Pension fund members in retirement want the sustainability of pension payments. OPTrust chief investment officer James Davis told the Top1000Funds Fiduciary Investors Symposium that he believes a total portfolio approach (TPA) is the best way to deliver that, and it’s been a journey towards delivering for the past 10 years.
For decades it seemed the most important thing super funds did was generate strong long-term returns. That emphasis is shifting as more members move into retirement, and as they generally take up a broader range of services, and if funds fail members at any time, the investment team could also be tarnished.
The private debt markets by nature are less transparent than public markets and managers should be held accountable for any misinformation and dishonest disclosure to investors, credit manager Polen Capital has acknowledged. But it has warned that over-regulation in the sector could restrict investment freedom.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission will step up its monitoring of private credit exposures and valuations following a major consultation on public and private markets. However, ASIC Commissioner Simone Constant told the Investment Magazine Fiduciary Investors Symposium NSW that private credit can be “good for the economy … if done well”.
It might be time for asset owners to diversify away from the United States – but they should also beware the “Thucydides Trap” and pay attention to small markets that might benefit from money leaving North America.
Equity volatility as an asset class is increasingly recognised as a useful diversifier in portfolios, but the cost can be off-putting for some investors. The Fiduciary Investors Symposium in the Blue Mountains hears the case for incorporating active management in volatility strategies.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ proposed levy on unrealised gains in super funds isn’t reform, it’s our home-grown equivalent to “Liberation Day”: reactive, populist and a money grab as a budget filler. Reform is indeed needed, but one which equally builds a moat around our $4 trillion super from self-serving political grabs from both sides of the political fence.
With a growing number of Australian asset owners starting down the path to adopting a total portfolio approach, there’s a wealth of knowledge to be gleaned from their international peers.
Aware Super is keeping a close eye on Your Future, Your Super “complications” as it tries to decarbonise its portfolio and invest in the transition – and Rest, wary of geopolitical upheaval, is doing the same.
Australians nearing retirement face decisions more complex than at any other stage of their financial lives, yet it’s at this precise point the superannuation system lets them down. But super funds are heeding the message that they must deliver a better retirement experience and that it’s about far more than just product.
Future Fund chief investment officer Ben Samild says foreign currency exposure might be the most important return lever the fund has in its portfolios. At the Investment Magazine Fiduciary Investors Symposium in the Blue Mountains next week, Samild will take delegates on a deep dive into how the $241 billion fund has put into practice its belief that the investment thinking that delivered strong returns over previous decades needed to change.
The corporate regulator says that it won’t back down from its intense scrutiny of death benefit claims handling by superannuation funds and believes that boards and directors are unfamiliar with the nuts and bolts of their own funds.
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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.
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this land upon which Conexus Financial sits, the Cadigal of the Eora Nation. We recognise their continuing connection and unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters and community. We pay our deepest respects to them and their culture, and to Elders both past and present.
