You wouldn’t credit what could help solve the housing supply crisis
To paraphrase one of Paul Keating’s more memorable lines, if you walk into any pet shop in Australia, the resident galah will be talking about the under-supply of housing. But what’s not being discussed is the real supply issue behind it: access to flexible capital for developers and builders.
ETFs soar on face value and market performance, despite elevated risks
Whether there's an ETF bubble brewing or not is moot, and the debate only obfuscates the real risks. When markets do recalibrate, how will a new generation of fervent ETF believers react?
Navigating the AT1 hybrids transition: Yarra Capital Management
Pushing bank AT1s into extinction well before APRA’s 2032 cut-off is of natural concern to many fixed income investors. Roy Keenan, Yarra Capital's co-head of fixed income, looks at the implications and opportunities.
Super funds push 'vulnerable' bank stocks into stratosphere, elevating risk levels
The super funds' collective willingness to pay inflated prices for bank shares is starting to make them look like outliers. With about 30 per cent collective ownership of the banks, APRA sees "stability risk" as a salient concern for all stakeholders that can't be ignored.
Why investors should embrace change in the Year of the Snake
It's been an astonishing two years for US equities, but the same can’t be said for global asset markets. 2025 could be a year to explore out of favour markets, according to Ruffer's Jasmine Yeo.
Is China the ugly duckling you should invest in right now?
Investors may have settled into an Anything But China mantra, and they may have good reason, but for calculated risk takers there may be a different case to make according to Ruffer's Duncan MacInnes.
Healthcare property sector poised for a 'second wind' of growth
By investing in healthcare property, specialist teams can offer both stable income and the potential for capital growth. But it's the idiosyncratic characteristics of property healthcare that make it so attractive according to Barwon.
Industry innovates on advice access models while Govt dithers on reform
The move from Viridian and CFS to provide personal advice in a scaled manner highlights a growing willingness within the industry to fix its own problems in lieu of waiting for the government.
'Still weak': Listed asset managers need to evolve rapidly to escape ETF obliteration
With traditional equity managers losing the fight against passive product providers, diversification into more specialist classes of asset management may provide a more sustainable path. But that's a pricey endeavour, and easier said than done.
Why we should pay less attention to benchmarks, and more to value creation
The benchmarks that are supposed to measure performance and create alignment with end investors are working against asset managers, and the industry must find new ways to demonstrate value before it’s too late, according to MFS.
What's in a name? Ask advisers, as they ponder an upgrade
The evolving nature of advisers’ client bases, and the work they do for different parts of those, is leading to title creep. But there is little in the way of official guidance on what titles are appropriate.
Slashed dividend payments an income gut-punch for SMSF retirees
A slowing economy has prompted S&P/ASX 200 companies to keep a lion’s share of their earnings by tightening shareholder distributions, with fund manager Martin Currie identifying the resources sector as a real cause for concern regarding future income.
How advisers can navigate APRA's likely hybrid phase-out
While APRA's proposed hybrid phase out is designed to improve the resilience of the financial system, it will inevitably impact investors and the strategic plans that some advisers have laid out. Navigating the transition will require forethought.
Why investors need a new approach to diversification, downside protection
True diversification means owning assets that are truly uncorrelated. But that fact hasn’t stopped big investors from piling into the private markets while pretending that the Fed Put can protect their public portfolios.
'No short-term phenomenon': Why private capital will not only survive but thrive beyond 2025
Pessimists are still trying to shoehorn the "bubble" narrative into the private capital story, but an EY report highlights not only the rise of this burgeoning 'alternative' sector, but the reasons it's likely to keep growing.
Higher-for-longer no longer, but that doesn't mean lower-for-longer is in play
Why Powell went for a double-dip on the guide rate at the world's most important reserve bank, sans the presence of a significant economic event that would typically predicate it, remains a mystery. What is clear, though, is the near-term direction of rates in US.
Dixon's inquiry could be a reckoning for vertically integrated practices in advice
In the Dixon's inquiry vertical integration will not only be writ large, but it will have thousands of victims' names attached to it. The practice has run relatively unfettered for years, but that may be about to change.
Future Fund prognostication failure reminds us that markets don't care what you think
Australia's sovereign wealth fund's prediction of a tough year for investors didn't come to pass, but they're not the only well-resourced manager that missed the mark. For investors, this period is a reminder that investment patterns may exist, but markets certainly aren't beholden to them.
Ausbil charts a ‘materially different’ investment environment
The environment we’re heading into is one where economies will have more redundancies built into them so they can withstand exogenous geopolitical shocks, according to Ausbil.
'Play to whatever makes you stand out': Advisers discuss what makes them unique
Knowing how much personality to inject into a professional advice veneer is a skill that needs to be learnt by all advisers, but practices also have a role to play in setting up the right systems, processes and cultural settings so that advisers are comfortable being their true self.
