The New Daily

Superannuation funds have shrugged off the pandemic slump that roiled markets back in March, with the average growth or balanced fund returning an unexpectedly healthy 3.7 per cent for the 2020 calendar year. The top performing fund, Suncorp Growth, returned a massive 9.6 per cent. Chant West researcher Mano Mohankumar described the returns as “a tremendous outcome for super fund members and a great story for superannuation given the economic damage wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic”.

Although well below the 14.7 per cent that growth funds achieved in 2019, “it represents the ninth consecutive positive calendar year and the 11th in the past 12 years for growth funds”. “If we take ourselves back to late March, the prospect of finishing the year up 3.7 per cent would’ve been inconceivable,” Mr Mohankumar said. Independent economist Stephen Koukoulas said the strong returns had in part been driven by the economic recovery.

The rest of this article can be found at thenewdaily.com.au.

InvestorDaily

The New Daily

Generational change is driving the move away from fossil fuel investments, with both superannuation funds and finance houses responding with targeted investment policies. Clean energy lobby group Market Forces has launched a campaign to push industry super fund Hostplus to reduce its fossil fuel exposure after pressure from the fund’s young membership. “Over the last year we have seen an uptick in Hostplus members using our website to call for divestment from fossil fuels,” said Market Forces asset-management campaigner Will van de Pol.

“They are mainly younger members who join Hostplus because their first jobs are in cafes and bars, and that demographic has pushed hard for real climate action around the world.” The campaign targeted Hostplus’s investments in coal-powered generation and coal mining through stakes in companies like AGL, Origin and BHP. Hostplus for its part said it was reviewing its options.

The rest of this article can be found at thenewdaily.com.au.

InvestorDaily

AFR

Macquarie Group has intensified its position in the US active management sector by buying New York-listed Waddell & Reed Financial – a top-25 mutual fund manager that found itself at the centre of the 2010 “flash crash” on Wall Street – for $2.3 billion. ASX-listed Macquarie has struck a deal to buy Waddell & Reed’s $US68 billion ($84 billion) asset management business and its $US63 billion wealth management arm, but will immediately dump the latter in a sale to Nasdaq-listed LPL Financial Holdings $300 million and excess net assets on completion of its purchase. The takeover of Waddell & Reed, at $US25 per share – or $US1.7 billion – is expected to close by mid-2021, cementing Macquarie’s interest in the 83-year-old firm and boosting the Australian financial group’s assets under management to $650 billion.

Waddell & Reed distributes investment products to clients under the Ivy Investments brand and through independent financial advisers. The further push into the active funds management sector by Macquarie comes at a time when institutional money managers are turning sharply towards passive investment through index funds, which have largely outperformed active managers while charging lower fees. After selling the wealth management business to LPL Financial, Macquarie will enter a long term partnership with the firm for strategic asset management.

The rest of this article can be found at afr.com.

InvestorDaily