National Australia Bank wins MTAA custody deal

National Australia Bank Ltd. fought off rivals to renew its custody contact with MTAA Super Fund, a business relationship that will now last more than 15 years. The bank, which has a 30 per cent market share of Australia’s custody business, has yet to finalise the length of its contract with MTAA Super, which manages … Read more

Martin Carpenter confident in his Citi custody team

Citigroup Inc.’s Martin Carpenter’s well cut suit, choice of shirt and necktie are sending a signal. Australia’s fifth-biggest custodian is dressed up and ready to challenge rivals. Carpenter, managing director of securities and fund services, global transactions services, says Citigroup will be at the forefront of competing for custody mandates from the biggest Australian funds … Read more

Future Fund’s assets drop to $73.07 billion

The Future Fund’s total assets under management fell to $73.07 billion as of December 31 compared with $73.18 billion as of September 30. The Melbourne-based fund’s return in the six months to December 31 was minus 3.1 per cent. “Underlying pressures remain and Europe continues to wrestle with debt-related challenges and the risk of recession,” … Read more

Australia is the 5th biggest pension fund market

Australia has had the highest-rate of growth in pension fund assets among so-called developed countries, says Towers Watson. In the last 10 years superannuation assets have increased 17 per cent per annum in Australia, says the consultants. The country is the world’s fifth-biggest pension fund market with US$1.3 trillion in assets. The size of Australia’s … Read more

Wings of a dove? Tyndall reckons it is flying right

The silver aeroplane cuff links he wears were a gift, says Craig Hobart. The Beechcraft Twin Bonanza is not. A photograph of the plane, the last of its type to come out of its factory and used during the Vietnam War, sits on the Tyndall Investment Management Ltd. managing director’s desk. Hobart has flown about … Read more

Bill Shorten to chair superannuation roundtable

Bill Shorten will preside over a superannuation roundtable that will meet next month to try and ensure that Australians have enough money to retire. There will be 17 people who will meet on February 16 or 17 for the first of as many as five meetings, says Pauline Vamos, chief executive of the Association of … Read more

Martin Currie loses mandates

Martin Currie Investment Management Ltd., which opened an office in Melbourne in 2008, has lost investment mandates from Asset Super, Mercer and TelstraSuper. John Paul, Asset Super’s chief executive, says as of December, 2011, the $1.6 billion superannuation fund not longer uses Edinburgh-based Martin Currie to help manage $63 million of its money. The mandate … Read more

Leicestershire gives IFM 35 million pound mandate

Industry Funds Management, which manages about US$32 billion, says the U.K.’s Leicestershire County Council Pension Fund has given it a 35 million pound mandate to invest in infrastructure. “This mandate is a significant milestone for IFM,” Christian Seymour, IFM’s head of infrastructure Europe, says in a statement. Melbourne-based IFM manages about US$10 billion in infrastructure … Read more

Blue Sky Investments says few will follow its IPO

Blue Sky Alternative Investments Ltd., which raised $6.47 million in an initial public offering, says it hopes its IPO will attract foreign investors to help grow a business that now has $180 million in assets under management. The company, whose headquarters are near Brisbane’s Botanic Gardens, says it hired Debra Goundrey last year to work … Read more

Australian fund managers cool on IPOs

Australia’s money managers aren’t seeking to buy shares in initial public offerings where the risk is significantly higher than investing in cash were the annual return is about 6 per cent, say accountants and advisers HLB Mann Judd Australasian Association. “A 6 per cent cash return versus significant risk; investors are happy to wait” rather … Read more

The carbon tax, VicSuper, Mercer and investing

Australia’s carbon tax will force capital markets and investors to account for climate change costs and risks, says investment consultants Mercer. Two Australian superannuation funds, the $42 billion fund AustralianSuper and the $8.5 billion fund VicSuper, have been surveyed by Mercer in its global survey of fund managers and climate change, says Helga Birgden, head … Read more

Paul Costello will review default funds

An eight month review by a government-appointed panel on default superannuation funds is expected to begin next month. The Productivity Commission will be tasked with designing a process for the selection and ongoing assessment of superannuation funds nominated as default funds. “It seeks to develop transparent and objective criteria against which funds wishing to be … Read more