The flow of capital absorbed by Australia’s superannuation industry is something that irritates academics Ron Bird and Jack Gray, who just received research funding from the ICPM, particularly since super fund members are forced by law to put their money into the hands of their fiduciary ‘agents’, writes Simon Mumme.
The $US 324 billion Government Pension Fund – Global (NBIM) of Norway pushed its allocation to equities beyond 50 per cent in the course of Q1 2009 at the expense of its fixed income portfolio, maintaining a strategic bent towards a higher exposure to growth assets.
The US$13 billion global equities manager Trilogy Global Advisors has joined the growing list of funds managers prepared to call the bottom for equity markets, and is already overweighting stocks leveraged to global economic recovery such as technology and consumer discretionaries.
The EDHEC Risk and Asset Management Research Centre and the CFA Institute held an annual three-day seminar on advances in asset allocation in New York in early May. One of the main themes of the seminar was how investors align their long-term time horizons within short term constraints.
The French economy will be the target of future co-investments by the nation’s $US28 billion sovereign wealth fund, the Fonds Strategique d’ Investissement (FSI), and the $US10 billion Mubadala Development of Abu Dhabi, after the two investors forged a strategic partnership this week.
One constructive consequence of the global financial crisis, according to the director of the Rotman International Centre for Pension Management, Keith Ambachtsheer, is the exposure of defined benefit and defined contribution scheme designs as inadequate. Amanda White spoke to him about alternative pension models and the most cost-effective delivery mechanism.