legalsuper appoints Andrew Lill as interim CIO
legalsuper has announced the appointment of highly regarded investment professional Andrew Lill to the role of interim chief investment officer.
APRA sets the clock ticking on trustee director tenure
A package of proposals designed to improve governance of APRA-regulated entities sets lifetime tenure limit of 10 years for super fund trustee directors. It also aims to substantially beef up monitoring and enforcement of director competence, skills and propriety, and challenge board appointments when it believes individuals aren’t fit to serve.
Super industry faces up to its tipping-point challenge
Australia’s superannuation system is set for major changes in the lead up to 2062 when assets in accumulation are forecast to be eclipsed by decumulation. Speaking at CFA Society Australia’s Investment Leaders Forum, a panel of industry experts predicted that themes including heightened competition, mass customisation and financial advice will determine the winners and losers.
BlackRock buys Hong Kong firm’s Panama Canal port stake
A Hong Kong-based conglomerate has sold its stake in a number of ports around the Panama Canal to a consortium of investors including BlackRock.
Vanguard sets sights on private markets (at the right price)
The global CEO of the US$10.4 trillion ($16.7 trillion) Vanguard Group says investors and regulators are right to be cautious on private markets but that the index giant would consider partnering with managers to bring the asset class to its customers for a lower price tag. The comments follow ASIC’s landmark report into how super funds are investing in private assets.
AMP licensees re-brand as Akumin
Entireti will rebrand the former AMP licensees it acquired last year to Akumin. Entireti acquired AMP’s financial advice businesses, including AMP Financial Planning, Hillross and Charter Financial Planning, which had been temporarily operating as NewCo. Akumin houses those offers including AMP Financial Planning, which will be rebranded to Akumin Financial Planning. Late last year, Entireti … Read more
Future Fund taps secretive hedge fund for Japan activist strategy
Australia’s sovereign wealth fund has thrown its weight behind one of the most influential activist investors in Japan as it builds out its exposure to active equities.
Landmark US super summit triggers best financial interests questions
The delegation of super fund leaders and lobbyists that headed to Washington DC and New York last week was a milestone moment for the industry’s global influence and may have even aided Australia’s economic relationship with the US. But some funds say the trip failed to meet their best financial interests duty assessment, and attendees are now being asked by the Senate to justify the costs.
External advisers maintain lion’s share of $1.7 billion super fund advice fees
The prudential regulator’s latest fund-level expenditure data shows funds’ advice costs totalled $1.7 billion in FY24, including $1.52 billion paid to external advisers. Funds spent just $82 million on intrafund advice, and $99 million on their own advisers.
Super industry urged to develop own consumer code
The superannuation industry should develop its own customer code prescribing minimum service standards for fund members before government fills the gap and imposes ill-fitting regulation on it, the Investment Magazine Chair Forum has heard. This will only become more important as member demands for service increase, and the sector becomes a higher profile target for fraud and scams.
Reasons to be bullish on China’s financial markets: Top economist
Investors have plenty of reasons to be bullish about China’s financial markets in 2025, according to Peking University professor and one of the country’s top economists, Yao Yang. The optimism stems from tech stocks’ continued rally and expectations that the central government will soon shift to a looser macroeconomic policy stance.
Brighter Super aims to work with external advisers to boost advice capacity
As superannuation funds grapple with their obligations under the Retirement Income Covenant, Brighter Super is creating advice capacity by building on expertise it inherited when it merged with Suncorp Super. Chief executive Kate Farrar says there’s been “a lot of learning” on how to work with advisers, but already more than a quarter of the fund’s members have received advice.
