Liquidity is the paramount risk factor for institutional investors to be cognisant of according to Ben Golub, vice chairman and chief risk officer, BlackRock, who has co-authored a new paper outlining the risks learned from the credit crisis. He spoke to AMANDA WHITE about the suitable internal structure for institutional risk management and the risk challenges at BlackRock.
Green stars profit while laggards just talk the walk
Green properties are better financial performers, says Piet Eichholtz, of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, who recently helped build a global environmental real estate index. But most managers are either unaware of this dynamic or prefer to talk about sustainability rather than take action. However, some exceptions – primarily from Australia – provide a “green” benchmark for institutional investors in property. SIMON MUMME reports.
Climate change is a ‘glass half-full’ for investors
Global head of climate change investment research at DB Climate Change Advisors, Mark Fulton, has a contrary view to most observers, post-Copenhagen. He spoke to AMANDA WHITE about the climate change market and the asset allocation implications for investors, two areas he will address in his presentation at CMSF 2010.
AIST looks back to go forward
As the peak representative body for the $450 billion not-for-profit sector, AIST has played a major role in driving policy outcomes in the superannuation space to the benefit of the millions of working Australians who belong to industry, corporate and public sector funds, writes PHILIPPA YELLAND.
Maintaining the Rage
The one certainty about superannuation over the next 20 years is that it will grow. It’s the miracle of compound interest plus a legislated minimum of the flow of foregone wages every week. The structure of the industry, either through evolution or new regulation, is a little more difficult to predict. There will be fewer but larger funds, perhaps even more SMSFs [when will they stop growing in number?] and perhaps fewer managers. The influence of sponsoring organisations, such as unions and employer bodies, may wane – with or without possible legislative change to the make-up of trustee boards – with the sheer size of funds and continued push for professionalism and best practice. Adequacy will have been addressed, or at least debated. Paul Howes, one of the industry’s new faces of the past couple of years, says that super adequacy will be the next big discussion. Most doomed to straitened old age
Many Australians are heading for a less than comfortable retirement unless the federal government moves to increase the Superannuation Guarantee, after new research revealed there is a big hole in what we have saved and what we will need for a comfortable retirement, writes JOHN BROGDEN
Lifecycle strategies are no dead dog
You can’t be sure of too much in life, but when the AIST, ASFA, IFSA and The Corporate Super Association all think an idea is a dog, then that idea really should be checked for fleas. The four peak bodies, so often at loggerheads with one another, produced an unprecedented joint submission to Jeremy Cooper’s Super System Review last month. They noted that when Senator Nick Sherry announced the Review in May 2009, he said its panel’s task was to “renovate the house”. The four bodies fear that with its proposal to divide members into “universal” and “choice” participants, the review in fact wants to tear the house down and start again. (I wouldn’t ask Nick Sherry about it, though – he has sooo moved on from old policy relationships.
Lifecycle strategies are no dead dog
You can’t be sure of too much in life, but when the AIST, ASFA, IFSA and The Corporate Super Association all think an idea is a dog, then that idea really should be checked for fleas. The four peak bodies, so often at loggerheads with one another, produced an unprecedented joint submission to Jeremy Cooper’s Super System Review last month. They noted that when Senator Nick Sherry announced the Review in May 2009, he said its panel’s task was to “renovate the house”. The four bodies fear that with its proposal to divide members into “universal” and “choice” participants, the review in fact wants to tear the house down and start again. (I wouldn’t ask Nick Sherry about it, though – he has sooo moved on from old policy relationships. Private debt’s double-digit returns strut their stuff
An asset class that offers combination of competitive returns and capital preservation must be attractive to investors. Add to that a debt portfolio with senior secured collateral backing and it’s understandable why private debt has something concrete to offer the investment community, write MIKE DAVIS and TIM MARTIN.
Van Eyk adds Cohen & Steers listed infrastructure
Van Eyk Blueprint Series funds has reviewed its allocation to infrastructure and redirected funds to Cohen & Steers, a large USbased listed infrastructure fund. Jacqui Lemon, product manager for van Eyk Blueprint Series, says van Eyk had moved from the Macquarie Infrastructure Fund to New York-based Cohen & Steers global listed-infrastructure fund. Van Eyk’s infrastructure allocation is $67 million, of which 10 per cent will be directed to Cohen & Steers. “We reviewed our allocations, and decided on Cohen & Steers due to our conviction in the competitive nature of C&S’s bottom-up research,” Lemon said.
Van Eyk adds Cohen & Steers listed infrastructure
Van Eyk Blueprint Series funds has reviewed its allocation to infrastructure and redirected funds to Cohen & Steers, a large USbased listed infrastructure fund. Jacqui Lemon, product manager for van Eyk Blueprint Series, says van Eyk had moved from the Macquarie Infrastructure Fund to New York-based Cohen & Steers global listed-infrastructure fund. Van Eyk’s infrastructure allocation is $67 million, of which 10 per cent will be directed to Cohen & Steers. “We reviewed our allocations, and decided on Cohen & Steers due to our conviction in the competitive nature of C&S’s bottom-up research,” Lemon said.
