David Anderson is stepping down from the top job at Australian Retirement Trust. Its new CEO, Kathy Vincent, will give the fund a chance to flex its advice muscles, but Anderson’s departure during a period of significant change seems poorly timed.
Institutional investing is entering a new era as blockchain-based rails make markets always-on, near-instant and capable of delivering hyper-customised portfolios. Are asset owners ready?
The corporate regulator says that while the institutional end of the private credit market “demonstrates good practice”, retail and wholesale investors may not fully appreciate the nature of their exposures or how much risks they’re taking on.
APRA deputy chair Margaret Cole presided over a period of heightened and more aggressive enforcement action at the regulator, but it remains to be seen whether that approach has yielded the desired results.
As NZ Super works through growing pains in processes and technology, it has made decisions to change its governance route. Among them is the appointment of co-CIOs – Brad Dunstan and Will Goodwin – who will lead the investment team, with collaborative decision-making and shared accountability. In a wide-ranging interview, Dunstan and Goodwin explain the fund’s “co-delegation” model, how its total portfolio approach will evolve under their leadership, and where it is hunting for new alpha sources.
Being unable to detect fraud is not a sufficient excuse for platforms that hosted the Shield and First Guardian master funds, according to the regulator, who have said there were enough easy-to-detect red flags in the products.
After two years in the top investment job at Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, Future Fund chief investment officer Ben Samild is off to the Middle East to manage money on behalf of the Abu Dhabi emirate. Samild’s longstanding devotion to the total portfolio approach he calls “joined up” might be well suited to an even bigger asset owner, but his ability to continue to promote a less “macho” financial industry culture is less certain.
The $105 billion profit-to-member fund Cbus Super has announced it is “overhauling” its death benefits process to make it faster and more straight forward for the next of kin of members, after systemic failings were revealed last year.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ review of the Your Future Your Super performance test must dilute the influence of benchmarks on how super funds invest members’ money by shifting the focus to total portfolio returns.
Former ASIC Commissioner Danielle Press says she believes superannuation trustees owe a fiduciary duty to investors for the products they allow onto platforms. Press, who is leading a governance overhaul at listed wealth manager group Sequoia Financial Group, and is also independent chair of Insignia Trustees, says it doesn’t matter what form a superannuation offer takes, the trustee obligation is the same.
Colonial First State wants to know how its external managers are using AI as it becomes more and more ingrained both in the companies they invest in and how they invest in them.
The $350 billion Australian Retirement Trust has confirmed that it will commit $2 billion to meeting 2030 impact investing targets, as first reported by Investment Magazine. Its initial $1 billion investment sees it joining other asset owners including UniSuper in the Macquarie Green Energy and Climate Opportunities Fund.
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