Newsletter – Day 1 [Adobe Acrobat PDF – 851.62 KB]
RCM…making dreams of funds management come true It’s always been tough to break into a job in portfolio management, more so now than ever. You might have the skills and the determination, but it’s likely you’ll remain languishing on the sidelines without a little bit of luck. Just ask Paul Schofield, who these days has … Read more
RCM…making dreams of funds management come true It’s always been tough to break into a job in portfolio management, more so now than ever. You might have the skills and the determination, but it’s likely you’ll remain languishing on the sidelines without a little bit of luck. Just ask Paul Schofield, who these days has … Read more
Bold as brass, Wall Street firms are again talking big bonuses. However, a proposal that Australian super funds are being urged to sign would give shareholders of US public companies more of a say in the matter, FIONA REYNOLDS writes.
The California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS) will publish its business plans in the next week or so, and with a back-to-basics theme, the investment team has been directed to review its mix of active versus passive. Chief investment of CalSTRS, Chris Ailman, says the board typically asks the investment team to review three broad themes in addition to its normal portfolio level and work. “The board wants us to look at the mix of active passive in both equities and fixed interest investments. We have traditionally been heavily passive and that has helped us. Active management has been very expensive, at times it has proved its worth, at other times it hasn’t,” he says.
Superpartners’ head of project delivery left last month – in the middle of running the largest superannuation system replacement project in Australian history. A Superpartners spokesperson said that Jane Collyer, an eight-year veteran of the firm who ran the massive project to integrate administration for the AustralianSuper merger, had left for personal reasons. Collyer confirmed she had quit to look after her ailing father, but that she had left Superpartners “on great terms” and remained available to take any questions over the phone.
Earlier this year, Man Investments, the world’s largest hedge funds of funds manager, based in Switzerland, announced that it was migrating to a separately managed account platform (SMAP) for clients in order to give them more transparency and control. Others are expected to follow. Providing an SMAP for a client, even a big one, is not an easy thing for a hedge fund management firm to do. Most hedge fund managers are boutique operators, with outsourced administration. It is difficult enough for a boutique to provide separately managed accounts in the long-only space.
The turbulence in markets has been a catalyst for some navel gazing in the global pension market, which has the two-fold effect of re-examining pension design and the institutional elements that need to be in place to deliver cost efficiency, according to Keith Ambachtsheer, director of the Rotman International Centre for Pension Management (ICPM). “I hope that what comes out of this cycle of market turbulence is that the defined contribution versus defined benefit debate diminishes into a discussion of what the best system should look like,” he says.
The investment intelligence behind Australia’s largest asset owners and their teams
In-depth interviews with leaders, experts and visionaries in the institutional investment community
Updates on the latest industry policy developments and regulation
The challenges and innovations of custody, technology and operational due diligence
Investment Magazine provides in-depth, monthly analysis of trends and developments for all the businesses in which superannuation funds engage‚ including asset allocation, investment manager selection, custody and fund accounting, member administration, group insurance and compliance.
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this land upon which Conexus Financial sits, the Cadigal of the Eora Nation. We recognise their continuing connection and unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters and community. We pay our deepest respects to them and their culture, and to Elders both past and present.
