Asset management

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…

As the world emerges from the pandemic, economies around the world have re-opened, albeit with record levels of fiscal and monetary stimulus, higher production costs and a global supply chain that has been pushed to its limits. It’s no surprise that inflation expectations are the highest in almost a decade. Inflation should build steadily over…

Reimagining portfolios for tomorrow’s reality Increasing inflation volatility represents the greatest challenge to investors for a generation. A new regime and the collapse of the financial market status quo requires us to reimagine portfolios. No longer can we rely on yesterday’s logic. “Inflation is the endgame. Just brace for inflation volatility first.” Do we still…

Just a few short months ago, we were asking the question “are equities too expensive?” The threat of rate hikes then switched the rhetoric to “why aren’t bond yields higher?” But now investors face an even more challenging question, according to Kerry Craig, global market strategist at JP Morgan Asset Management: “what do I do…

Returns for the classic 60/40 portfolio are expected to be “uninspiring” for the 2020s, according to Schroders, and investors are rushing towards private markets to recapture some approximation of the returns they’ve enjoyed over the last decade. According to data from Schroders, private equity has on average produced a 2.4 per cent net return above…

With our long period of near-zero interest rates seemingly at an end, every investor’s attention turns to the balance of their portfolio. Conventional wisdom is that now is the time to rethink exposure to real estate investments because rising interest rates are a drag on property values and rising inflation benefits other asset classes. There…

“Don’t ask yourself if it’s going to rain, ask yourself if you have an umbrella, in case it does,” says Hugh Selby-Smith, co-chief investment officer and head of research at specialist global equity manager Talaria Capital. Drawing on decades of experience, the firm’s January investor update offered both a history lesson and an insight into…

He is far from a household name in the Australian funds management industry – and definitely not one of the star stock-pickers often profiled in the financial media – but few would have begrudged Mugunthan (Mugsy) Siva a quiet fist-pump after the calendar-year returns for 2021 came out, with his India Avenue Equity Fund returning…

Uncertainty has returned to the market after a bumper 2020, fuelled by persistent inflation and a pandemic that never really went away. But in its latest alternatives outlook, JPMorgan warns that investors “aren’t seeing the forest for the trees.” “Up close, the ‘trees’ in the 2022 outlook are clear,” writes Anton Pil, global head of…

While all eyes remain focused squarely on whether inflation is “transitory” or not, “persistent” is the adjective that value manager Allan Gray uses to describe the position of the equity market. Speaking in its monthly update, the firm’s Australian managing director and chief investment officer Simon Mawhinney flagged the “exuberance for some stocks and disdain…

If we are truly honest about the state of the Australian investment industry when it comes to alternatives, we were very much a backwater for many years. That is, at least, at the mass market, retail, or wholesale level. For many years, the best alternative assets advisers could access were the so-called “black boxes” of…