Morningstar upgrades Bennelong, Colonial First State Small-Caps, downgrades Kinetic, Allan Gray
Morningstar today released its Sector Wrap-Up for small-cap Australian share strategies, covering 33 individual managed fund strategies accounting for about 80.0 percent of category assets, as well as three exchange-traded funds and two listed investment companies. We evaluate funds, ETFs, and LICs at the same time to enable investors and advisers to make the most
December 01, 2014
Centric Wealth beefs up domestic equities portfolio, appoints Vinva to manage $100 million
Centric Wealth, part of the Findex Group, has announced the inclusion of Vinva Investment Management to its Australian Equities portfolio via the launch of Australian Equities Extension Fund (“the Fund”). Kieran Canavan, Chief Investment Officer for Findex said that seeding the Fund was consistent with providing the best of breed investment opportunities to investors consistent
December 01, 2014
Lonsec upgrades Market Vectors Australian Property ETF to Recommended Index
Market Vectors, the exchange traded fund business of Van Eck Global, announced today that Lonsec has upgraded its Market Vectors Australian Property ETF to “Recommended Index”. Matthew McKinnon, Director, Intermediary and Institutions, Market Vectors ETFs and Van Eck Global in Australia said, “The Market Vectors Australian Property ETF (ASX code: MVA) is the only ETF with
December 01, 2014
Effective risk profiling continues to be a key contributor to confidence in advice
In the UK, confidence in financial advice has grown steadily over recent years. Core to that improvement has been a strong commitment to suitable personal advice with risk profiling central. In contrast, in Australia, confidence by consumers in the advice industry is hovering at a low and most people won’t go near a financial adviser.
December 01, 2014
As the credits roll, time to reflect on 2014’s Tales of the Unexpected
Finalising my thoughts on what 2015 holds for investors, I reminded myself of what I said a year ago. Doing so brought to mind a television series that was popular in the late 1970s; Tales of the Unexpected always ended with an intriguing twist. There have been more than a few of these so far
December 01, 2014
ASX completes investment in Yieldbroker
ASX and Yieldbroker today announced that ASX’s investment in Yieldbroker has successfully completed. A proposal for ASX to acquire a 49% shareholding in Yieldbroker for a total of $65 million was announced on 18 September 2014. The investment makes ASX a shareholder in Yieldbroker alongside ANZ, CBA, Citi, Deutsche Bank, J.P. Morgan, Macquarie, NAB, Royal
November 28, 2014
Business brokers anticipate an upsurge in practice movement
A spike in the sale of financial planning practices is tipped following the clarification of grandfathering provisions under the Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) laws, according to Paul Tynan, chief executive officer of Connect Financial Service Brokers. “I’ve had a spike of people selling, I’ve never had more sellers than buyers, but there’s a few
November 28, 2014
Financial planning groups relieved as a bipartisan FoFA deal is reached
Financial planning industry and professional associations have breathed a collective sigh of relief over the decision to reinstate a number of elements of the disallowed Future of Financial Advice (FoFA) regulations. Following the bipartisan deal struck between the Government and Opposition on Tuesday, a motion is due to be filed in the Senate when parliament
November 28, 2014
COVER STORY: Charting the evolution of investment research
In the late 1980s Estate Mortgage was virtually the only game in town for media covering the retail managed funds industry. The company, which promoted itself as being “just like a bank or a building society, but even better”, eventually collapsed in 1990, owing investors about $600 million. Leading the scrutiny of Estate Mortgage was
November 28, 2014
The mechanics of long-term forecasting: Vanguard launches the Capital Markets Model
Vanguard has today publicly launched the Vanguard Capital Markets Model (VCMM), explaining the mechanics of the simulation engine that informs the investment outlook and asset allocation insights of the $3 trillion global asset manager. The VCMM is a proprietary model that combines financial modelling and economic analysis to simulate forward-looking asset return distributions for a
November 27, 2014
Direct property helps reduce volatility in portfolios
Investing in direct property is one of the best ways to manage total volatility and income volatility in a portfolio, says Ryan Banting, head of portfolio management at Australian Unity Investments. “Recent research* shows that a diversified growth portfolio with no exposure to direct property has an approximately 18 percent chance of experiencing negative total
November 27, 2014
