The Open Protocol Enabling Risk Aggregation (OPERA) is a collaborative effort involving hedge fund managers, investors, prime brokers and administrators. A working group has released a template that aims to streamline reporting and provide standardised information in order to create efficiencies for both investors and managers.   Transparency and reporting demand Telstra Super’s head of alternative investments, Kate Misic, is a keen advocate for the open-protocol reporting system, saying she hopes it is adopted globally as it improves on the current proliferation of reporting methodologies and templates. Misic monitors four [...]

AustralianSuper is looking to add up to 20 investment staff as it moves to take part of the management of its Australian equity portfolio in-house. The $43-billion fund’s chief investment officer Mark Delaney says the fund’s 40-member investment team – half of which are in the policy part of the portfolio – will be expanded as part of a push to eventually in-source management across asset classes. “All asset classes are currently external, but we are looking to bring part of Aussie equities internal and we will look to diversify [...]

The controversial state of financial regulation around the globe, the difficulties of green investing and watching asset consultants go head-to-head in front of a room full of potential clients were some of the highlights of the Australian Council of Super Investors (ACSI) annual conference. Held in Melbourne last month, the conference had a strong focus on environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) risks in investment, with ACSI chief executive officer Ann Bryne saying the association was stepping up its environmental and social monitoring activities. This includes releasing research into sustainability-reporting practices, and labour and [...]

John Oliphant, head of actuarial and investments at South Africa’s $130-billion Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF), says the fund considers high-impact investments that develop the domestic economy as being in the long-term interests of its members. “We [GEPF] are effectively a third of South Africa’s GDP so what we think is that if the country does not do well then the fund will not do well because we own a slice of the economy,” Oliphant says. “Anything that you care to see when you arrive in South Africa – whether you [...]

The push by industry funds into the advice space continues to gain pace with the $630-million Health Industry Plan (HIP) announcing a strategic partnership with Bridges Financial Services. HIP’s more than 23,000 members will now have access to financial planners who charge on a fee-for-service basis. Members will receive flexible and scalable, single or multi-issue financial advice, according to an announcement from by the fund this week. Under the fee structure agreed to with Bridges, the cost of advice will depend on the level of ongoing service a member receives [...]

Outdated proxy voting systems mean that shareholder votes cast by superannuation funds on matters including executive pay and corporate strategy are at risk of being lost, say corporate-governance experts. Without system reform, proxy-voting errors from superannuation funds representing more than $1.3 trillion in working Australians’ capital are inevitable, says Dean Paatsch, director of Melbourne-based governance advisory firm Ownership Matters, in a panel session at the 2012 Australian Council of Super Investors (ACSI) conference on Thursday May 10. An overhaul of the antiquated proxy-voting system, which sees the majority of proxies [...]

Some infrastructure fund managers promised private-equity-like returns to investors in the frothy days before the financial crisis. But their failure has not deterred pension funds in North America, Europe and Australia from buying infrastructure stakes in the days since. These investors share a renewed focus on capturing stable income from the assets and communicate this in their meetings with managers. “There are more conversations about long-term performance and a more conservative risk-and-return spectrum,” says Jason Peasley, head of infrastructure at AustralianSuper. Speaking from the $43-billion superannuation fund’s Melbourne headquarters, he [...]

Moving away from aggregate or composite-bond portfolios that mix credit and sovereign debt to awarding specific mandates will give the $12.8 billion Government Employees Superannuation Board (GESB) greater control of its fixed income portfolio. GESB recently announced $2.28 billion of new fixed-income mandates to three managers, and a wide-ranging restructure of its fixed-income portfolio. Steve McKenna, acting chief investment officer at the Perth-based fund, says that splitting its fixed-income portfolio into global government bonds and global investment-grade bonds was a reaction to the some of the difficulties the fund experienced [...]

Superannuation funds have been overly focused on measuring investment performance and should spend more time ensuring they are meeting their members’ retirement savings goals, Russell Investment’s global head of consulting Don Ezra says. Ezra, a 35-year veteran of the consulting industry, says superannuation funds should aim to provide for the “life outcomes” of its members. This focus on life outcomes entails a discussion around not only what is a necessary lump sum at the end of an accumulation phase but also a continuing investment strategy into retirement that ensures members’ [...]

Whether it is sitting on the board of Media Super or in his previous job as chief executive of the printing industries’ peak body, Philip Andersen is no stranger to adapting to change. He was the industry representative of Print Super when it had just $150 million under management and was part of the investment committee that reorganised Media Super’s external managers when it was born from the merger of Print Super and Just Super in 2008. This year Andersen retired after 19 years as the chief executive of the [...]