Opinion

Greater efficiencies and technological advances have made platforms integral to investment outcomes, and they are increasingly helping advisers focus more on client relationships by leaving the nuts and bolts up to automated tools, according to a panel of industry leaders.

With a successful and orderly energy transition “far from guaranteed”, disruptive themes are set to profoundly affect financial markets for years to come, the asset manager said in a new report. Investors should act – and potentially reallocate – accordingly.

The average annual interest rate on banks’ one- and three- year term deposits has risen to 3.2 per cent from 0.25 per cent over the past year. With markets expecting the official cash rate to peak soon, savers looking to lock in attractive rates will find the best deals with smaller, newer banks, analysts say.

After posting a 16.6 per cent average annual return since 2014 and 31.8 per cent in FY20/21, the Cyan 3G Fund lost 35.8 per cent in FY21/22. So how does it feel, as a fund manager, when things head south in dramatic fashion? The fund’s co-founder, Dean Fergie, speaks to The Inside Network’s James Dunn.

With China’s recent policy shift prioritising domestic businesses over foreign alternatives helping to drive growth, investors should look for companies and sectors set to benefit from policy tailwinds, according to Ninety One’s Charlie Dutton and Mendy Zhang.

Small cap investing has considerable upside, which the long-term returns data show. But many small caps are less than quality grade, and the managers picking them can be rife with bias.

Large language models like ChatGPT are part of a long technology continuum driven by Moore’s law, the observation that transistor capacity doubles every two years. To get in on AI’s surging growth, says Munro Partners’ Nick Griffin, investors should focus on the big – and not-so-big – names already poised to come out on top in the “race to shrink”.

Basing an investment strategy on the Goldilocks investment markets of the last 35 years gives rise to considerable risk, writes Michael Block, and now might be the time to get out of growth assets.

Despite increased volatility emanating from the banking sector, tech stocks have been supported by falling bond yields on fears the global economy could slip into recession this year, with big-name companies leading the gains.

Shifting market dynamics mean some of the investment themes that worked in recent years are set to give way to new opportunities. Man Group’s Andrew Swan and Prime Value’s Richard Ivers recently discussed the promising outlook for Asia and small-cap stocks, where it’s all about fundamentals.

Proactive management and stock picking are, in some ways, two sides of the same coin. But advisers and investors should be aware of their fundamental differences, according to HMC Capital.

Systemic risk is difficult for investors to grasp because it’s no big deal – until it is. And unless investors adopt a “vastly different” mindset about pricing, it’s going to get a lot worse.