NZ Super, the sovereign wealth fund for Aotearoa, has a clear mandate to grow its assets to meet the retirement liabilities of today’s teenagers. With eyes fixed on this faraway horizon the fund has instituted governance practices and a way of investing that are world-class and should benefit future generations in the land of the long white cloud. AMANDA WHITE reports.
Debt throes
For investors, there may be more to lose now than after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. In the months following September 2008, as governments flooded markets with capital, investors took shelter in U.S. Treasury debt. Now the deepening sovereign debt crisis in developed-world economies has taken this risk-free refuge away. Negative real interest rates, ongoing … Read more
Blend art with your investment science
The inability of quantitative measures of risk and volatility to prepare institutional investors for the financial crisis has sparked a renewed interest in the art of asset allocation, writes DANIEL GRIOLI of FuturePlus. In his book Capital Ideas, Peter Bernstein relates the story of how financial theories such as meanvariance optimisation, the capital asset pricing … Read more
Hedge funds want to reclaim their reputation
Hedge fund managers are meeting a much more sceptical investing public after the September 2008 bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers. In 2008 the average hedge fund fell in value by 19 per cent, according to Hedge Fund Research. “2008 was a turning point in so many ways,” Kevin Gundle, CEO of hedge fund-of-funds manager Aurum told … Read more
Funds doubt big Stronger Super savings
Bill Shorten says his proposed changes to superannuation will increase retirement savings by about $40,000 for a 30-year-old worker earning average fulltime wages. This claim, along with proposals to change superannuation, were made last month by the Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, who says the reforms are the most significant since 9 per cent … Read more
Managers pitch for cross-border assets
As headhunters search to replace Doug McTaggart, CEO of Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC), and Hazel McNeilage, head of asset management, the funds manager continues to make moves northward into China. Dr Geoff Raby, the former Australian Ambassador to China who was hired by QIC in September, says he will aim to use his contacts in … Read more
Investors Face Diverging Carbon Policies
Taxing carbon emissions in Australia would align with Mercer Investment Consulting’s prediction that world regions will pursue different ways of pricing emissions, says Helga Birgden, head of responsible investment for the business in the Asia-Pacific region. Birgden says regulators in the U.S., Europe, China, Australia and New Zealand are developing different carbon pricing mechanisms and this will affect global investors such as superannuation funds. “There are carbon pricing signals in the market but it’s fragmented. It’s not global,” Birgden says. A carbon tax in Australia would provide policy certainty for domestic equity investors. But their growing international exposures will be impacted by pricing policies offshore, she says.
FuturePlus seeks to hire senior personnel
FuturePlus Financial Services is looking to hire a general manager of corporate development and other senior personnel as it seeks to expand its business as a provider of administration services to superannuation funds.
Maple-Brown Abbott looks to expand its Asian business
Maple-Brown Abbott, the closely held fund manager, wants to boost the amount of its Asian funds under management from the current $1 billion.
Jack Gray: Australian superannuation maximises agency costs
Australia’s superannuation system is one that has maximised agency costs, says Jack Gray, an adjunct professor at the Centre of Capital Market Dysfunctionality at the University of Technology, Sydney.
Tyndall seeks to hire head of institutional sales
Tyndall Investments, the $22.8 billion Australian fund manager owned by Nikko Asset Management Co., is seeking to hire a head of institutional sales after adding seven staff since July.
