Florence Chong
- Opinion Pieces
Australian regulators take a deep dive into growing private markets sector
The recent brisk battle to buy an Australian data centre platform, AirTrunk, pushed the price to more than A$24bn (€14.5bn) – double what was anticipated just a few months ago.
- Opinion Pieces
Australia's super funds emerge from regulatory shadows
Australia’s A$700bn-plus (€424bn) retail superannuation sector is starting to emerge from the shadow of its profit-to-member peers. It has been only five years since a royal commission published damning evidence of misconduct within the sector.
- Opinion Pieces
Australia's regulator cracks down on greenwashing
The Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) has won its first greenwashing case in a civil action against Vanguard Investments.
- Opinion Pieces
Australian super funds push back on lacklustre energy transition proposals by corporates
Australian and global pension funds orchestrated an unusually vocal tactical campaign against the climate-transition action plan of Woodside Energy, a global oil and gas producer, in the lead-up to its 70th annual general meeting in late April.
- Opinion Pieces
Australia faces up to the cost of pandemic pension early release
Four years after Australians were allowed to withdraw superannuation savings to deal with the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, they now know emergency measures will cost the nation A$85bn (€51bn) in future pension payments.
- Opinion Pieces
Australia connects retirement income sources
Australia, a country with the world’s fourth-largest pool of retirement savings, is caught in a curious bind. At issue is how to transition Australians from saving to spending.
- Opinion Pieces
Green champion to lead Australia’s Future Fund
Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, the Future Fund, which was designed to cover unfunded Federal government pension liabilities, is poised to “renew and refresh”, following the appointment of Greg Combet as its new chair from mid-2024.
- Opinion Pieces
Australian funds jostle for slice of energy transition market
Australia’s largest integrated power generator and energy retailer, Origin, lost out on becoming a cornerstone investment in the US$15bn (€13.7bn) Brookfield Global Transition Fund after a failed A$20bn (€12.2bn) attempt by a Brookfield-led consortium to take over Origin last year.
- Opinion Pieces
Australia's super funds strengthen their voice
A new superannuation advocacy body has been established in Australia. Known as the Super Members Council of Australia (SMC), it will become the voice of Australia’s rapidly-growing profit-to-members super funds.
- Opinion Pieces
Super funds voice corporate governance concerns with Australian business
At its recent annual general meeting in Melbourne, Qantas, Australia’s national carrier, was lambasted by irate shareholders over a litany of grievances, not least the role of chairman Richard Goyder and the board over what shareholders saw as the mismanagement of the airline.
- Opinion Pieces
Pensions a bright spot for Australia
By 2063, Australia’s relatively youthful treasurer, Jim Chalmers, will be 85 years old and likely well into retirement.
- Asset Class Reports
Australia’s QIC makes inroads in Europe and US for mid-market market private equity
The Australian private equity manager has drawn on the knowledge of its Danish head of Europe to gain global assets
- Opinion Pieces
Australian super funds expand their global footprint
With billions of dollars flowing into its treasury each year, Australia’s largest industry super fund, AustralianSuper, is finding that it is rapidly outgrowing its own backyard.
- Special Report
India forms cornerstone of GIC’s BRIC portfolio
The Singaporean sovereign wealth fund has invested billions in the subcontinent since the 1990s and considers the country under-invested
- Opinion Pieces
Concerns over plans for Australian super funds to provide advice
In what some see as a controversial move, Australia’s Labor government under prime minister Anthony Albanese has reformed the nation’s financial advice industry, opening the door for industry superannuation funds to offer financial advice to millions of members.
- Opinion Pieces
Letter from Australia: Retail funds lured by private markets
Australia’s retail funds are trying to navigate the unfamiliar terrain of private markets as they seek to lift their performance.
- Opinion Pieces
Australia: volatility stirs valuations debate
As a disconnect in the valuation of listed and unlisted assets widens in today’s volatile markets, the torchlight is again being trained on Australia’s guardians of retirement savings.
- Opinion Pieces
Australia: Caps, concessions and class war
The Australian Federal government recently moved to make a “modest” change to the nation’s superannuation system which, it says, will save A$2bn (€1.2bn) a year for its over-stretched budget.
- Opinion Pieces
Australia: Super funds shift to fixed income
With fear of recession in Australia and globally, superannuation funds have gone into defensive mode. Cash and liquidity are two key considerations for CIOs, and some are waiting to take advantage of attractive market opportunities.
- Asset Class Reports
Emerging market equities – Investors watch as China corrects course
The Chinese government has managed to restart the economy post-COVID, but investors are cautious