While investing following strong and integrated ESG principles does not readily spring to mind when considering China there is more action going on across the sustainability space there than many people think. The building blocks are already in place: a growing green credit market that is encouraging companies to invest in ESG-related projects, strategic government…
For many advisers, life insurance is an important part of their income. But unless the insurance sector changes its business lines, particularly with troublesome income protection products, they will all feel the pinch come the third quarter next year. The industry will have to re-cut its products, not just with income protection (IP) insurance, according…
New retail investors entered the sharemarket in droves over the first six months of the pandemic’s impact. Contrary to widely held views, for the most part, on average, they did very well. Very well indeed. But one has to be careful of averages. They can often mask skews from big single numbers and rarely do…
Chris Cuffe first let the industry know, in 2015, what his 10 biggest lessons from years at the top in funds management were. He revisited and updated the list in September 2019 and has now done so once again. But the original list is probably timeless. He also added a few extra tips last week,…
Progress on diversity across the whole investment industry has remained disappointingly slow, according to a paper from Willis Towers Watson (WTW), the global investment consulting, funds management, and insurance broking firm. It has decided on direct engagement with fund managers to pick up the pace. In its paper published yesterday (October 26), entitled ‘Diversity in the…
The Financial Services Council (FSC) is to now prepare a policy discussion (a ‘green paper’) for the industry and government, to be delivered in 2021, following the release of a major report by Rice Warner proposing sweeping changes to Australia’s financial advice system. The Rice Warner report was commissioned by the FSC and discussed at…
Australia has slipped from third place in the world rankings for adequacy, sustainability and integrity of our super system to fourth place, being leap-frogged by new entrant Israel. The impact of COVID-19 has cost almost all systems, particularly those which allowed access to savings or relaxed contributions rules. The Mercer CFA Institute 12th annual global…
Hamish Douglass, the CIO of Magellan Financial Group, who oversees the largest Australian-owned global funds manager and is the current darling of both the wholesale and retail investor sectors, is relatively sanguine about the possible market impact of the US election, but a bit more worried about COVID-19. Douglass, also Magellan’s co-founder, with Chris Mackay,…
The launch early in February this year of Australia’s first unlisted fund to be quoted on the ASX, by Magellan group and its administrator, Mainstream, took a while to sink in, not helped by the dislocation caused by the pandemic crisis. But, as Australia at least, is preparing to get back to business at some…
Notwithstanding the political and superannuation industry talk of an infrastructure-led economic recovery in Australia, and elsewhere, the listed infrastructure sector has been looking decidedly unloved of late. And much of the sector’s underperformance against the broader market this year has not been justified in terms of company earnings. Guiseppe Corona, the London-based head of global…
