Bill Shorten says superannuation fund governance is lacking and he will put before parliament legislation to improve it this year. The Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation says he wants fund director fees disclosed and is seeking a better handling of related party transactions. Shorten also wants to bolster trustee board diversity. “The current superfund … Read more
Increased transparency, from the makeup and potential conflicts of boards, to pay and investments is likely to be a theme for the funds that manage about $1.4 trillion in retirement savings, says BT Financial Group. BT says the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority is focused on improving governance standards at all superannuation trustees. That means the … Read more
Calastone Ltd., the specialist messaging and translation service for managed funds, says it expects to mirror its U.K. market share of 80 per cent in Australia as the $1.3 trillion in superannuation funds seek electronic rather than manual processes. Founded in March 2007, Calastone is a messaging hub that sits in the middle of buyers … Read more
Ascalon Capital Managers, the boutique asset managers owned by Westpac Banking Corp., has added a ninth fund manager: Asian hedge fund Canning Park Capital. Sydney-based Ascalon has taken a 30 per cent stake in Singapore-based Canning Park, a long-short equity fund manager that invests in 10 Asian markets. It was founded in July 2010 by … Read more
Aon Corp. the risk manager, insurer and re-insurer, says if the regulator and government insist on imposing a single price for investing in a MySuper fund it will discriminate against older people. “If the fund has to charge all members the same investment management fee then older members would be subsidising younger members in the … Read more
Jennifer Cowan, who joined Mercer’s global alternatives research unit in 2009 as a senior associate, left the investment consulting company in December as the firm fired people globally to reduce costs. Cowan was part of a team that conducted analysis of unlisted investments in areas such as private equity and credit. She was responsible for … Read more
HostPlus says it is accepting submissions from custodians who are interested in administrating the $10 billion superannuation fund’s record keeping and corporate actions. “We’ve gone to the market and invited all the major players,” says HostPlus chief investment officer Sam Sicilia. JP Morgan Chase & Co. has been Melbourne-based HostPlus’s custodian since the fund started … Read more
Some who are responsible for managing part of Australia’s $1.8 trillion funds under management say they already are transparent on their investments and believe caution should be exercised to ensure costs don’t outweigh the benefits of disclosure. “We’re happy to disclose each and every one of our investments,” says Sam Sicilia, chief investment officer of … Read more
The typical Australian superannuation fund, which invests as much as 80 per cent in stocks, property, infrastructure and private equity, lost 2.5 per cent in 2011, says Chant West, the superannuation fund analysts. Superannuation fund performance was negatively impacted by the performance of the S&P/ASX 300 Index which fell 11 per cent last year, says … Read more
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia Ltd. will meet with the Financial Services Council this month or next to begin formulating a joint position on how much of Australia’s $1.8 trillion fund management industry’s investments should be disclosed. ASFA and the FSC plan to submit their final report on fund disclosure to regulators by … Read more
ASX Group, whose primary and backup trading systems shut down on October 27, says its group executive for technology will depart, but not immediately. Jeff Olsson will leave the ASX in July. He has worked at the company for 15 years. “It was Jeff’s decision to leave,” says an ASX spokesman. Olsson’s departure “is unrelated … Read more
REST Industry Super, the $21 billion fund for the retail industry, says its 2 million members are largely satisfied with the fund’s performance and its service, contradicting a Roy Morgan Research report that says “customer quality measures for REST are considerably lower than the industry average”. “That finding is not reflective of the benchmarking we’ve … Read more
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