The Financial System Inquiry’s recommendation that APRA-regulated superannuation funds should have a majority of independent trustees has been branded “unenthusiastic” by Industry Super Australia. Notably the section of the report containing the recommendation, which also calls for all chairs to be independents and for an arm’s length definition of independence to apply, starts out with … Read more
Super funds should be required to pre-select a single retirement income product for members, the Financial System Inquiry has recommended, while acknowledging at the same time that no one retirement product will suit all. The recommendation has been made in recognition of the general level of difficulty members have in making decisions on managing their … Read more
The Financial System Inquiry has made seven recommendations in its final report to government with direct reference to superannuation. All of these plus one observation on taxation (which was outside the scope of its inquiry) are listed below. In reviewing the report yesterday, Pauline Vamos, chief executive of the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia … Read more
HostPlus’s successful exploitation of the long investment horizon of its young member demographic has seen Sam Sicilia named as the FEAL/ La Trobe Financial chief investment officer of the year. The strategy has seen HostPlus achieve top quartile investment returns for 1, 3, 5, 7 and 10 years to the end of June 2014. Speaking … Read more
Traditional anti-fraud measures can’t deal with systematic financial misconduct. Lawyer and superannuation executive David Galloway, writes in praise of the Dodd-Frank legislation. Confronted with systemic financial misconduct on an unprecedented scale during the GFC, US law makers paused to ask why it occurred and came to what seemed like startlingly obvious conclusions. Firstly, they reasoned … Read more
Australian asset owners and fund managers lead the world in ESG integration best practice, according to the Canadian based research and analysis firm Sustainalytics. The prominence of domestic mining companies in Australian equity portfolios has forced Australian investors to engage on climate change and the issue of stranded assets, rather than simply divesting. While he … Read more
Small superannuation funds should expect significantly higher custody costs in the next few years as custodians leave the market, a leading consultant has warned. Drew Vaughan, director of Dymond, Foulds and Vaughan, believes that eight players in the Australian market (NAB Asset Servicing, J.P. Morgan, BNP Paribas, State Street, Citigroup, Northern Trust, HSBC Bank, BNY … Read more
Financial services firms should be able to state their level of cyber security in line with international benchmarks, according to Greg Medcraft, chairman of the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC). Medcraft, speaking at a forum at the Bloomberg offices in Sydney, said it was no longer acceptable for organisations to communicate their level of … Read more
China’s spectacular growth over the past decade has been one of the more successful emerging market stories of recent times. Yet, this growth in domestic wealth has so far had limited impact on the international equity markets, with cross-border investment flows remaining largely untapped due to strict capital controls. This may be about to change. … Read more
REST Industry Super has entered into a joint venture with US rental apartment developer Greystar Real Estate Partners. The 10 year joint venture makes REST the majority equity partner in approximately eight new rental apartment buildings with a combined total of around 3,000 apartments to be developed and managed by Greystar. The deal will also … Read more
It’s become fashionable – particularly with the current discussion stemming from the Financial System Inquiry – to compare super funds to banks. This is particularly so when the talk turns to governance. Speaking at the recent ASFA conference in Melbourne, the former federal treasurer Peter Costello commented that super funds should be subject to the … Read more
Two fund managers have warned investors to prepare for a new landscape in fixed income investing as quantitative easing ends in the US. Alliance Bernstein and Threadneedle Investments spoke in separate sessions at the Fiduciary Investors Symposium at Peppers Moonah Links, in the Mornington Peninsula, but both had similar warnings of a growth in volatility … Read more
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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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