Zenith Awards: three new categories announced
Three new categories in this year’s Professional Planner | Zenith Fund Awards put the spotlight on direct property, infrastructure and exchange-traded funds. The inclusion of these categories reflects the growing importance of each sector and the increased interest among financial planners in using property and infrastructure in diversified portfolios; and in using exchange-traded funds to
September 20, 2013
Grandfathering, exemptions need to be documented
Licensees, product issuers and their representatives who rely on grandfathering and exemptions from the Future of Financial Advice ban on conflicted remuneration will need to document their positions under the Australian Securities and Investment Commission’s new proposals. Firms without formal records covering these issues will have an uphill battle demonstrating compliance should the regulator come
September 20, 2013
New income stream for Matrix
Matrix Planning Solutions’ foray into funds management is yielding returns, with the dealer group recording strong performance, growth in assets under management and a healthy income from investment management fees. Matrix worked with funds manager Russell Investments to develop the Partnership Funds, which earn the dealer investment-management fees. The five actively managed portfolios, which were
September 19, 2013
Retirement-savings disaster looms
A new report by HSBC shows the planet is headed for a retirement-savings disaster, with 579 million retirees around the world dependent on government benefits for 37 per cent of their retirement incomes, on average, and an additional 1 billion people set to retire by 2050. Australian retirees depend on state pensions and benefits for
September 19, 2013
ICAA: enough SMSF change
The Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia has urged the Australian Securities and Investment Commission not to make unnecessary changes to self-managed superannuation rules and will form a team to determine the practical implications of the regulator’s latest consultation paper on its 61,000 members. In her speech to the Institute of Chartered Accountants’ National SMSF Conference
September 19, 2013
Options multiply for alternatives exposure
Retail investors’ obsession with liquidity and low fees, combined with an insatiable appetite for yield, has pushed many dangerously into managed futures, according to Dominic McCormick, chief investment officer at Select Asset Management. McCormick, whose company has a retail distribution arrangement with global alternatives manager Neuberger Berman in Australia, said demand for daily liquidity, full
September 19, 2013
Investors need sharp eye for earnings
The much-anticipated Septaper by the US Federal Reserve turned out to be a fizzer. Bonds, equities and the Aussie dollar all performed well upon hearing the news. For now, the guessing game on policy moves continues, though it will be interesting to see how asset classes fare when the pressure in the liquidity hose eventually
September 19, 2013
Exemption a “fantastic opportunity” for Beacon
Beacon Financial Group is in negotiations to buy an accounting firm and will develop a new licensing solution for accountants, ahead of sweeping legislative changes. Peter Daly, managing director of Beacon Financial Group, said the abolition of the accountants’ exemption from July 1, 2016, created a “fantastic opportunity”, with Beacon preparing to offer three different
September 17, 2013
Reverse mortgages: stuck in a niche
Financial planners are missing out on a multi-billion-dollar opportunity, with the Australian reverse mortgage sector growing over 7 per cent in the last year and few advisers recommending equity-release products to retiring baby boomers. According to the Deloitte Actuaries and Consultants’ Australian Reverse Mortgage Survey, commissioned by the Senior Australians Equity Release Association (SEQUAL), more
September 17, 2013
Tooling up for investment strategy compliance
Many self-managed superannuation funds don’t meet the new investment strategy-compliance requirements while others are “unnecessarily worried” that they don’t, according to Meg Heffron, principal of SMSF administrator, Heffron. Heffron urged financial planners and accountants to brush up on changes to the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act, which now requires trustees to regularly review their investment strategies
September 17, 2013
Forecasts, far from the madding crowd
Warren Buffett’s wise decision to base himself in Omaha, far from the chatter of Wall Street, was affirmed by two recent news events. These events – the International Monetary Fund’s series of U-turns in early September on its widely scrutinised global economic assessment and the market’s increasingly confident bet that Bank of England governor Mark
September 12, 2013
Zenith Fund Awards feature three new categories
The Professional Planner | Zenith Fund Awards 2013 feature three new fund categories, covering direct property investment, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and infrastructure. The total number of sector categories remains unchanged, with the reorganisation of categories covering Australian equity alternative strategies, international equity alternative strategies and alternative strategies (including CTA/macro, multi-strategy, fund-of-hedge-fund, agribusiness, commodities and private
September 06, 2013
