The $15 billion First State Super will roll out a new socially responsible investment (SRI) option for members in the second quarter and has appointed two Australian equities managers to provide the product.
J.P.Morgan WSS offshores accountancy roles to Mumbai
The
Sydney office of J.P.Morgan Worldwide Securities Services (J.P.Morgan WSS) has begun shifting many of its basic accounting roles to one of its three ‘office centres’ around the globe.
Capital National Alliance sheds veteran but lives another day
Capital National Alliance has let a well-respected representative go as Capital International seeks a more direct relationship with Australian institutions, but the entity will continue to administer and currency-manage a wholesale trust here.
Hedgie to try helping his own in move to 'big four'
A prominent Sydney hedge fund manager has joined a ‘big four’ professional services firm, in a new role assisting all kinds of asset managers to cope with debts and shrinking fee revenues, or to wind up their funds.
The Superannuation Guarantee: should it be used as a tool of economic policy?
On March 5, Investment & Technologyand investment administration softwareprovider, SimCorp, held a roundtablediscussion on last November’s “economists’open letter” to the Rudd Government.Signed by eight of Australia’s leading economicminds, the letter advocated a shorttermreduction in the superannuationguarantee to 6 per cent, and a relaxing ofsuper access rules, as an economic stimulusduring this financial crisis. The letter wenton to advocate a gradual increase in theSG as Australia’s economy recovered, to aproposed 12 per cent by 2015.
The Superannuation Guarantee: should it be used as a tool of economic policy?
On March 5, Investment & Technologyand investment administration softwareprovider, SimCorp, held a roundtablediscussion on last November’s “economists’open letter” to the Rudd Government.Signed by eight of
Australia’s leading economicminds, the letter advocated a shorttermreduction in the superannuationguarantee to 6 per cent, and a relaxing ofsuper access rules, as an economic stimulusduring this financial crisis. The letter wenton to advocate a gradual increase in theSG as
Australia’s economy recovered, to aproposed 12 per cent by 2015.
Swedish backtracker: AP3 retreats from equities but ploughs into alternatives
Like all other pension funds, Sweden’s AP3 is a long term investor. However, the extraordinary circumstances of the last 18 months has forced the fund to reconsider its short-term risk appetite, and whether there are better ways to allocate its risk budget in this highly volatile environment. “We, as is every fund in the world, are discussing also our short-term risk preference and the big question is: where are equities going next?” says Erik Valtonen, chief investment officer of AP3, who had a chance to compare experiences with his Australian counterparts last month as a speaker at Terrapinn’s Asset Allocation Summit in Sydney.
Swedish backtracker: AP3 retreats from equities but ploughs into alternatives
Like all other pension funds,
Sweden’s AP3 is a long term investor. However, the extraordinary circumstances of the last 18 months has forced the fund to reconsider its short-term risk appetite, and whether there are better ways to allocate its risk budget in this highly volatile environment. “We, as is every fund in the world, are discussing also our short-term risk preference and the big question is: where are equities going next?” says Erik Valtonen, chief investment officer of AP3, who had a chance to compare experiences with his Australian counterparts last month as a speaker at Terrapinn’s Asset Allocation Summit in
Sydney.
GFC creates global fee crackdown, hedgies bear brunt
Many superannuation funds have been left disappointed by their hedge fund and fund of fund providers, who promised low correlation relative to the mainstream assets in their portfolio and high absolute returns, yet delivered neither. Mixed performance in 2008 is expected to put greater cost pressure on alternative product fees, and many fundof- fund providers will have their work cut out to defend the scale of fees they have been charging.
GFC creates global fee crackdown, hedgies bear brunt
Many superannuation funds have been left disappointed by their hedge fund and fund of fund providers, who promised low correlation relative to the mainstream assets in their portfolio and high absolute returns, yet delivered neither. Mixed performance in 2008 is expected to put greater cost pressure on alternative product fees, and many fundof- fund providers will have their work cut out to defend the scale of fees they have been charging.
Ice Break
Anticipating the credit crunch, some institutional investors readied their portfolios for an imminent bear market, while the majority stuck to strategic weights backed by long-term return assumptions. But who among either group thought that liquidity, the ultimate facilitator of portfolios, would become so thin that their strategies would become compromised for lack of it? In the grip of a fierce market that has wiped out returns from most asset classes and torn the local currency down from its near-greenback-parity high, superannuation funds are managing liquidity pressures that will seemingly not abate for some time.
Ice Break
Anticipating the credit crunch, some institutional investors readied their portfolios for an imminent bear market, while the majority stuck to strategic weights backed by long-term return assumptions. But who among either group thought that liquidity, the ultimate facilitator of portfolios, would become so thin that their strategies would become compromised for lack of it? In the grip of a fierce market that has wiped out returns from most asset classes and torn the local currency down from its near-greenback-parity high, superannuation funds are managing liquidity pressures that will seemingly not abate for some time.
