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With traditional equity managers losing the fight against passive product providers, diversification into more specialist classes of asset management may provide a more sustainable path. But that’s a pricey endeavour, and easier said than done.

Megafunds are set to control trillions in member savings, and a few crucial themes are emerging that will figure in the future direction of the superannuation system.

An advice group can either shift its compliance settings to accommodate the reforms, or they can reshape their business strategy to take advantage of them. The different paths could lead to a bifurcated industry when all’s said and done.

The five holdings were only for about two weeks each, and then divested as soon as Morningstar became aware of them. But ASIC takes a seriously dim view of ESG claims that don’t match reality these days.

Corporate profit growth is expected to moderate, especially in sectors focused on consumer sales, and mining companies have seen large downgrades. Meanwhile, markets are still not fully pricing in the high risk of recession, some analysts say.

Although more Australian companies are paying dividends in 2023, many have reduced payouts, with the year-to-date total slightly behind 2022’s figures, according to CommSec research. The big miners are leading the cuts, while energy producers are lifting dividends to reflect record high gas prices.

Analysts agree Australia’s big four banks are entering 2023 from a position of strength as they pass on rising interest rates to borrowers. Headwinds remain, however, and the total return picture for shareholders looks more complex.

Thematically focussed funds have been the big winners in fund flows in the past three years, but most themes have turned out to be fads, new research shows. According to Morningstar’s latest ‘Global Thematic Funds Landscape Report’, link here, over the three years through March 2021, collective assets under management in the 1,349 thematic funds…

The recovery from 2020’s “massive period of turbulence” hasn’t lifted all boats, and there are still plenty of bargains to be had, if you know where to look. Gareth James, Morningstar’s Sydney-based equity research strategist, expects Link Administration (ASX: LNK), for instance, to bounce back from “a tough few years” of regulatory changes and the…

Legendary investor Jeremy Grantham says that while markets are in what he’s called “one of the great bubbles of financial history,” there’s “no traditional pin” to pop it. Speaking to Morningstar CEO Kunal Kapoor, Grantham – who famously dodged the Japanese asset price bubble in the 1980s, as well as the Tech Wreck and the…