Markets

Global investment consultant and support network to the pension fund industry, bfinance, this week released its latest Market Intelligence and Market Trends report, covering the final quarter of 2021. While the world has changed dramatically since the calendar turned over, there are some powerful insights for financial advisers and other asset allocators. According to its…

Floods, fires, landslides, earthquakes. It doesn’t matter where you are in the world, the impacts of climate change are becoming more pronounced, with many still struggling to understand the implications they have for various asset classes. Long the stalwart of institutional portfolios, commercial properties are among the oldest asset classes in the world, having been…

As chief investment officer of Munro Partners, a global growth equity strategy that seeks to be THE global growth fund for Australian investors, Nick Griffin has been among the most successful at identifying and leveraging the most powerful economic and societal themes in recent decades. Whether it was the days explaining how a little-known online…

With climate change front and centre of every investor’s mind, most people think of renewable energy or clean energy production as being primarily solar panels or wind turbines. Often many of the more effective and efficient renewable energy production processes are left out, such as hydro-electricity. Nuclear power is almost always omitted from the “clean…

“Bonds won’t exist in 10 years,” were the words of Vimal Gor, one of the most well-known and respected fixed income managers in the country. He was announcing his departure from Pendal Group, where he had managed as much as $22 billion in fixed income strategies over a multi-decade career. In recent years, Gor has…

Speaking at the Inside Network’s Equities and Growth Assets Symposium, the only conference dedicated to this important asset class, co-portfolio manager of the Franklin Global Growth Fund, Francyne Mu said the time was right for investors to start “flipping the script and look beyond the usual suspects” in resetting their equity allocations.   No surprise…

Following-on from the COP26 meeting last November, there has been a tectonic shift towards “green” asset investments to ensure that the (voluntary) national goals of the Paris Agreement are met, and there is a rapid reduction of carbon-dioxide emissions to ‘net zero’ levels. The Australian Financial Review said that as of September 30, “sustainable funds…

Funds under management (FUM) in managed accounts jumped in the second half of 2021, with continued growth expected in 2022 through more volatile asset markets, according to new data from the Institute of Managed Account Professionals (IMAP). As at 31 December 2021, FUM in managed accounts stood at $131.65 billion, an increase of $21.06 billion…

Venture capital has been one of the most popular and profitable sectors in which to operate and invest in the last few years. Traditionally, and ultimately still, the primary domain of the ultra-wealthy, pension funds and statutory investors, the sector has delivered returns exceeding 20 per cent a year for many years now. Private equity…

With media news and headlines dominated by the deepening crisis in Ukraine, this year’s interim earnings season was dealt an additional driver. All in all, though, it was a relatively good reporting season, with companies cashed-up and the majority recording a profit, with about 67 per cent of companies lifting profits. According to specialist equities…

The number one expectation Australians have of financial advisers in 2022 is quite straightforward, according to the Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA); they must know about responsible investment. That is according to the more than one thousand people interviewed for the latest Values to Riches survey, 64 per cent of which suggested this was a…

MA Financial, previously known as Moelis, has announced the expansion of its investment suite, pivoting its asset management business into the Chinese market. Named the MA Financial China Fund, the strategy will invest into a portfolio of 70 high-quality Chinese companies and be managed by onshore manager ChinaAMC. ChinaAMC is one the country’s largest asset…