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.
Back to the future for risk management
Andrew Wood , Group CEO of Razor Risk Technologies, examines the impact the financial crisis has had on risk management practices across the globe and, in particular, the need to manage your organisation’s exposure through relevant time risk management. A close look at the underlying causes of the credit crisis and the collapse of several banking institutions has drawn much attention to the risk cultures of the world’s financial organisations. A key criticism is that many failed to aggregate and monitor their total exposures across the organisation in a timely manner.
Bring on the black boxes
Parallel trading venues in a single market mean one thing to a big portion of the global broking and funds management industry: arbitrage opportunities. Now, in Australia, Chi-X is preparing to launch a high-frequency trading venue and the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) is developing new platforms aiming to direct high-speed traffic our way. The arms race is on. SIMON MUMME reports.
Dr Henry’s prescription for mature Australians
In 1889, in response to growing public pressure, the German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck created the world’s first old age pension scheme. Not a supporter of the idea, he is said to have called in his officials and asked them the life expectancy of the average male German worker. The answer? 65. The start date for the pension? 65. IFSA CEO JOHN BROGDEN comments.
