Insights

Risk Mitigation Helps OPTrust Limit Losses

Steve Laipply, US Head of iShares Fixed Income ETFs for BlackRock

Fixed Income ETFs Pass Liquidity Test

As bond markets froze up in March of this year, when the scale of the pandemic became clear, fixed income ETFs remained liquid and experienced record trading volumes. We speak to BlackRock’s Steve Laipply to see how these ETFs held up under their first real life stress test.

Brent Snow, Associate Portfolio Manager Responsible for Infrastructure and Real Asset, First State Super

When Chickens Come Home to Roost

Asset Owners, Private & Alternative Markets

Chicken farms and almond plantations are perhaps not the first things that come to mind when thinking about investments. But these agricultural investments have proven to be quite a find for First State Super.

Rio Tinto – A Test Case for ESG

Editorial

As Rio Tinto destroys a unique piece of cultural heritage will asset owners’ ESG policies enable them to respond, or will it just be business as usual?

Super Industry ROR at Record Low

Asset Allocation & Strategy

Super industry has experienced its lowest rate of return in the March quarter since APRA started data collection.

Eyeing Distressed Investments

Financial Crisis, Fixed Income & Credit, Private & Alternative Markets

Asset consultant bfinance surveys distressed and opportunistic strategies and finds frantic capital raising activity. But not all strategies are equal, as the pandemic means a lack of track records and increased competition in some sectors.

Mark Aarons, Head of Portfolio Risk and Solutions for VFMC

Hedging with Hindsight

Asset Owners, Private & Alternative Markets, Risk and Regulation

What if you could design your hedging strategy with 20/20 hindsight? We asked VFMC’s Mark Aaron how to best address this question.

Geoffrey Wong, Head of Emerging Markets and Asia-Pacific Equities at UBS Asset Management

Diversification through China A-shares

Emerging Markets, Equities

One of the reasons to invest in China A-shares is diversification. So how have these equities held up during the current pandemic-driven financial crisis? We speak to UBS AM’s Geoffrey Wong to find out.

Logistics is Currency of Choice

Real Estate

At a time when retail is flailing and the security of office assets has been called into question, with companies having implemented work-from-home policies and social distancing has shut down co-working, logistics is seen to stand alone as the safe bet in property.

Super Funds pay $6.3 billion in Early Release

Asset Allocation & Strategy, Risk and Regulation, Women in Finance

Superannuation funds have paid out $6.3 billion in total under the early release scheme to people who are experiencing financial hardship as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.