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.
Super funds approach their procurement of digital financial advice “counter to forming mutually beneficial relationships” with the provider – and if they want to get the most out of the relationship, they need to rethink how their teams are organised and how they run RFPs.
The Conexus Institute’s initial scepticism about the impact of the Retirement Reporting Framework reforms has been replaced by cautious positivity. But for the reforms to have meaningful impact they must stretch the industry, creating discomfort among funds to nudge them to do better by focusing not on what the industry can currently deliver, but rather the data that funds should be collecting to gauge the progress of their own retirement income strategies.
While the chief investment officer of Australia’s sovereign wealth fund says that it isn’t ready to step away from the tech opportunities available in the US market, there are “real opportunities” to exploit inefficiencies in other regions, including emerging markets.
The $98 billion HESTA is laying the groundwork for a more systematic framework for using AI across its total portfolio, solidifying use cases in research, forecasting, risk management and private assets that all centres on the objective of “seeing risks earlier and clearer”. But being a cost-conscious profit-to-member fund, it is striking a careful balance of identifying areas where it can add most value while introducing least complexity to its operations.
A boom in private credit in Asia continues to attract asset owners looking for consistent yield in a volatile geopolitical environment. But as the sector matures, asset owners face both opportunities and challenges, requiring smarter asset allocation, robust data platforms and increased digitisation to navigate.
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Investment Magazine provides in-depth, monthly analysis of trends and developments for all the businesses in which superannuation funds engage‚ including asset allocation, investment manager selection, custody and fund accounting, member administration, group insurance and compliance.
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