Episode 78: ART’s Ian Patrick

Merger, Inhouse and Net Zero

In episode 78 of the [i3] Podcast, we speak with Ian Patrick, Chief Investment Officer at the Australian Retirement Trust. We delve into the latest developments of the merger between legacy funds Sunsuper and Qsuper into ART, we discussed inhouse asset management and the impact of decarbonisation. Enjoy the show!

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Overview of Podcast with Ian Patrick, CIO of the Australian Retirement Trust

01:00 Coming to Australia
03:00 JANA, from consultant to CEO
04:00 Becoming CIO; focusing on a single investment challenge
06:00 What is left in the merger with QSuper?
08:00 We are working towards an ART culture, not two legacy cultures, but that takes time
10:00 Harmonising the portfolios and strategies
13:00 Aligning QSuper’s risk balanced strategy with Sunsuper’s peer aware strategy
16:00 Your Future, Your Super: failing the performance test is almost an existential question
17:30 Asking us all to be held accountable on some measure of performance is a no brainer
19:00 The impact of scale
20:30 The diseconomies of scale are significantly outweighed by the benefits
23:00 In a very large fund, the ability of a CIO to directly influence investment decisions other than through team governance is lost
24:00 The ability to take on illiquidity in Australia is constrained by the 30-day rule and so Australian funds will not be able to fully embrace the Canadian model
25:30 Internalisation at ART: never say never
30:00 There are strategic functions that are critical to internalise
32:00 Pandemic: what stood out is that all strategies correlated poorly; there was no diversifying correlation from alpha in any asset class. It did cause us to reevaluate the role of sovereign bonds in the portfolio
35:00 The energy transition, decarbonisation and portfolio skews

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[i3] Insights is the official educational bulletin of the Investment Innovation Institute [i3]. It covers major trends and innovations in institutional investing, providing independent and thought-provoking content about pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds across the globe. The [i3] podcast is available on iTunesGoogle PodcastSpotifyAmazon MusicStitcher or your favourite podcast platform.