A growing list of demands by large institutional investors when investing with unlisted asset managers is making them increasingly picky in their partners. Alignment of values, co-investments, joint-partnerships, strategy caps and fees that reduce with scale were all cited as essential by portfolio managers speaking at the Conexus Financial Private Assets Conference. Barry Brakey, head … Read more
First State Super is using its scale to directly invest in complex infrastructure deals that are out of the reach of other investors in a crowded market. Damian Webb, head of income and real assets at First State Super, told delegates at the Conexus Financial Private Assets conference in Melbourne how the fund has grown … Read more
Private equity markets are overheated from cheap finance and the best deals are only coming from small niche investments, according to Siguler Guff. George Siguler, the founder of the private equity manager which has $10 billion in funds under management, cites Preqin research that shows managers worldwide have $3.8 trillion invested in the asset class, … Read more
Super funds delivery of electronic financial advice to members has been “slow off the mark” because of regulatory worries, but compliance is simple, a legal expert said. Compliance with the future of financial advice (FOFA) can be easily achieved if the scope of the advice is limited, and funds are “in a unique position” to … Read more
Industry Super Australia (ISA) research has not sufficiently addressed exemption regulation in its claim that banks have been involved in systemic breaches of the Superannuation Industry Supervision (SIS) Act, a superannuation legal expert said. ISA has taken a broad brush stroke approach to section 68A of the Act summing it up as prohibiting the offering … Read more
Super funds will be offering home loans and credit cards to members by the end of 2015 and are already “well down the road” in developing these platforms, a market data research specialist said. Andrew Inwood, founder and principal of Coredata, said that he was having conversations with super funds about these products and how … Read more
A scenario analysis tool that allows investors to model the impact of climate change on asset allocation is soon to be available from Mercer. The tool has been developed with economic and scientific research compiled by Mercer, economic consultants NERA and insurance consultancy Guy Carpenter, supported by the International Finance Corporation, World Bank Group and … Read more
HESTA’s 800,000 members are predominately women and members can experience a working history that sees them in both part and full time jobs. This means investment and advisory strategies are tailored to meet the goal of providing retirement outcomes for members who may have low account balances. While low account balances are the norm, the … Read more
The current model of capitalism is unsustainable therefore investors need to choose their economic philosophy before making portfolio allocations, Dr Pippa Malmgren founder of DPRM and former White House financial markets adviser has told investors in Sydney. The social and economic inequalities the present version of capitalism creates is so vast it could be undermining … Read more
A new rule-of-thumb which allows members to quickly estimate their guaranteed income in post-retirement has prompted them to save more, Andrew Barnett, general manager, retirement solutions, MLC has said. The rule takes a members’ account balance, divides it by 10, and then divides the answer by two (five per cent) to give the guaranteed income … Read more
Investment portfolios should have be overweight in international equities and underweight in Australian equities on a two to three year time horizon, a panel representing leading investment experts said. Jeremy Lawson, chief economist, Standard Life Investments argued that the risk-return basis of Australian equities were not attractive when compared with other international equity markets, particularly … Read more
For most of January, myself and my colleague Dan Purves compiled a survey of the pay disclosure of superannuation CEOs, CIOs and chairs. It would have been an easier job if funds had not often placed this information in the darkest recesses of their websites. Such secrecy partly explains why the subsequent articles have been … Read more
The investment intelligence behind Australia’s largest asset owners and their teams
In-depth interviews with leaders, experts and visionaries in the institutional investment community
Updates on the latest industry policy developments and regulation
The challenges and innovations of custody, technology and operational due diligence
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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