costs

Administration

Average operational costs per member rising

Operational costs are on the rise and on a per member basis have nearly doubled in ten years, shows analysis carried out by consultant group Bridge. APRA data on operational and administration costs and released in January shows that in 2004 the average per annum amount spent on operational costs per member was $94, but […]
Kate Hage and David RowleyAugust 25, 2014
Custody

More work for superannuation funds to do on costs

Within the Superannuation industry, cost has become a key factor for funds. Legislative reforms now require trustees of MySuper funds to consider whether their scale disadvantages members. This approach of ‘encouraged consolidation’ is premised on the assumption that bigger funds deliver lower costs for members. The focus on costs is important because while investment returns […]
Seamus CollinsDecember 14, 2013
Hedge Funds

Protective legislation to raise compliance costs

The trend towards greater active foreign-currency management is to collide with a hike in compliance costs, delegates of the National Australia Bank Superannuation FX Conference heard. Half of all funds now take currency hedging decisions at a total portfolio level, up from 8 per cent in 2003, and are increasingly using tailored strategies, rather than […]
David RowleyAugust 26, 2013
Custody

Inhouse target: zero to $40 billion in 4 years

If everything continues on schedule, the $60-billion AustralianSuper will begin testing its new internal investment-management systems this month, with a view to managing its first money in house in the third quarter of 2013. Within four years the fund expects to manage as much as $40 billion in house, funded primarily from cash flow, and […]
Simon HoyleApril 15, 2013
Investment Strategy

Super funds must change, says Tria

Superannuation funds are under pressure as investor behaviour changes, particularly because of technology, says Andrew Baker, managing partner at asset management consultants Tria Investment Partners. “Business models of super funds are under a lot of pressure and the degree to which they are has probably been underestimated,” says Baker. “Regulatory changes and markets have been […]
I & T NewsMay 25, 2012
Investment Strategy

Investit: sell more of what you’re good at

The most successful Australian asset managers are those who manage their cost-to-income ratios at 55 per cent or less, according to a survey by consultants Investit. Australian asset managers are among some of the best run fund-management businesses in the world and for a short-time may enjoy not having to take into account new regulations […]
I & T NewsMay 11, 2012
Investment Strategy

Asset managers decry share sale process

Guy Foster, head of equity capital markets in Australia for Bank of America Merrill Lynch, was red in the face. It may not have necessarily been because three asset managers at the Ownership Matters governance conference were voicing criticism of investment banks hired to sell shares for companies. “Long-term shareholders are discriminated against” in many […]
I & T NewsApril 4, 2012
Investment Strategy

Returns, costs of private equity questioned

The audience was aghast. This was not what they had come to hear. David Brown, chairman of the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, was momentarily befuddled. It was after all a conference for Australia’s most prominent private equity firms organised by the Asian Venture Capital Journal. To question the industry in such a […]
I & T NewsMarch 12, 2012
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