conexus publishes top1000funds.com, a global publication aimed at the world’s largest institutional investors; Investment Magazine, published for Australia’s thriving superannuation funds; Professional Planner, aimed at Australia’s leading financial planners, accountants and private wealth managers; and PP Online, the website that provides regular updates and news analysis for financial planners, accountants and private wealth managers.

We continue to invest in both our editorial resources and all parts of our company. Eighteen months ago we introduced, quite deliberately, an online sister publication to I&T News, IM Online (www.investmentmagazine.com.au). We have a dedicated editor for that publication in Amal Awad, who is a lawyer with experience in the financial media sector. We will shortly welcome David Rowley as editor of Investment Magazine. Rowley is a highly experienced former editor of leading UK title Pensions Week, part of the respected Financial Times portfolio.

As a reader of I&T News, you will now begin to receive IM Online. You may of course choose to unsubscribe if it doesn’t serve you, but I am confident it will provide better value to you than I&T News may have done.

Thank you for your continued support of Conexus Financial, Australia’s largest dedicated financial services and superannuation industry publisher and conference company. We remain dedicated to helping you to serve investors better.

 

Colin Tate
Chief executive
Conexus Financial

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