It has almost become irresponsible for a super fund to set and forget its strategic asset allocation, according to Fiona Trafford-Walker, managing director of Frontier Investment Consulting. Using a rollercoaster analogy, Trafford-Walker says the idea of a fund strapping itself in and hoping for the best does not make sense any more. “If you’re well strapped in and you’ve got a good stomach, that’s fine, but if you’re not well strapped in and you’ve got a weak stomach then it’s not fine, and the thing with a rollercoaster is you can’t get off in the middle,” she says. Frontier has been actively managing clients’ assets for about 10 years, according to Trafford-Walker, but has only recently begun labelling it dynamic asset allocation (DAA) in response to the jargon’s entry into the investment lexicon.
Consultants’ revival
Time for action on governance but who should be the catalyst?
When Barack Obama was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize it tended to overshadow all other prizes, including the one for economics. The Nobel prize for economics went to two US academics, Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University and Oliver Williamson of University of California Berkeley, for years of work into the efficiency of institutions, such as large companies, compared with the marketplace in general. Their work has generally been supportive of the behaviour of companies, as well as other groups acting together, rather than individuals.
Time for action on governance but who should be the catalyst?
When Barack Obama was awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize it tended to overshadow all other prizes, including the one for economics. The Nobel prize for economics went to two US academics, Elinor Ostrom of Indiana University and Oliver Williamson of University of California Berkeley, for years of work into the efficiency of institutions, such as large companies, compared with the marketplace in general. Their work has generally been supportive of the behaviour of companies, as well as other groups acting together, rather than individuals. No respect for privacy
You’d never actually shed a tear for private equity managers, but it’s hard not to sympathise with them a little of late. They’ve been downweighted by no less an authority than The Future Fund, their fiduciary fund champions continue to slide down the performance pop charts, and Watson Wyatt released an entire report detailing, in a nutshell, how they ought to be paid less. “The basis upon which a manager sets its management fees must be reconsidered.
No respect for privacy
You’d never actually shed a tear for private equity managers, but it’s hard not to sympathise with them a little of late. They’ve been downweighted by no less an authority than The Future Fund, their fiduciary fund champions continue to slide down the performance pop charts, and Watson Wyatt released an entire report detailing, in a nutshell, how they ought to be paid less. “The basis upon which a manager sets its management fees must be reconsidered.
Costello finds super ‘tinkering’ very taxing
Costello finds super ‘tinkering’ very taxing
Funds alerted to need for, and rewards from, DIY engagement
Superannuation trustees should try harder to prevent members’ money being pumped into the inflated salaries of executives and directors of underperforming companies, Dean Paatsch, the director of RiskMetrics in Australia, told Superratings’ 2009 Day of Confrontation last month. Presenting his personal views, not those of RiskMetrics, Paatsch said that despite a few notable exceptions, the industry’s actual engagement with companies fell short of its rhetoric, verging almost on indifference: “We speak far too much and act far too little,” he said. The founding head of the Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees said he retained his faith in the trustee system, but that judgments about governance, sustainability and risk were still peripheral within it.
