Thematically focused 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’, over the three years through March 2021, collective assets under management in the 1,349 thematic funds more than…
The chief executive elect of AMP Ltd Alexis George, once a financial services giant in size and stature – boasting for a time the advertising slogan: ‘We will always be there’ – faces the biggest task of her career. Her track record could not be better. The advertising slogan sounded good, if overly ambitious, for…
Morningstar’s Australian and New Zealand stock analysts have upgraded a2 Milk, a New Zealand-based ASX-listed dairy success story of recent years, to a five-star rating. A dip in price over the past month has made the stock a better buy. a2 Milk has both a geopolitical and a corporate political challenge to weather at the…
Hyperion Asset Management’s top-performing global equity fund, which has beaten its benchmark by a wide margin since inception in 2014, lists as an exchange-quoted managed fund on the ASX today (March 22). The listing (ASX: HYGG) continues a dream start to the year for the Brisbane-based boutique, which sits under the Pinnacle Investment Management multi-affiliate…
Mark Arnold and Jason Orthman stood at the podium to collect three awards at last Friday (Feb 26) afternoon’s annual Morningstar funds awards, including the main prize, that of Fund Manager of the Year. But they didn’t quite scoop the pool. They were on stage four times but had to make way for T.Rowe Price…
Unlike their counterparts at the big end of town, the trustees of SMSFs were given a glowing endorsement by Senator Jane Hume, the assistant minister for superannuation, at the SMSF Association annual conference this week. Her conference speech on the first day of the two-day virtual event (February 16) probably would have drawn rapturous applause…
Don Ezra, a now-retired celebrity adviser in the institutional world, still offers his views, in blog form, on all sorts of issues facing retirees. Recently, he turned his attention to the possible growth stock bubble. In his series ‘Life after Full-time Work’ (link) Ezra admits that no-one knows when, nor if, the current record spread…
In what was the first face-to-face investment industry gathering for more than a year, Senator Jane Hume, the minister for superannuation, appears to be holding the Government line on proposed ‘Your Future, Your Super’ changes. This is despite almost universal and bi-partisan criticism from industry experts about the efficacy of the process to be used…
Australian managed funds are the worst in the world for disclosing to investors what stocks they buy and other portfolio information crucial to making informed decisions. They are also poor at disclosing their ESG and stewardship policies and practices, compared with most other major countries. But the good news is that they are among the…
Following forceful questioning by shareholders at its annual meeting last month, comes news that a class action against IOOF, undertaken by Shine Lawyers, has progressed through the funding stage. A previous proposed action, through lawyers Quinn Emanual, was dropped early this year. Patrick Liddy, the principal of MSI Group consultants, and Shine Lawyers have been…
