Latest News

Climate funds see first year of outflows

ROSE MARY PETRASS
Global climate funds suffered more withdrawals than deposits in 2024, with net outflows reaching US$24 billion, according to fresh data from Morningstar.

Salter Brothers secures green loan for luxury retreat

ROSE MARY PETRASS
Alternative investments manager Salter Brothers has secured a sustainability-linked loan from the Commonwealth Bank (CBA) for an undisclosed sum.

Depreciating Aussie dollar could prove opportunistic

MATTHEW WAI
Despite a turbulent reporting season ahead due to the depreciating Australian currency, Maple-Brown Abbott co-portfolio manager Matt Griffin has highlighted some of the sectors that stand to benefit.

Global dividend strength to continue: Plato

ELIZA BAVIN
Global dividends are expected to show continued strength in 2025 after companies paid out $485 billion in the final quarter of last year.

Latest White Papers

Ethics & Governance

Good governance is gold

CHRIS WEST   When the term 'governance' is mentioned, the first reaction is normally one that brings up the dread of another set of overburdensome compliance obligations. However, governance and compliance are very different things. Good investment governance at its core is about how to make good investment decisions.

Royal Commission recommendations and managed discretionary accounts

SAMANTHA CARROLL   The managed account services industry was given much to ponder by Commissioner Hayne in the final report. The major talking point for the industry is undoubtedly the fact that the vertical integration model was left untouched.

Investment

A new era for hybrid bonds

ROY KEENAN   Declining bank issuance is giving way to corporate opportunities.

Alternative assets: HNW investors leading the way

DENIS ORROCK   Investment in alternative assets has increased notably over the last few years, with high net worth (HNW) investors driving the charge in search of diversified risk-adjusted portfolio performance and opportunities for yield where traditional asset classes may underperform.

Technology

Human-centred automation

SHANE REID   A must for firms in the financial sector.

Managed accounts and technology: Bringing personalisation and scale to advisers

BILL HORTZ   Will the future of investment portfolios increasingly be built, not on mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), but on customised managed accounts?

Superannuation

IMAs and SMAs meet the demands of SMSF trustees for direct international equities portfolios

HUGH MACNALLY   Individually managed accounts (IMAs) and separately managed accounts (SMAs) enable trustees of SMSFs to access direct international and domestic equity portfolios with greater control and transparency compared to the traditional managed fund options, however the differences between and benefits of IMAs ...

Tailored SMSF and managed account solutions

MULTIPORT PTY LTD   Multiport is a leading provider of self-managed super and managed account administration, reporting and compliance services. We are dedicated to providing the highest level of service for a transparent and competitive fee.

Taxation & Estate Planning

A tale of three countries

PHILIP PARKER   Are you a history buff? Here is a rundown of how managed accounts evolved in the US and the UK - and how the sector is developing locally.

Compliance

Unpacking managed account fees

MARTIN KOFOED   While the benefits of the managed account structure for investors and advisers are clear, their fee structure, however, tends to be less so.

Managed discretionary accounts in 2021

ASSURED SUPPORT   This paper reproduces a Q&A session conducted by Assured Support between its managing director, Sean Graham, and Peter Turbach, partner at MDA Guru. It captures these two leading industry practitioners' respective views on the present state of managed discretionary accounts (MDAs).

Applied Financial Planning

Making comparisons across managed accounts: Why regulatory guidance is required

ANNIKA BRADLEY   If managed accounts hold the key to portfolio personalisation, let's take a look at some of the challenges advisers might face when trying to make meaningful comparisons across performance returns and fees.

Managed account fees: Understanding the true cost of client outcomes

MATTHEW VAN DIJK   At face value, cost comparisons seem straightforward, however, they can exclude material factors that will detrimentally affect your client.

Communications & Marketing

Two roads to a single destination

TOBY POTTER   The amount invested through managed accounts is growing strongly but as a method of investing, managed accounts are still not well understood. The differences between types of managed accounts are often blurred and this is compounded by a prolific use of jargon.

Managed accounts: Boldly go where no one has gone before

ADAM ROWLEY   Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilisations, to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Case Study

Survive the squeeze

KEN BLOOMFIELD   A managed account can minimise the "value leakage" for the client and allow financial advisers to assume a greater role in portfolio management in the long term.