The $13 billion multi-manager, ipac, has built an income fund spanning equity and credit markets for the financial planning arm of its parent, Axa Asia Pacific, and received $200 million in seed funding.
Passive currency hedging ‘guarantees regret’
A co-founder of Pareto Partners has criticised the currency strategy most common among Australian super funds, describing the 50 per cent passive hedge as “a position of guaranteed regret”, while unveiling an Ambassador-distributed boutique which aims to make money during the 85 per cent of times that major currencies are non-trending.
Morry’s crew gets set for new quant boutique
A team of ex-Barclays Global Investors executives, led by Morry Waked (pictured), has advanced plans to launch what looks like becoming the hottest quant-orientated boutique Australia has seen. JP Morgan secures $40bn custody client
JP Morgan Treasury & Securities Services (JPMorgan TSS) has secured a $40 billion master custody client, following a tender run by Mercer Sentinel.
Fundie-go-round starts again
Now that the GFC dirge has stopped, Standard & Poor’s has debuted its inaugural Musical Chairs report on fund manager movements for the first quarter of 2010. Order management contender seals first Australian deals
Eze Castle, an order management system (OMS) provider competing against the likes of IRESS and Charles River, has attracted its first clients in Australia.
Passive currency hedging 'guarantees regret'
A co-founder of Pareto Partners has criticised the currency strategy most common among Australian super funds, describing the 50 per cent passive hedge as “a position of guaranteed regret”, while unveiling an Ambassador-distributed boutique which aims to make money during the 85 per cent of times that major currencies are non-trending.
Morry's crew gets set for new quant boutique
A team of ex-Barclays Global Investors executives, led by Morry Waked (pictured), has advanced plans to launch what looks like becoming the hottest quant-orientated boutique Australia has seen. Australia’s oldest mandate…probably
Australia’s oldest mandate…probably When MLC rejigged its debt securities portfolio recently, a forward-looking approach was taken. For instance, global government bonds were split out as a specialist sector, and underlying managers were pigeon-holed so that the multimanager could try and control exposure to interest rate and credit risk. However, few would have realised the restructure … Read more
For Australia’s sake, support the 12 per cent
Amid the political and business angst over the Federal Government’s move to put in place a resource rent tax, one thing seems to have been lost in translation, writes AIST CEO Fiona Reynolds. In 10 years, I’m certain I’ll be asked at international gatherings: “Tell me, just how did Australia get to have a 12 per cent compulsory superannuation scheme?” It’s the usual question I get asked – usually by a slightly incredulous pension fund trustee or regulator from overseas – about Australia’s existing 9 per cent superannuation guarantee regime. My usual response is: It came about as the result of one, single, big, smart idea 25 years ago and a lot of political willpower to make it happen. Australia has one of the most efficient and well-performing superannuation systems in the world. It didn’t just happen. A previous government had to break eggs to make that particular omelette.
ETFs: gaining momentum with institutional investors
Australian institutional investors may not have made big strategic allocations to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) but that does not mean they aren’t finding plenty of uses for the instruments, writes ADAM SECCOMBE, the director of BlackRock-owned iShares Australia. A growing number of Australian institutions are understanding the benefits of ETFs for risk management, cash equitisation, portfolio rebalancing and accessing hard-to-reach markets. They are incorporating ETFs into their investment process to manage risk and liquidity. This has led to a growth in Australian institutional demand for ETFs globally and in Australia over the past 12 months. Overall, the Australian ETF market saw spectacular growth in 2009 with market capitalisation rising 151 per cent, according to the ASX. This surpassed global ETF market growth of 45.7 per cent.
