All articles by Florence Chong – Page 3
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Opinion PiecesAustralia: Superannuation funds on a consolidation path
Australians are beginning to get used to super funds with names like Australian Retirement Trust, Aware Super and Spirit Super.
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Opinion PiecesAustralia: Political risk on the agenda for super funds
Australia’s cash-rich super funds allocate more to international equities than to their domestic counterparts. International equities are the largest single allocation.
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Opinion PiecesAustralia: A new sense of unity over superannuation funds
Australia’s leading political parties appear to have called a truce over often-politicised issues in the superannuation sector in the lead-up to this May’s Federal election.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Trustee accountability in focus
Despite having billions of assets under management, Australia’s superannuation funds have share capital ranging from as little as A$12 (€7.9) to A$100 (€66.2).
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Global firms circle last bank-owned super fund
Several global firms, including private equity giant KKR and asset manager Vanguard, have thrown their hat in the ring to buy one of the last Australian bank-owned superannuation businesses.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Superfunds focus on retirement income
When you’ve spent as much time around superannuation as I have, you get to see a lot of eggs,” says senior corporate regulator Helen Rowell. “Images of eggs, usually in nests, often painted gold, frequently laying on a bed of $100 notes.”
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Private gain as Australia’s infra assets change hands
Australian superannuation funds are playing a key role in the largest takeover yet of an Australian infrastructure asset, Sydney Airport, for A$23.6bn (€15bn) in cash.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: In need of a broader asset pool
With a market cap of just A$2.7trn (€1.75tn), Australia’s ASX stock market is increasingly overshadowed by a rapidly growing pool of super savings which now exceed A$3trn.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Super funds: shame in a name
Named and shamed! Thirteen Australian superannuation funds have been forced to inform their million-plus members that they have failed an inaugural superannuation performance test mandated by the financial regulator, the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA).
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Special ReportCommon prosperity reshaping equity markets
China’s focus is shifting to emerging industries in its drive to become a powerhouse of innovation
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Public places, private matters
AustralianSuper marked a milestone with its successful takeover in 2019 of education provider, Navitas, for A$2.1bn (€1.3bn).
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Too good to be true?
If Australia’s latest five-yearly Intergenerational Report (IGR) is to be taken seriously, Australian retirees can look forward to comfortable retirements 40 years hence.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: When the ‘kill switch’ misfires
The Australian government is attempting to push through Parliament legislation that would selectively benchmark the performance of superannuation funds – but has given up its intention to override investment decisions made by super funds.
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FeaturesBriefing: China bonding with the world
It is tantalising to imagine the concept – that the standard global fixed-income portfolio, which has stood the test of time for so long, may be about to unravel. The standard bearers – US Treasuries, the UK Gilts, German Bunds and Japanese government bonds (JGBs) – may soon have to share the stage with a brash newcomer: Chinese government bonds (CGBs).
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Coalition mulls super hike
There are arguments both for and against a rise in compulsory superannuation contribution rate as Australia emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic .
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: A question of gender imbalance
Statistics offer a snapshot into the real world and they reveal a depressing picture of gender inequality in Australia’s superannuation system.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Should super savings fund homes?
A post-COVID-19 housing boom has made the future of Australia’s A$3trn (€2trn) superannuation savings pool a hot topic.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Retail super funds in distress
Australia’s once-dominant retail super funds are witnessing the end of an era as they wrestle with loss of consumer confidence in their brands. Hastening change has been the rise of industry supers, which benefitted from damaging evidence provided to the Hayne Royal Commission in 2018.
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Opinion PiecesLetter from Australia: Early access genie escapes the bottle
In March 2020, as the Australian economy went into COVID-19 lockdown the government unlocked the national superannuation pool, seeking to ease the financial stress on individuals.
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Special ReportDefined contribution: Australia's super review re-opens old battlegrounds
The Callaghan report on Australia’s universal superannuation system has rekindled a row between the government and the labour movement
