VENUS How to show your value by listening more to learn more
Leading the Stella Network has provided me with access to a range of planners in different regions, at different levels of experience and in different types of businesses. I’ve listened to their stories of what they do and why they do it, and how they started in financial planning. I’ve worked with financial planners for
May 29, 2015
Lonsec awards Australian equities clearing mandate to UBS
Lonsec and UBS Australia (UBS) are pleased to announce that the mandate to clear and settle all domestic equities and mFund transactions for the stockbroking arm of the Lonsec Fiscal group has been awarded to UBS. The decision to transfer the mandate to UBS was driven by Lonsec’s desire to partner with a clearing services
May 28, 2015
Van Eck Global launches Small Cap Dividend Payers ETF
Van Eck Global today launched Australia’s first and only small company dividend paying ETF – Market Vectors Small Cap Dividend Payers ETF (ASX code: MVS). MVS is the first ETF in Australia that includes only the most liquid ASX listed small companies and only those that paid their most recent dividend. Arian Neiron, Managing Director,
May 28, 2015
Harding Loevner Emerging Markets Equity Fund now available to Australian investors
Harding Loevner LP, a leading US-based global equities manager, today announced the launch of its first Australian-domiciled unit trust, the Harding Loevner Emerging Markets Equity Fund. The Fund is managed according to the firm’s Emerging Markets Equity Strategy, which has a 16-year track record. “Australian investors are looking for ways to diversify away from local
May 28, 2015
HUB24 extends capability to support self-directed investors
HUB24 is continuing to take full advantage of the company¹s ability to rapidly extend its product and services capability with the development of new online functionality allowing self-directed investors to transact and manage their own portfolios. There is growing interest from industry participants and new entrants in supporting the needs of self-directed investors. HUB24 believes
May 27, 2015
Asteron breaks insurers’ silence over the Trowbridge review’s impact on advisers
Life insurance advice remuneration is likely headed towards a fee-for-service structure, according to a senior figure within Suncorp-owned insurer Asteron Life. “I would challenge and say that at some point in the future, there is an expectation that this industry could end up at a fee for service,” said Mark Vilo, executive general manager of
May 27, 2015
Why a focus on valuations will underpin ‘well informed, professional’ wealth advice
Investment advice is developing in two distinct directions: on the one hand into a “latest hot-sector” approach; and on the other into more rounded “professional” wealth advice, according to Jonathan Ramsay and Fil Andronaco, co-founders of the portfolio construction and consulting business InvestSense. Ramsay, Andronaco and a third former van Eyk Research consultant and InvestSense
May 27, 2015
The two sides of risk management: Alpha rock stars versus actuarial nerds
Investment returns have always found a natural place in the spotlight. But volatility – and the impact it can have on a portfolio – is only now getting the attention it deserves. I recently attended a seminar where volatility as an asset class was discussed, along with the opportunities available through volatility hedge fund managers
May 27, 2015
InvestSense launches flagship asset allocation report
InvestSense, the portfolio construction and asset consulting firm founded in October of last year, has announced the launch of its ValueSense Report (VSR), a quarterly subscription directed at financial advisers. True to InvestSense’s forward-looking, valuation-based investment philosophy, the VSR aims to provide advisers with a view of expected risk and returns across the major asset
May 26, 2015
MEDIQ Financial moves away from Platform to an MDA
Melbourne-based accounting and financial planning firm MEDIQ Financial Services has launched a new managed discretionary account solution, in a move that will boost backoffice efficiency, improve the client experience and lower administration costs. The practice, which is licenced by independently-owned dealer group Synchron and has a specialist focus on doctors and other medical professionals, road-tested
May 25, 2015
Milliman: Reducing inflation risk during retirement – the compelling case for stocks
In April 2005, (when interest rates were arguably more normal than they’ve been during the low-rate, post-crisis economy, steered by the Federal Reserve) an investor could have purchased a 10-year Treasury bond with a yield to maturity of 4.4%. That represented an attractive boost over the dividend yield of the S&P 500 Index, which at
May 25, 2015
Are you ready for this? Opt in starts on July 1 and ASIC won’t be treading softly
The “facilitative approach” taken by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) towards FoFA compliance ends on June 30 and financial planners have been warned to be ready to comply fully with the new laws – particularly the controversial opt-in provisions. ASIC’s softly-softly approach to compliance was extended to June 30 this year after amendments
May 25, 2015
