Investment Administration Conference
Policy and Regulation
Tax break for rich worst public policy since white Australia
Tax breaks in superannuation for the rich is the worst piece of public policy since ‘white Australia’, Garry Weaven pioneer of industry funds said at Conexus Financial’s 18th annual Investment Administration Conference. Addressing over 200 superannuation professional Weaven spoke on how most countries view Australia’s system as close to perfection, but despite this significant changes […]
Dan PurvesFebruary 19, 2015
Custody
The Future Fund sees data governance as critical
The Future Fund says it is incumbent on investors to analyse data to understand and reduce costs. The fund is augmenting and enriching its custodian’s data with information from other providers, like Bloomberg, to run stress and crash testing on a daily basis, identifying currency and derivative exposure. Campbell McCulloch, head of investment operations at […]
Dan PurvesFebruary 19, 2015
Administration
AustralianSuper contemplates foreign outposts
AustralianSuper has posed the question of whether it should have its own investment management and currency hedging teams based in Europe and America. Peter Curtis, head of investment operations at the $85 billion fund, who was speaking at the Investment Administration Conference in Sydney, said this was a model used by larger pension funds internationally. […]
David RowleyFebruary 19, 2015
Policy and Regulation
There is no one-size-fits-all best practice for super: APRA
There is no-one-size-fits-all way of complying with prudential standards, an APRA representative told delegates at the Investment Administration Conference. Robyn McMahon, general manager, diversified institutions division at the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, urged funds to look at the intent of the standards and to think about what they were able to do to fulfil its […]
David RowleyFebruary 19, 2015
Administration
Sunsuper’s middle office pays its way
Sunsuper’s 12 strong investment operations team has identified over $10 million of potential cost savings and revenue in the last six months. The team, which has expanded by five members in the last year, has scrutinised portfolio activities to optimise cost efficiency from transactions, asset transitions, operational changes and tax liability. It has also improved […]
David RowleyJanuary 28, 2015
Retirement
QSuper’s pension members win from Telstra buy back
QSuper has more than covered the cost of segregating $10 billion in pension fund assets by taking advantage of a share buy-back with Telstra. Telstra bought back $1 billion in shares in October as a way of using up spare cash, but the offer was not appealing to all shareholders because of the capital gains […]
David RowleyJanuary 12, 2015
Unintentional
Turning investment operations into cash – AustralianSuper case study
AustralianSuper has made large savings on brokerage costs for futures contracts, in one of the latest ways its investment operations department is turning itself from a cost centre into a revenue generator. The move was prompted by members of its trading team who have been hired to join the in-house equities team at the fund. […]
David RowleyDecember 8, 2014