Jumping to JP Morgan

JP Morgan has today announced a series of sales appointments to drive the strong growth of its treasury services business in Australia and New Zealand. The new hires include the appointment of Jason Clinton as head of financial institution group sales, JP Morgan Treasury Services (TS). Clinton brings to the TS business deep global and … Read more

Third strike for BNP Paribas Securities Services

BNP Paribas Securities Services’ local custody and settlement services has added its third client since its launch in May, winning the business of EFG Bank, a Zurich-headquartered global private bank. EFG Bank has appointed BNP Paribas as both its global and local custodian in four markets covered by the group’s 23 branches around the world. … Read more

NAB Asset Services gets HIP

National Australia Bank (NAB) Asset Services has won a custody mandate to provide administrative services for the $630-million Health Industry Plan (HIP), supplanting the incumbent provider BNP Paribas. Australia’s largest custodian bank with about $508 billion in assets under custody, NAB secured the deal after a competitive tendering process run by the fund’s consultants Jana. … Read more

Food crisis looms,warns GMO boss

Global investors should have as much as 30 per cent of their portfolios exposed to natural resources, more than double the current market average, because of a burgeoning worldwide food crisis, GMO’s Jeremy Grantham says. The droughts afflicting farmers in the US and the subsequent spike in food commodity prices are just forerunners to the … Read more

UniSuper: frontline leadership

UniSuper’s Terry McCredden says that leadership in the superannuation industry starts at the front line rather than from the top, and staff should be empowered to look for opportunities to innovate and improve in every day of their working lives. McCredden took time out from the recent Fund Executives Association Limited (FEAL) national conference to … Read more

Sustainability key in
VicSuper mandates

Sustainability and environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) were key considerations in VicSuper appointing four new international equities managers as part of an investment strategy review. The $9-billion fund has announced the appointment of international equities managers to share mandates of just under $550 million. The open-ended mandates followed an investment strategy review and were … Read more

Inside the Qantas
investment engine

Basis points matter, according to Andrew Spence, chief investment officer of the $6-billion Qantas Superannuation Plan, because the volumes of money in superannuation are “enormous.” He is not talking about incremental investment gains on billions of dollars of invested capital. He’s speaking about saving money. Specifically, the $1.42 million that the fund saved in the … Read more

Mercer leads ESG

Mercer will integrate its proprietary environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings across all of its manager-search and performance data, cementing ESG as a key investment consideration. The consultant rates more than 20,000 strategies, oversees more than $5 trillion of assets under advice and has $60 billion in its multi-manager products. Mercer has led the consulting … Read more

BELSH an outperformer

Difficult market conditions and internal uncertainty at BlackRock have not hampered the performance of the fund manager’s BlackRock Equitised Long Short Fund (BELSH), which outperformed the S&P/ASX 200 Accumulation Index by 13 per cent in the year to June 30. The fund is ranked number one over the one, two, three and ten years to … Read more

FEAL: the post-retirement challenge

The industry should stop looking for the silver-bullet post-retirement solution, with service providers needing to tailor products to the specific needs of members, the Funds Executives Association Limited (FEAL) conference heard last week. Post-retirement and the challenges it poses for member retention were a key focus, as heads of funds gathered in Sydney for FEAL’s … Read more

The search for yield

Large institutional investors in Asia and Europe are looking to broaden their allocation to income-generating assets beyond traditional government bonds, a new study of reveals. Allocations to investment grade and high yield bonds, equity dividend-focused strategies and real estate will increase over the next five years, the authors of The Age of Income predict. The … Read more

The search for yield

Large institutional investors in Asia and Europe are looking to broaden their allocation to income-generating assets beyond traditional government bonds, a new study of reveals. Allocations to investment grade and high yield bonds, equity dividend-focused strategies and real estate will increase over the next five years, the authors of The Age of Income predict. The … Read more