About 300 people, many from the financial services industry, attended the annual Awards evening for aid agency Oxfam’s Melbourne Trailwalker, which raised more than $2.3 million for the charity’s March walk. The Sydney event will take place from August 28-30. The major sponsor, State Street, gave the popular ‘Overcoming the Odds’ Award to Kathleen Long who completed the 100km of rough terrain within 48 hours at age 60.
Dear Jimmy…
As US banks clambered to repay their TARP proceeds last month, Mark Sainsbury of First State Super made a typically biting point at an AIST forum – will those banks also repay the private capital and additional business income they were able to generate while operating with taxpayer-funded goodwill?
Dear Jimmy…
As US banks clambered to repay their TARP proceeds last month, Mark Sainsbury of First State Super made a typically biting point at an AIST forum – will those banks also repay the private capital and additional business income they were able to generate while operating with taxpayer-funded goodwill?
Bernie: fan of passive management, and passive communication
Bernie Fraser, the former Reserve Bank Governor who’s now an AustralianSuper and Cbus trustee, is known as a champion of the underdog but you wouldn’t necessarily put him at the top of your emergency contacts list. Unbalanced was trying to track Bernie down last month for an insight to his thoughts on active management, given we’re told he was a driving force behind AussieSuper’s momentous decision to index half of its Australian equities portfolio.
Bernie: fan of passive management, and passive communication
Bernie Fraser, the former Reserve Bank Governor who’s now an AustralianSuper and Cbus trustee, is known as a champion of the underdog but you wouldn’t necessarily put him at the top of your emergency contacts list. Unbalanced was trying to track Bernie down last month for an insight to his thoughts on active management, given we’re told he was a driving force behind AussieSuper’s momentous decision to index half of its Australian equities portfolio.
De-commissioned super only halfway to addressing conflicts
It’s been a long time coming – many would say far too long – but finally there is widespread acknowledgment that sales commissions on super products create an inappropriate conflict of interest. Long regarded by the not-for-profit super sector as a scourge on our industry, commissions paid to financial advisers are now under fire from the very industry bodies that have spent years staunchly defending their role in the sale of superannuation products. Earlier this year, the Financial Planning Association, urged its members to abandon commissions and adopt a fee-based model by 2012.
De-commissioned super only halfway to addressing conflicts
It’s been a long time coming – many would say far too long – but finally there is widespread acknowledgment that sales commissions on super products create an inappropriate conflict of interest. Long regarded by the not-for-profit super sector as a scourge on our industry, commissions paid to financial advisers are now under fire from the very industry bodies that have spent years staunchly defending their role in the sale of superannuation products. Earlier this year, the Financial Planning Association, urged its members to abandon commissions and adopt a fee-based model by 2012.
The 85 bps that buys you control over hedge funds
Managed accounts are costlier upfront for hedge fund investors than traditional unit trust structures. However, a war story from the start of the credit crisis illustrates that the structure may save an investor from catastrophic losses in the long run. In August 2007, Paris-based Capital Fund Management informed investors in its Discus managed futures fund … Read more
The 85 bps that buys you control over hedge funds
Managed accounts are costlier upfront for hedge fund investors than traditional unit trust structures. However, a war story from the start of the credit crisis illustrates that the structure may save an investor from catastrophic losses in the long run. In August 2007, Paris-based Capital Fund Management informed investors in its Discus managed futures fund … Read more
Keep it simple: it’s the internet
The funds management industry is not known as a rapid adopter of new technologies. It was slow to appreciate the power of the internet as a marketing tool and as a way to streamline backoffice and other processes. After a flurry of activity in the late 1990s, when some managers mistakenly believed that a whole new class of investors was willing to buy retail managed funds online, without advice, development slowed. The Y2K red herring diverted time and resources, slowing genuine development further.
Keep it simple: it’s the internet
The funds management industry is not known as a rapid adopter of new technologies. It was slow to appreciate the power of the internet as a marketing tool and as a way to streamline backoffice and other processes. After a flurry of activity in the late 1990s, when some managers mistakenly believed that a whole new class of investors was willing to buy retail managed funds online, without advice, development slowed. The Y2K red herring diverted time and resources, slowing genuine development further.
Retrenched recently? Re-invention in the economic downturn
Career transition expert HUGH DAVIES has some suggestions for the growing number of financial services professionals who have been retrenched. And here’s a hint – they do not revolve around immediately trying to find a job and a pay packet to match your last one. Aside from taking the blame for recent economic travails, many executives and professionals in financial services firms have also had to live with being retrenched. For many this has been traumatic – and then their discomfort and confidence has been further impacted by the extreme difficulty landing another job like the last one, in a contracting market for financial services firms. How should you handle this situation – assuming of course that a return to well remunerated work is desired?
