Current valuations suggest global listed property should outperform direct real estate over the next five years, according to a new AMP Capital Investor study. The AMP Capital white paper, titled ‘Don’t tell me it’s not real estate’, says historically there has been a strong link between listed property pricing (using the US as a proxy)… [Read More…]
Another one bites the dust: Mather to leave Mercer
It’s looking a bit like a structural problem for the institutional funds management industry. Graeme Mather is leaving Mercer, it was revealed last week. He is the third head of investment consulting of Australia’s major firms to depart in recent months. Mather, who oversaw about 160 people at Mercer as head of investment and retirement… [Read More…]
UK central bank hops on fintech bandwagon
The Bank of England (BOE) has thrown its considerable weight behind the nascent fintech ‘reformation’ with a five-point action plan to encourage and guide financial innovation. Mark Carney, BOE governor, laid out the five-point fintech mission in a speech drafted for a banker’s gathering in London last Thursday. (However, Carney instead delivered a tribute to… [Read More…]
How quants have taken to the new hue
In the evolution of funds management, coupled with the evolution of big super funds, quantitative investing has had its own twists and turns. Post-GFC, quants are enjoying a resurgence. They are blending investment styles to achieve an outcome. Paul Moghtader , Boston-based portfolio manager and head of a nine-person quant team at Lazard Asset Management,… [Read More…]
Australia hands reports back to AMP Capital NZ
AMP Capital NZ chief, Grant Hassell, will take on more control of the local investment and distribution teams under changes announced last week while relinquishing some of his fixed income duties. Following the organisational revamp, all NZ investment groups (bar property) and distribution will now report directly to Hassell. Previously, some AMP Capital NZ business… [Read More…]
Numbers up for KiwiSaver and super schemes
Less than 30 KiwiSaver schemes are expected to survive the Financial Markets Conduct Act (FMC) transition with the ‘bolt-on’ employer scheme sector slated for extinction. To date, just six KiwiSaver schemes – including AMP, Westpac and Mercer – have shifted to FMC-mode with their respective documents now published on the Ministry of Business, Innovation and… [Read More…]
ASIC draws line in sand for fintech
Experimental ‘fintech’ firms across the Tasman would get a regulatory leg-up under proposals floated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) last week. The ASIC consultation paper on innovation in the financial services includes a plan to allow certain fintech firms a six-month licence-free period to play. “We propose to give conditional, industry-wide relief… [Read More…]
Adviser bodies start from scratch with open-ended marriage proposal
The proposed adviser über-body, Financial Advice New Zealand (FANZ), would start with a “blank sheet of paper”, according to Michael Dowling, chair of the Institute of Financial Advisers (IFA). Dowling said the mooted new adviser organisation – to be created from the ashes of the IFA and Professional Advisers’ Association (PAA) – would develop a… [Read More…]
How to improve income outcomes: skip the jargon, teach the basics
Fund managers have a crucial role in lifting global financial literacy but “must decouple marketing from thought leadership” in the process, according to a new study. The report produced by UK-based researcher Create in association with Principal (formerly known as Principal Global Investors) says asset managers can improve financial literacy standards by “turning the spotlight… [Read More…]
New phase in evolution of ETF strategies
ETF investments are mushrooming, at all three levels of investors – institutional, advised and individuals – but how and why they are being used is changing. We appear to be entering a new phase of the development of the ETF market. According to Jon Howie, head of BlackRock’s iShares Australia, which is the biggest player… [Read More…]