At that time the share of the population aged 60 years and over will increase from one billion in 2020 to 1.4 billion. By 2050, the world's population of people aged 60 years and older will double, to 2.1 billion.

Additionally, the number of persons aged 80 years or older is expected to triple between 2020 and 2050 to reach 426 million.

In countries like Australia, that cohort of older people are also the most cashed up in history and expect a higher living standard even as they age.

This culmination of aging populations, wealthy retirees and constrained development pipelines has created a perfect storm for operators of aged care facilities, and one that investors can benefit from for years to come.

Quay Global Investors assistant portfolio manager Gavin Truong says there is significant opportunity, particularly looking at markets like the US and Canada, where aged care is more privatised.

"In the US and Canada, it's like private pay, so the tenant pays, there's no government involvement, and secondly, it's like a monthly rent, and then extra if you need care, so we like that, because it's a bit like residential and there's less regulations involved," Truong says.

Truong points out, now is a great time for investors as there is a huge wave of demand surging in the post-COVID-19 world.

"What happened to the sector, especially since COVID, is that supplies dried up. So, prior to COVID in the US, there was about 3% of stock being delivered every year, because COVID had an outsized impact on older people and on senior housing regulations, visitor requirements, tours, etcetera, was all stopped. Visitors were obviously not allowed, and people were concerned about moving into these places where you're with a lot of the public on a day-to-day basis. So, they'd rather stay home," he says.

"That dried up demand, and meanwhile the people were still getting sick and old and passing away."

Truong says during the pandemic, occupancies fell significantly to around the mid-70% range, which he describes as "pretty catastrophic" for the industry.

"That's a very low occupancy. But what's happened since then is because it had been such a bad time in 2020 and there was no new supply being built - and it takes three to four years at least to build one - demand is coming through now," he says.

"So, occupancies have recovered significantly from that 70% mark. Now, most of them are at the 90% to 93% mark. So, back to pre-COVID levels, and with that wave coming through of demand, we expect it to hit 97% within a few years."

Truong says because of this increased demand senior housing REITS have performed very well share price-wise over the past two years, and this is a trend that's expected to continue.

One such REIT Truong mentions is the Welltower REIT, which is up 300% in the past 24 months, and while that may be exceptional, share prices are expected to rise as demand continues to grow.

Truong says companies that operate in the aged care housing sector say market rents on average need to rise around another 20% to 25% for developers to be incentivised to build new assets - something which is expected to occur, due to the currently low supply.

Another thing to keep in mind, he says, is that Boomers are very wealthy in comparison to the generations that have come before them. They have huge housing wealth that they're liquidating as they reach retirement, which can now be used to fund the monthly rent requirements of these assets, even if they do grow 25%.

The possibilities for investors could be huge, and Truong says it is one of the biggest thematics playing out now in real estate, only just behind the data centre boom.

"The difference with data centres is there is a lot of supply in data centres right now, in fact demand is overwhelming that supply. Power shortages are keeping that supply kind of in check, but it's coming, whereas senior housing demand is stronger, or just as strong, but supply isn't responding just yet," he says.

"Some senior housing REITs are outperforming the data centre REITs, growing stronger forecast earnings, but you can buy them at higher initial implied yields.

"It's definitely a thematic that really resonates with investors, and with our clients, because it's something that's simple to understand, there's an aging demographic across the Western world."

The scope of possibilities

Sarah Shaw, chief investment officer and co-founder of 4D Infrastructure, agrees that the aging population is going to continue having an effect on real estate infrastructure - and not just for aged care housing.

"In developed economies such as Australia, Japan and parts of Europe, the most immediate pressure of an aging population is on healthcare and social infrastructure sectors - hospitals, aged care facilities, diagnostic centres," Shaw says.

According to PwC's Global Infrastructure Outlook, annual spending on health and aged care facilities globally is projected to grow by 73% between 2024 and 2050, driven in large part by the fact that over-65s will represent 20% of the world's population by mid-century.

"While aging populations are not considered a core driver of the listed infrastructure investment thematic, outside of social infrastructure, they may have a ripple effect across various infrastructure sectors," Shaw explains.

"Retirees travel more, supporting airport and toll road volumes. In Japan, where nearly 30% of the population is already over 65, accessible public transport has become a policy priority.

"There is also growing demand for upgraded and expanded utility infrastructure as older demographics may relocate outside major cities. That said, we do not consider this social trend a primary driver of infrastructure investment plans."

Looking ahead as the population continues to age, Shaw believes listed infrastructure is at the start of a significant long-term investment cycle, and demographics are one of several structural forces behind that.

"We see five interconnected drivers of infrastructure demand: technology and digitalisation, decarbonisation, replacement of aging assets, population growth - particularly in emerging markets - and the ongoing emergence of the middle class as core long-term, structural drivers of infrastructure investment," Shaw says.

"Direct exposure to social infrastructure such as healthcare or aged care assets is limited in listed markets. The listed infrastructure universe is predominantly made up of utilities, transport assets, communications towers and pipelines, essential services whose earnings are typically supported by regulation or long-term contracts. Aging populations may play into this picture, but in and of themselves are not the primary driver for listed infrastructure specifically."

As Shaw explains, looking back around a decade ago, aged care infrastructure was largely a policy discussion in developed markets. Discussions were around how to fund it, where to build it and who would operate it. Today, she says, the conversation is more urgent.

"Populations have continued to age faster than facilities have been built, and the funding gap has widened," Shaw says.

"In Australia, the aged care royal commission highlighted systemic underinvestment. In Japan, healthcare spending is projected to reach ¥83 trillion by 2040, roughly 1.5 times its 2020 level, with the over-85 cohort driving the sharpest increase in demand."

Shaw adds that investors interest in infrastructure more broadly is strong, and within that demographic-linked infrastructure is attracting attention.

However, she says it currently still remains a relatively niche allocation within listed infrastructure portfolios.

"From an investment perspective the challenge is that much of the social infrastructure directly serving aged care is unlisted or government-owned," she says.

"Hospitals, nursing homes and community care facilities are not typically part of the listed infrastructure investment universe."

Health is wealth

People are living longer, and that's partly because they are healthier and because medical technology has improved exponentially.

When one thinks about aged care, it's not simply the facility they may one day choose to live in, it's also about medicines, treatments and overall health.

This is another major opportunity for investors to start looking at.

One such investor is Betashares investment strategist Hugh Lam. Lam says the Betashares DRUG ETF capitalises off these drivers while providing investors with the diversification they seek.

"Healthcare as a sector, more broadly, within portfolios really provide us diversification benefit. And what I mean by that is typically healthcare provides generally defensive characteristics compared to other sectors like technology, which are typically what we call high growth," Lam says.

"During market downturns, more resilient sectors like healthcare and consumer staples will tend to do quite well. So having that within a portfolio during those times can be really handy."

Lam says the longer-term drivers behind the healthcare sector are not expected to slow down anytime soon.

"The aging population is naturally going to be a key driver in terms of healthcare spending. By 2030 we're expecting one in six people will be over 60 years old, and in developed market nations like Australia, people aged over 65 years old will account for about 40% of healthcare spending," he says.

"And for those people becoming a lot more health conscious, that's going create a pretty big market in terms of healthcare spending. So those are the longer-term trends that are going to support healthcare."

Within the space, Lam says the use of artificial intelligence (AI) will also become a driver as healthcare companies harvest its uses. Lam says it's expected to have quite an impact on the sector.

He says AI is already being used in the healthcare sector to detect cancers at an earlier stage and help with radiographic imagining.

And all of this also leads into what Lam says is one of the leading indicators for future revenue: research and development (R&D).

"Naturally, these companies need to spend a lot of money researching and developing new drugs as we see different kinds of diseases come into the job. Generally, R&D is going to be supportive of future earnings, because if you're going to create new drug products you can then sell to market, that's an important step. So, it's a leading indicator for future revenue," he says.

Currently the DRUG ETF is investing in the major health players in the US and Europe, the likes of Johnson & Johnson, UnitedHealth and AstraZeneca.

"We're really trying to find this is exposure to the global healthcare theme through a simple wrap up in an ETF," he explains.

Some others, like American Century vice president and senior client portfolio manager Jim Shore, like to get a bit more niche.

"We're looking for companies that we believe are going to deliver an acceleration in earnings growth or an improvement in their business fundamentals, and sometimes that can be supported by a thematic, including demographics to aged care, and then where we think that improvement is sustainable, at least for the next 12 to 18 months," Shore says.

"With that as a framework, we are seeing opportunities within healthcare and within real estate as well. We're looking at those companies we think are good operators of skilled nursing centres, nursing homes, assisted living. But there are also some healthcare-related names that are more focused on that older demographic that we think will be increasing."

Shore says one such investment they have made was in Guardant Health, a diagnostic testing centre for cancer, though with a patient population primarily skewed towards those aged 65 and older.

"It's a growing demographic. We also think they have some novel diagnostic testings that provide better value-based outcomes, so it's not particularly expensive, and if it can detect cancer earlier, it can lead to less costs down the road as well," Shore explains.

Shore says they are also looking into some interesting biopharma companies that he believes are also making some interesting novel drugs.

"The sweet spot for us would be those that are not only expanding lifespan or healthspan but also targeting the older demographic as well. We'd like to have both, where they are treating certain types of cancers that will allow people to live longer, that is a benefit for society, as well as participating in a population or a demographic that is growing much more rapidly than other parts of the of the demographic spectrum," he says.

"So, we're looking at it from multiple different angles... but we do see these areas of the market growing more rapidly given the demographic tailwinds."

As Shore puts it, investing in companies that are producing healthcare options for younger demographics could be an additional tailwind for many aged care infrastructure-related names in the future.

The message seems clearcut: the healthier people are, the longer they live.

Bringing it home

While most investors are looking overseas - where the aged care sector is more privatised than we see here in Australia - there is an opportunity for advisers to help the aged care sector at home be more sustainable.

JBWere investment adviser Casey Ratcliffe works with aged care organisations to help them invest and create a more sustainable business.

"With an aging population, the demand is only going to increase. What we have found from our clients is that the residents, as they move in, have a higher expectation of what aged care means and what should be provided through that. So, there seems to be a high watermark coming through both facilities, but also care," he says.

Ratcliffe says JBWere is a leading wealth manager in the sector, working with 70-plus aged care organisations, which are primarily not-for-profit. On behalf of them JBWere manages just over $2 billion in investments.

"This is significant growth area for JBWere, over the decade that I've been working with aged care organisations, and what we've found now is there is increasing activity, but also increased engagement, inbound queries, finding out what is possible within the sector, and what investments are appropriate to meet those needs," he says.

"What we often talk about with aged care clients is trying to make them become more self-sufficient and sustainable over the long term, to be able to help their communities. That's the focus I look at and enjoy the most with what I do."

Ratcliffe says between issues with government funding and the current high inflation environment, that sustainability aspect has become more difficult to meet.

As he explains, what was once a simple task of investing the money in products like a term deposit, that is now not the optimal option.

"The way we look at these portfolios is different to, say, a university endowment fund or private client. Firstly, the source of the funds are different, a mix of inbound contributions from residents such as deposits or bonds which are required to be paid back to resident families, operational savings, bequests and fundraisings, and they all have different liquidity and regulatory requirements, so it is a very different portfolio mix to what I would construct for a private client, saving for retirement,"
he explains.

"When they understand their returns are being eroded by inflation, they're looking at options to maximise returns to help bridge the gap, and that's why I say there's more inbound queries now and engagement."

Ratcliffe says aged care facilities have become more investment focused as a result of a challenging operating environment.

He says he sits down with the boards and executive committees on a regular basis to align their capital with their purpose.

"From that perspective, we categorise capital into three pools, being working capital, a short-term pool and a long-term pool.

"Working capital is really not about an investment return, rather it's about ensuring short-term requirements are covered.

"The short-term pool is anywhere from one to three years requirement and primarily targets yield enhancement versus cash and term deposits.  This pool invests in fixed income securities that exhibit high daily liquidity.

"The long-term pool can relate to targeting CAPEX. A lot of these organisations will have five-to-10-year strategies of improving dated facilities that would give them the opportunity to have a more balanced or growth focused portfolio, which would be in a mix of asset classes, being domestic equities, international equities, for example," Ratcliffe says.

Dexus will also pay for the legal costs of any appeal for its institutional investors, adding whether an appeal will be filed would depend on the Dexus Bloc shareholders.

The court ruled late May that Dexus must sell its 27.2% stake in Australia Pacific Airports Corporation (APAC), which owns and operates the airports on behalf of various investors, to its remaining shareholders at fair market value.

In 2024 Dexus embarked on Project Mercury to sell some of the APAC shares managed by it.

Under the shareholders' deed, however, Dexus was strictly restricted to giving out confidential data to outsiders without securing a pre-approved, enforceable confidentiality agreements with its fellow investors.

Dexus breached this safeguard in the sale process, exposing APAC's sensitive financial data to prospective buyers via an unmonitored Virtual Data Room.

In 2025 APAC gave Dexus a default notice, asserting a "material irremediable breach" of the shareholders' deed, asserting all members of the Dexus Bloc are no longer entitled to vote the shares held by them, that the rights of the directors appointed by them are suspended, and that their rights to receive information is suspended.

IFM Investors led the legal action against Dexus with the backing of other APAC shareholders, such as the Future Fund, NSW TCorp, and Morrison-managed Utilities Trust of Australia.

REST, which holds a 1.73% stake in APAC directly through the Dexus Bloc, is also a defendant in the case.

The super fund contested that because it was a "non-selling shareholders" who didn't participate in the data leaks, it should be treated differently.

However, the judge dismissed this claim, ruling that each investor group is run by a single manager who acts as the sole point of contact.

Dexus has also commenced a review of its infrastructure funds and mandates that transitioned to it as part of its 2023 AMP Capital acquisition. The scope of the review would include Dexus Diversified Infrastructure Trust, Dexus Community Infrastructure Fund, Dexus Core Infrastructure Fund, Australia Pacific Airports Fund vehicles, Infrastructure mandates and separately managed accounts.

The order follows the SEC's 2024 action against former Western AM co-chief investment officer Ken Leech, alleging he engaged in a multi-year scheme to allocate favourable trades to certain portfolios, which conversely allocated unfavourable trades to other portfolios.

The regulator found the fund manager failed to take reasonable steps to ensure Leech's actions were consistent with the firm's fiduciary duties and its disclosures to clients, including that its investment allocations would be done in a manner that was fair and equitable.

The practice is known as 'cherry-picking', in which Leech would place trades with brokers and routinely wait until later in the trading day to allocate the trades among clients in the portfolios he managed.

At the time, the SEC charged Leech with violating antifraud and other provisions of federal securities laws.

In response to the order handed down ast week, Western AM did not admit to the SEC's findings, but agreed to a cease-and-desist order, a censure, and to pay a civil penalty of US$100 million.

"The SEC's order finds that Western Asset wilfully violated Sections 206(2) and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-7 thereunder and failed reasonably to supervise its former co-CIO within the meaning of Section 203(e)(6) of the Advisers Act," the SEC said.

The civil penalty will be deposited into a Fair Fund and Western AM will distribute the funds to harmed investors.

A specialist in fixed income strategies, Western AM has about US$229 billion in global assets under management.

In Australia, Western AM oversees about US$11.4 billion in assets.

The fund aims to track the Bloomberg AusBond Composite 0+ Yr Index, often referenced by superannuation funds, assets allocators and active bond managers.

COMP provides exposure to a diversified portfolio of Australian dollar denominated investment grade bonds, including Commonwealth and state government securities, government related bonds and corporate debt.

The launch comes amid renewed investor interest in fixed income, with Australian bond yields reaching their highest levels in around 15 years. Betashares said cash and fixed income ETFs attracted $14.2 billion in inflows over the 12 months to April 2026 as investors increasingly sought income and diversification benefits.

Betashares chief executive Alex Vynokur noted the ETF was designed to offer a simple and cost-effective way to access the domestic bond market.

"Over the past decade, Betashares has carefully built the largest range of fixed income ETFs in Australia, and the launch of COMP represents a thoughtful addition to our range of core fund exposures," Vynokur said.

"COMP is purpose-built as a core fixed income holding for diversified portfolios, giving asset allocators, super funds, model portfolio managers, financial advisers and investors a cost-effective way to access the broad Australian investment grade bond market in a single trade," he said.

The ETF joins Betashares existing Australian fixed income suite, including its enhanced index strategy OZBD, which manages approximately $1.25 billion and was also developed in partnership with Bloomberg.

According to Betashares, COMP is also designed to track the benchmark used by APRA in assessing Australian fixed interest performance within its superannuation performance test framework.

ART chief executive Kathy Vincent said the investment reflected the fund's focus on supporting long term economic growth while delivering returns for members.

"As a Queensland-based fund, we are proud to invest in the industries and companies that will shape the state's future communities and growth," she said.

"Our investment in Gilmour Space demonstrates how long-term superannuation capital can support nationally significant capability, while remaining firmly focused on delivering strong outcomes for members in their best financial interest," Vincent said.

Founded on the Gold Coast, Gilmour Space is developing sovereign launch capability through its Bowen Orbital Spaceport in North Queensland and provides satellite and launch services to commercial, civil and defence customers.

The investment has been made through ART's private equity mandate with QIC, one of Australia's largest institutional investment managers with more than $135 billion in assets under management.

QIC chief executive Kylie Rampa said the transaction highlighted the role institutional investors can play in supporting emerging Australian industries.

"We proudly work alongside ART to invest in the innovation, infrastructure and industries shaping Queensland's long-term economic growth," Rampa said.

"Gilmour Space is a terrific example of the globally competitive companies emerging from our state and the critical role domestic institutional capital can play building sovereign capability and helping Queensland's next generation of success stories scale from home," she said.

This comes after earlier reports this year that a consortium of sovereign and institutional investors, including the NRFC, Future Fund and several super funds, raised over $217 million for Gilmour Space.

ART manages more than $370 billion on behalf of members and said it has more than $8 billion invested in Queensland headquartered companies and assets across public and private markets.

Its Queensland portfolio includes more than $5 billion invested in infrastructure assets such as Brisbane Airport and the Port of Brisbane alongside more than $3 billion in ASX-listed tourism, property and other Queensland based companies.

"Australian Unity is progressing a strategic review of its portfolio, costs and operating model, with a focus on becoming simpler and more efficient," a statement provided to Financial Standard read.

"As part of this process, Australian Unity will reduce its workforce by 195 positions.

"Importantly, these changes will not affect frontline care roles or the delivery of the essential services our customers and communities rely on each day."

The strategic review was noted in an announcement on April 29, as the group shared its full-year FY26 results were "expected to be lower than anticipated" forecasted in February 2026 due to heightened cost to cover ongoing delays on tech transitions.

Specifically, the integration of W&CM's investment bonds businesses, Australian Unity Life Bonds (formerly IOOF) and Lifeplan Australia Friendly Society, have experienced delays in implementing technology transformation, and the expected benefits of this program are now anticipated to commence in FY27, as "no transactional activity is expected to be completed and recognised prior to 30 June 2026."

"The aggregate gross asset value of funds under management has also been adversely affected by market volatility and net outflows in asset classes with negative performance during FY26, leading to lower than anticipated revenues," the announcement said.

Meanwhile, performance has also been affected by delays in recent reforms and delays in the government's roll out of the Support at Home program.

Australian Unity said this delay and capped funding has constrained new customer onboarding and revenue growth, while the previously increased workforce capacity has further impacted margins.

"The costs associated with these impacts, which are necessary to establish an efficient, compliant and scalable service delivery model, have been higher than anticipated in FY26," it said.

"Decisions to reduce roles are difficult and we acknowledge the impact this has on each affected individual.

"This review is about ensuring the group is set up for long-term success and able to continue to provide the essential services its members and customers rely on each day."

The Bennelong Funds Management boutique was launched in early 2023 by Magellan Financial Group veterans Kris Webster and Michael Poulsen.

The Canopy Global Small & Mid Cap Fund aimed to deliver investors double-digit annual returns over rolling five-year periods, while minimising the risk of permanent capital loss.

Bennelong chief executive John Burke said the decision was made after careful consideration, noting: "Bennelong Funds Management Limited (BFML) and Canopy Investors (Canopy) have made the decision to wind up the Canopy Global Small & Mid Cap Fund and to conclude the partnership between BFML and Canopy."

"The decision is not an easy one, however as responsible entity BFML has a duty to act in the best interests of unitholders, and the fund has not been able to achieve the scale required to achieve its aim," he said.

"All funds will be returned to unitholders, who have been notified of the wind up and termination of the fund. Subject to the statutory notice period under the Corporations Act, the fund is expected to commence winding up on June 22."

In the 2026 half year, the fund achieved -9.2% net of fees, which lagged 15.8% below the benchmark's return of 6.7%.

Incepted in June 2024, the fund invested in 20 to 40 high-quality, global small- and mid-caps trading at attractive prices. It charged a management fee of 1.15% p.a.

"This has been a disappointing period of both absolute and relative performance, and one that we believe has been characterised by the market's rotation away from the quality stocks the fund focuses on...," the latest performance update read.

"While the fund's recent results have been difficult, we are encouraged by both the underlying performance and enduring quality of our portfolio companies and the valuations at which they currently trade, which we believe have created a collection of the most attractive investment opportunities we have seen."

Key contributors during the period were Medpace, Moncler and Assa Abloy. Detractors were Auto Trader, Trex and Tradeweb.

Webster and Poulsen worked together for more than a decade at Magellan leading the small- and mid-cap team.

Webster spent nearly 15 years at Magellan, finishing up there as head of global investments.

Poulsen worked at Magellan for over a decade, serving the final nine months as co-portfolio manager of the Magellan High Conviction Fund as well as its small- and mid-cap strategy.

Jack McManus joined the boutique as a portfolio manager in July 2024, having also worked at Magellan in the global listed equities teams as a senior analyst. He was a member of the investment committee in the global, small and mid-cap, and emerging growth teams.

Emmily Lau joined Canopy one year ago as an investment analyst, previously working as an analyst with Platinum Asset Management for its international fund. She previously worked at Perpetual in global equities.

Burke added: "On behalf of BFML, I want to acknowledge Kris Webster, Michael Poulsen, Jack McManus and Emmily Lau, who have brought genuine conviction and skill to their work. The outcome here reflects market demand, not the quality of the team or their investment approach. We thank them sincerely for their efforts and partnership."

Last July, Bennelong ended its partnership with Touchstone Asset Management as the Touchstone Index Unaware Fund wound up two months earlier.

Touchstone officially shuttered after launching in 2015 by principals Jack Chemello, Suellen Morgan and Mary Feros. At its height, it had some $3.5 billion in funds under management.

Morningstar associate director Daniel Sotiroff said the achievement underscores the immense success of index funds and Vanguard's role in their adoption by investors of all types.

Rivals iShares Core S&P 500 ETF and State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF are close behind with a net asset value of around US$861 billion and US$786 billion respectively.

"Vanguard S&P 500 ETF didn't always look like the favourite to hit the trillion-dollar mark first," Sotiroff said.

"It was the smallest of the big three S&P 500 ETFs with about US$225 billion to its name just five years ago. State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF was the giant at the time with around US$360 billion."

Sotiroff said inflows of new money largely went Vanguard's way and catapulted its ETF from third to first.

"Investors added more than US$400 billion of new money to Vanguard S&P 500 ETF between June 2021 and May 2026, while the iShares and State Street ETFs took in an estimated US$250 billion and US$88 billion, respectively," he added.

Vanguard's S&P 500 ETF was first launched in 1976 and is the first and oldest index-tracking mutual fund available to retail investors.

"Crossing the US$1 trillion barrier is more symbolic than anything. ETFs do not win prizes for growing to a particular size. Though Vanguard, and its funds that own the firm, will earn incrementally more revenue," Sotiroff said.

Vanguard's latest research also found younger Australians are more likely to incorporate ETFs into their portfolios, with nearly one in five Gen Z Australians report owning ETFs at around 19%, the highest rate of any age group.

The ASX-listed wealth firm said BMO made the confidential, non-binding and conditional proposal to acquire the business unit for a cash consideration.

The capital markets business provides institutional dealing, research and corporate finance services, catering to companies and institutional clients.

The institutional dealing team provides advice, idea generation, site visits and roadshows focused on resources, mining services and small- to mid-cap Western Australia industrials.

The research team covers ASX-listed industrials, resources and energy companies, while the corporate finance team specialises in equity capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate advisory.

If the sale goes ahead, Euroz Hartleys' other business line - private wealth services - would remain intact.

This division comprises private wealth advisers who work with high-net-worth individuals, companies and SMSFs, providing services such as stockbroking, superannuation advice, investment management and portfolio administration.

"The proposal is subject to a number of conditions, including entry into a strategic alliance agreement between BMO and the Euroz Hartleys' Private Wealth business to preserve the interconnected relationship between the capital markets and private wealth businesses," Euroz Hartleys said.

BMO has a period of exclusivity until June 30 to conduct due diligence and progress relevant transaction documentation.

The wealth management group confirmed the proposal following the AFR speculating on the transaction overnight.

Euroz Hartleys added the transaction is subject to satisfactory completion of due diligence under a period of exclusivity, negotiation and execution of definitive transaction documentation between the two parties, as well as other customary conditions.

BMO is the eighth largest bank in North America, providing diversified services across personal and commercial banking, wealth management, global markets and investment banking.

In 2022, Columbia Threadneedle Investments acquired BMO Global Asset Management's Australian business.

This was part of a broader move for Columbia Threadneedle in which it acquired the European, Middle Eastern, and African (EMEA) asset management business of BMO Global Asset Management in November 2021.

Perpetual said the acquisition will strengthen the digital capabilities of its Corporate Trust business while continuing to reduce debt.

The ASX-listed financial services group said the transaction aligns with its strategy to grow Corporate Trust and expand its Digital and Markets division through a combination or organic investment, partnership and targeted acquisitions.

Victoria based Interfi provides loan serving technology to the non-bank lending sector and currently supports around $55 billion in assets under administration. Its platform manages the full loan lifecycle, from settlement through to discharge, and includes capabilities spanning loan administration, arrears management, collections and recoveries.

Perpetual chief executive Bernard Reilly said the acquisition would support long term growth within the group's Corporate Trust business.

"This transaction is in line with our strategy to invest in new capabilities in Corporate Trust to support long term growth and retain its strong market leadership," Reilly said.

"The acquisition is expected to contribute to growth in Corporate Trust's Digital and Markets division in FY27 and beyond," Reilly said.

Corporate Trust chief executive Richard McCarthy said combining Interfi's loan servicing platform with Perpetual's existing technology capabilities would help create a more integrated offering for clients.

"By combining Interfi's technology platform with our Perpetual Intelligence platform, our aim is to have a broader, integrated, digital ecosystem and accelerate our ability to offer clients an automated end to end solution, from lending through to securitisation," McCarthy said.

"Importantly, this also complements our core Debt Market Services business and products," he said.

Under the agreement, Perpetual will initially acquire 70% of the business and retain an option to purchase the remaining 30% by FY31. The transaction will be funded through internally generated cashflows and is expected to complete before the end of June, subject to customary conditions.

The acquisition comes as Perpetual continues to improve its balance sheet. The company said it expects gross debt to fall by approximately 15% by 30 June 2026, even after accounting for the Interfi acquisition and recent debt facility repayments.

Perpetual reported gross debt of $742 million as of 31 December 2025, with the latest update signalling continued progress in strengthening its financial position while pursing strategic growth opportunities.

According to its May monthly activity report, ASX reported a 31% increase in total trades, representing a 42% increase in the financial year to the end of the month.

It also saw a 37% increase in average daily trades of over 2.6 million transactions, compared to 2.07 million average daily trades in the same month last year.

In comparison, total trades were up 22% and average daily trades were up only 16% in April.

ASX futures volumes were also up 21% in May from the previous corresponding period and average daily options volumes were up significantly over the same period, ASX said.

Total average daily futures and options on futures volumes were up 21%.

Meanwhile, IPO numbers remained slow, with eight new entities listed in May but there was net growth of zero as another eight entities were delisted. Notably, June marks the completion of the first year of a two-year pilot program to shrink timetables for IPOs to boost listings.

Further, in its recent financial guidance for FY27, ASX's capital expenditure is set to blow out to between $180 million and $200 million from technology costs and new product development.

At the same time, ASX provided an update on ASIC's legal proceedings which kicked off in August 2024 in relation to representations made regarding the previous CHESS replacement project in February 2022. Defending itself, the matter is proceeding to trial on June 15.

Separately, the bourse also appointed Anthony Attia of Euronext, its European counterpart, as its chief executive last month. He will join on September 1, with previously announced interim chief Darren Yip set to support the transition.

Munro said the move expands access to a strategy focused on companies positioned to benefit from the global decarbonisation trend.

The fund, which is available through NZX Wealth Technologies and Consilium Wrap, invests in a concentrated portfolio of global equities across four themes: clean energy, clean transportation, the circular economy and energy efficiency.

The strategy was initially launched as a wholesale fund in New Zealand in March 2025 through a partnership between GSFM and Munro Partners. Since launch, it has grown to NZ$71.82 million and delivered a return of 70.4% net of fees in the 13 months to 30 April 2026.

GSFM chief executive Damien McIntyre said the fund offers investors exposure to one of the most significant long term, structural shifts underway in global markets.

"As global capital markets continue to shift towards sustainability and thematic investing, the Fund will become increasingly relevant," McIntyre said.

"Having the support and seeding from KiwiSaver providers, Aurora Capital and SBS Wealth has strengthened our ability to deliver these products to New Zealand investors," he said.

The move comes as asset managers continue to develop products tied to energy transition and climate related investment opportunities, despite growing scrutiny around sustainable investing claims globally.

Munro Partners' Climate Leaders strategy seeks to identify companies expected to either enable or benefit from decarbonisation, reflecting a thematic approach that focuses on long term growth drivers rather than traditional sector allocations.

GSFM said demand from wholesale investors has supported the fund's growth since launch prompting the expansion into the retail market.

McIntyre said the firm was also assessing whether additional investment strategies could be introduced to address gaps in the New Zealand market.

"The GSFM team is reviewing its other existing strategies, as well as assessing new ones, to determine which will be suitable to fill in an investment gap for New Zealand investors," McIntyre said.

The fund is managed and issued by Adminis Funds Limited and represents the firm's first retail fund offering in New Zealand.

Available today via the ASX, the Macquarie Global Small Companies Active ETF (ASX: MQXS) aims to offer Australian investors access to a broader range of businesses, sectors and sources of return beyond large-cap companies, in an active strategy.

It is the fourth systematic active ETF across MAM's platform and follows the success of MAM's systematic suite of global and domestic capabilities.

Since launching its ETF platform in 2023, MAM now offers four fixed income and five equity ETFs with around $2 billion in assets under management, representing ~5x annual growth.

MAM said the global small cap universe is broad and diverse, making it difficult to assess companies consistently at scale through traditional research alone. MAM said its systematic investment approach is designed to address this complexity by applying a disciplined, data-driven process across a wide investment universe to identify companies with attractive characteristics.

"By applying a systematic process to the vast opportunity set offered by the small cap universe, our strategy seeks to identify companies with desirable characteristics, while helping to reduce the impact of emotional bias that can affect traditional investment approaches," MAM head of systematic investments Benjamin Leung.

"Our approach is designed to make global small caps a more accessible opportunity set for investors, while targeting potential outperformance relative to the index."

MAM said the launch of MQXS reflects growing investor demand for access to global small companies through actively managed ETFs, as investors continue to seek attractive returns and more efficient ways to diversify their portfolios.

MAM head of ETFs Blair Hannon added: "Investors are increasingly looking for active small cap solutions with the potential to deliver consistent excess returns. MAM is the number one active ETF manager by flows on the ASX, with nine actively managed ETFs in Australia totalling assets under management of $2 billion.

"With concentration in large cap stocks in the S&P500 at or near all-time highs, diversification into small caps has become even more important in balancing portfolio exposures. In increasingly complex and volatile markets, investors are looking for strategies that can adapt quickly, manage risk dynamically and identify opportunities beyond traditional index exposure.

"It's very hard for a fundamental team to analyse over 3500 global small companies. A systematic, data-driven investment approach can."

The multi-asset Invesco True Balance Fund, which had about $37.5 million in assets, will terminate on June 4. Application and withdrawal requests were suspended on May 1.

Invesco Australia, the responsible entity of the fund, said: "Following a review of the fund, Invesco has determined that it remains below the scale required to support its ongoing operation to achieve its intended purpose. As such, we consider it is in the best interest of investors to wind-up the fund."

Incepted in 2015, the fund invested in equity, bond and commodity markets via derivatives.

The fund aimed to achieve a positive total return over a market cycle with a low-to-moderate correlation to traditional financial market indices, targeting a gross return of 6% p.a. above the Bloomberg Ausbond Bank Bill Index with 8% p.a. target portfolio volatility.

It returned 22.1% p.a. in the year to April and over a 10-year period achieved 3.2% p.a. while its benchmark made 3.7% and 2.2% respectively.

Separately, the Trinetra Emerging Markets Growth Trust will wind up on June 15.

Perpetual's The Trust Company, as responsible entity, and Trinetra Investment Management, as the investment manager, decided to terminate and wind up the fund due to "insufficient scale to remain economically viable without the management fees and costs charged to members in the fund becoming disproportionately high as a percentage of the net asset value of the fund."

"We understand this decision may be disappointing; however, we have thoroughly assessed the impacts for members and believe this course of action is in their best interests," they told investors.

London-based Trinetra is an emerging markets specialist. The fund launched in early 2019 and is a sub-fund of the Trinetra UCITS ICAV.

Some of the of holdings as at March were Gentera, Tencent, Alibaba, MercadoLibre and Contemporary Amperex Technology. The fund had about $249 million in funds under management.

The cornerstone funding round raised $150 million, exceeding the initial target amount of $100 million. Pengana is targeting a maximum raise of $350 million.

The listed investment trust, which will be called AIX, invests primarily in large, privately held AI and AI-related businesses and holds between 12 to 20 companies.

Portfolio management has been delegated to US-based alternative asset manager GCM Grosvenor, which has about $127 billion in assets under management. GCM currently manages Pengana's Private Equity Trust (ASX: PE1).

AIX targets a seven-year lifespan, deploying capital over the first two years. After this, it will return capital and realised gains to investors when it exits underlying assets via listings, secondary sales or acquisitions.

The trust can potentially continue running after the seven-year period, in which the management fee will reduce to zero.

Target investments include Anthropic and OpenAI, companies the fund manager classifies as "foundation models", and Databricks and Perplexity, which it describes as AI-enabled products and platforms that directly deliver functionality.

Pengana chief executive Russel Pillemer said the fund has already contracted investments in ByteDance and Handshake.

"Many compelling AI and AI-related businesses remain private during their highest growth phases. By the time these companies reach public markets, a significant portion of their return potential may already have been captured by private investors. Investing in unlisted securities can provide earlier participation in that value creation," he said.

"AIX will allow Australian investors to access these AI companies, seeking to deliver long-term capital growth by targeting investments in non-publicly traded companies that are developing, enabling, or contributing to the adoption of artificial intelligence and related technologies."

AIX is expected to list on the ASX on July 2.

ASX-listed Pengana had $3.6 billion in assets under management at the end of March, down 9% from the end of December.

The transaction will be processed through MAM's Macquarie Infrastructure Partners V and IG4's Private Equity Fund II, transferring their stake in Corredor Logística e Infraestrutura (CLI) to the AD Ports Group.

CLI is an independent port and logistics operator in Brazil, owned by IG4 initially, and entered a joint ownership following a major capital investment by Macquarie in 2022. Since then, the company has expanded it footprint and enhanced efficiency and its position within the nation's infrastructure, MAM said.

The deal remains subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory and antitrust approvals.

Commenting, head of Macquarie Asset Management, Brazil Fernando Lohmann said Brazil continues to offer exciting opportunities across various sectors.

"Brazil's agricultural export sector continues to demonstrate remarkable resilience, reinforcing the country's position as one of the world's leading suppliers of agricultural commodities," Lohmann said.

"As a long-term investor in the country, Macquarie remains committed to acting as a responsible custodian of essential infrastructure assets that help drive economic development, improve connectivity and support Brazil's role in global trade."

The transaction follows MAM's acquisition of a Brazilian toll road portfolio platform in May last year.

Meanwhile, CLI's management will remain unchanged, with Gabriel Motta continuing as chief executive.

"The outlook for CLI is highly favourable. We are strategically positioned in the Northern Arch, with the operation of the terminal at the port of Itaqui, in addition to the terminal at the port of Santos," Motta said.

"Both have been showing consistent performance and with clear potential to evolve even more. The cycle with IG4 and Macquarie was extremely relevant, laying solid foundations for the new phase that begins. We remain confident in our ability to grow consistently and safely in the coming years."

Meantime, the transaction marks AD Ports Group's entry into the Brazilian market and is expected to support CLI's next phase of growth, leveraging its global platform and experience.

AD Ports Group managing director and chief executive Mohamed Juma Al Shamisi said: "The purchase of CLI is a game changer for AD Ports Group. The transaction extends our Group's international reach for the first time into Latin America, and deepens our growing agrifoods activities, one of our core verticals."

"Under the wise guidance of our leadership in the United Arab Emirates, AD Ports Group is committed to enabling trade in one of the world's most-important, fastest-growing agricultural commodities markets, which will not only benefit the group's global clients, including those in Brazil, but also strengthen the AD Ports Group global network."

The Brookfield Infrastructure Income Fund (BII) is being made available to Australian wealth investors, including advisers and self-managed superannuation funds, as demand for private market investments continues to grow.

The strategy, which has total assets of US$8.3 billion, provides exposures to a diversified portfolio of private infrastructure assets and aims to deliver regular income through monthly distributions and lower minimums.

Brookfield said the launch reflects increasing appetite among individual investors for infrastructure assets that can provide stable cash flows, inflation protection and diversification benefits at a time of heightened market uncertainty.

"For decades, institutional investors have benefited from Brookfield's investment capabilities and access to high-quality infrastructure assets, which deliver strong cash flows, built-in inflation protection, and low correlation to equities and bonds," Brookfield head of international private wealth Jeremy Hall said.

"These characteristics are increasingly sought after by individual investors to insulate and improve risk-adjusted returns for their portfolios," Hall said.

Hall noted the fund would allow Australian wealth investors to access the same infrastructure capabilities that have traditionally been available to large institutional investors.

"By bringing BII to Australia, we're providing the same access to Brookfield's long standing institutional infrastructure expertise and track record to individual investors in Australia looking to diversify their portfolios," Hall said.

The launch forms part of Brookfield's broader push into the private wealth market across Asia Pacific. Earlier this year, the firm partnered with Japanese financial institution Mizuho Securities to distribute its infrastructure income strategy in Japan.

This comes after earlier strategic moves by Brookfield which sold its significant minority stake in La Trobe Financial to Asia-focused private equity investment manager Axight for $3 billion. Together, these actions highlight a coordinated effort to build a scaled private markets ecosystem, combing product innovation with platform expansion.

Findex currently manages approximately $8.5 billion under its managed discretionary account (MDA) platform - carried out by Specialised Private Capital - and has appointed JPMAM as implementation manager for a tactical asset allocation (TAA) portfolio structure designed to improve portfolio efficiency and reduce costs.

The mandate will help Findex and Specialised Private Capital to overcome several issues inherent in TAA implementation, including reduction of transition time between exposures across two physical managed funds and deploy better controls during market volatility.

Findex will also be able to offer zero transaction costs in FX hedging when moving funds or unit classes and reduce costs or client capital gains tax (CGT) when implementing asset allocation recommendations.

Commenting, JPMAM head of wholesale Mark Carlile said the mandate underscores its expertise in structuring and customising portfolios through the tailored solution.

"Every client is different and we wanted to ensure we were able to provide Findex and Specialised Private Capital with a tailored solution that benefited them and their clients," Carlile said.

"Our flexible approach and deep engagement enabled us to deliver a solution that addresses their operational and investment challenges, setting them up with a foundation for long-term success.

"Both our teams were highly engaged from the outset, discussing and debating a range of options to find the best fit. We look forward to working closely with and growing the relationship with the team."

He added that JPMAM proposed a progressive framework that leveraged local structuring experts, which involved the creation of two trusts, one equity and one fixed income, integrated within Findex's MDA.

Each fund is actively managed with defined alpha and tracking targets, and importantly fees are kept low. A TAA overlay enables efficient portfolio tilts and FX implementation, addressing the challenges set out above.

"This initiative reflects our commitment to continually improve how we serve clients and deliver investment solutions which are responsive, cost-effective and aligned with their long-term goals," Specialised Private Capital chief investment officer Kieran Canavan said.

"By addressing some of the inherent limitations of traditional managed structures, we are strengthening our ability to implement portfolio decisions efficiently, while maintaining the governance, accountability and transparency that sits at the heart of our investment philosophy."

Canavan also noted 20% of its MDA funds under advice (FUA) are currently structured under this approach, providing greater flexibility to scale.

"We have already successfully implemented TAA changes at a significantly reduced cost for clients which reinforces the value of this model," Canavan said.

"We're proud to be partnering with JPMAM on a solution that we believe aims to set a new benchmark for how managed accounts can work for clients."

ART said the investments will help develop housing supply, new offices and jobs-generating industrial land, and support community and economic growth.

The investments include a 19.9% interest in Westfield Sydney with QIC; a 48.5% stake in the LIV Mirvac Fund to support the delivery of build-to-rent housing; increased holdings in the Dexus Wholesale Property Fund and Mirvac Wholesale Office Fund; and additional capital allocated to the M.H. Carnegie Catalyst Healthcare REIT.

The $370 billion super fund now has more than $19 billion in real estate equity.

ART general manager, mid risk assets Michael Weaver said the property investments reflected ART's belief in the Australian real asset investment fundamentals as a long-term investor.

"Investing in Australian property aims to deliver strong returns for members, and helps to support jobs, economic activity and more liveable communities," Weaver said.

"Australia's population continues to grow, and that growth brings demand for more homes, workplaces, logistics facilities and retail destinations.

"Property valuations have also stabilised post-COVID and we believe they will continue to provide an enduring source of inflation-linked returns for members, although we remain cautious in the short to medium term given the volatile geopolitical environment.

"These assets are the places where Australians live, work and connect, and they play a vital role in the nation's economy."

ART said property remains a key part of its diversified investment strategy, providing members with potential exposure to long-term, income-generating assets.

ART holds a diversified portfolio of more than 5000 direct and indirect properties across Australia.

Weaver added that around half of members' funds were invested in Australia - totalling about $180 billion in holdings across shares, infrastructure, property and other investments.

"By investing at scale in Australian property, ART is backing national economic growth while always aiming to deliver strong long-term returns for members," he said.

Led by the Morningstar Sustainalytics and Morningstar Indexes teams, the report included direct interviews with 25 asset owners globally, including 12 across Australia and New Zealand.

Asset owners in Australia and New Zealand are pursuing a total portfolio approach to address continued global market volatility, policy uncertainty and the disruptive impact that artificial intelligence (AI) is having on markets.

Their focus is largely strategic and long-term oriented, with growing engagement in private markets and more defensive areas of the market such as infrastructure and real estate. They remain challenged with US policy but can't ignore this important market, Morningstar said.

"The path of rates and inflation is top-of-mind at the minute. We've looked through the war with Iran. We've looked through the supply shock to a large degree," an asset manager at an unnamed Australian superannuation fund said.

"But then when you look at the underlying fundamentals of the US market and its ability to generate higher returns on equity than other parts of the world ― that's a handbrake on us reallocating away from the US."

Another asset manager from a super fund in Australia said the fund has more appetite for things that are unlikely to be disrupted, like real estate or infrastructure.

"For example, AI is not going to displace a building," they said.

Asset owners also reported seeing artificial intelligence (AI) as a new powerful tool but are currently using it to augment, not replace, the skill and expertise they bring to the table.

"AI has actually improved and become a very helpful tool. And the output that it's producing on the first attempt is getting better and better, but it still needs a bit of 'NI', a bit of natural intelligence, to critically assess the output and make sure that it doesn't have any errors in it," an asset manager in an Australian super fund said.

"But we're increasingly using it and finding it a very useful way to assimilate large bits of information down to what's relevant."

Another super fund asset manager said while they haven't yet incorporated AI into investment processes in a formalised way in terms of decision making, they have started conversations around it.

"It is conversations we're absolutely having with all of our managers. What are you thinking about? How are you using it? What efficiencies can you get from it?" they questioned.

VanEck said AQTY was developed to address the structural challenges of the Australian share market. The fund uses a purpose-built index developed in partnership with MSCI to identify 50 Australian companies based on financial strength, pricing discipline and resilience instead of market size, VanEck said.

VanEck said quality investing methodology remains relevant in a highly selective segment that may be influenced by political developments, potential shifts in market leadership and elevated valuations across parts of the markets.

Rebalanced quarterly, AQTY's index uses multiple signals to identify financially sound and consistently profitable companies while limiting exposure to overvalued segments of the market, VanEck said.

The result is a portfolio of 50 domestic companies selected for what they have delivered rather than what they are forecasted to deliver, VanEck added.

The ETF incurs a management fee of 0.35% p.a. and currently has some $30.58 million. It traces the MSCI Australia IMI Quality Plus Index.

Commenting, VanEck Asia Pacific chief executive Arian Neiron said Australia is not a standard market for quality investing just yet.

"It is concentrated, cyclical and dominated by sectors that can distort traditional factor outcomes. Applying a conventional quality screen to Australian equities has historically left investors exposed to the very risks they were seeking to manage," Neiron said.

"AQTY has been engineered specifically for the Australian market. It is designed to capture companies with durable financial strength, while also applying valuation discipline and a defensive portfolio construction process.

"This is the critical distinction. Quality investing should not just be about finding profitable companies. In Australia, it also needs to consider whether those companies are sensibly priced and whether the portfolio is built to withstand market volatility. AQTY is designed to find companies that meet all three criteria."

Last week, the NSW Supreme Court ruled Dexus must commence the "compulsory process to offer for sale the shares comprising the Dexus Bloc to remaining APAC shareholders" at fair market value and an immediate suspension of governance, voting and information rights of the Dexus Bloc of shareholders.

Dexus is the trustee and manager of a 27.2% stake in Australia Pacific Airports Corporation (APAC), which owns and operates Melbourne and Launceston airports on behalf of various investors, also known as the Dexus Bloc.

The Future Fund has a 20.3% stake in APAC, while SAS Trustee Corporate has an 18.5% stake and Utilities Trust of Australia has an 8.7% interest.

In 2024, Dexus was appointed by some Dexus Bloc shareholders to conduct a sale process for their stakes. The APAC board subsequently issued a notice alleging that Dexus used a confidentiality deed poll and disclosed confidential information in the Dexus Bloc sale process. This would constitute a breach of the APAC Shareholders' Deed, according to the allegations made.

IFM Investors led the legal action against Dexus with the backing of other APAC shareholders, such as the Future Fund, NSW TCorp, and Morrison-managed Utilities Trust of Australia.

In response to the judgement, Dexus and the Dexus Bloc said they are "reviewing the judgment carefully to understand the court's findings and their implications and are considering grounds of appeal that may be available."

"If an appeal is intended to be filed, the Dexus Bloc shareholders may seek the further continuation of the injunction until the determination of the appeal, and may do so at the directions hearing listed on Friday, 5 June 2026," they said.

Furthermore, Dexus said the "potential impact of the judgment on Dexus is uncertain at this time given the continuation of the injunction and the unknown ultimate determination of any appeal that is filed."

"The Dexus board and management take matters of conduct very seriously and is closely considering the judgment and its impacts in this regard. Dexus will provide further updates on the APAC matter in accordance with its disclosure obligations," Dexus said.

Who are the investors caught in the crash, and who are the ones that capture the most gains on the way up?

In that space between sell-off and recovery lies the under-explored story of contrarian investing.

It's the one where every decision demands deep pockets, mental stamina and a sturdy stomach.

If the sharemarket was a dish, market volatility would be on the daily menu.

That's why contrarian investment expert Paul Fairbrother, institutional portfolio manager at MFS Investment Management, doesn't fear volatility, he eats it for breakfast.

As Fairbrother puts it, "Our investment philosophy is to always run into the 'burning building' when people are coming out and be that contrarian in the room that's going in the opposite direction."

That burning building could be a market bubble and bust, a global pandemic or a geopolitical crisis . In recent months, the market is catching fire from supply chain disruptions.

At a company level, Fairbrother would be drawn to large companies, often household brands, in the thick of controversy, like a profit warning or a management restructure.

It's in this space where others fear to tread that Fairbrother - through the MFS Global Contrarian Equity Fund - gets down to work.

Margin of safety

Before the sharemarket became a sophisticated game of dots on a graph and instant trading, it was a simple case of investing in good companies.

It's the wide margin between what a good company should be worth and how their valuation gets caught in the general wash that spurred MFS to launch its contrarian strategy in 2016.

A year prior, the Chinese market bubble had burst in the worst way possible, plunging 43% in a few months and dragging the rest of the world with it. No investment book could prepare investors for such a scale of market dislocation.

But to MFS, the numbers may be different, but they've seen it all before. Founded in 1924, MFS is one of the longest-running asset managers in the world, and they've lived through the dotcom bust, the rise of hedge funds, the proliferation of quant strategies and, more recently, indexed investing.

That experience shaped their core belief that markets will always be driven by fear and greed, which led to their contrarian strategy that systematically exploits those emotional overreactions and turns them into portfolio returns.

That system is underpinned by four investment pillars.

First, the fund only buys stocks on cheap valuations because that reduces their reliance on uncertain forecasts.

Second, they stick with a bottom-up, not macro-driven, approach, which reduces their vulnerability to rate forecasts.

Third, regardless of the share price, the company's balance sheet should survive a Global Financial Crisis (GFC) stress test.

Finally, Fairbrother says that a contrarian strategy has to be 'emotionally resilient', meaning you can't be attached to any one idea and you need to hold your nerve no matter how the markets are behaving around you.

All this to say the fund has the muscle memory of a 102-year-old fund manager and understands what market guardrails should look like.

"We work very hard on what we call a margin of safety, particularly around our downside risk modelling, so we can get the odds stacked more in our favour."

Investing in controversy

Asked what stocks the fund invests in, Fairbrother said that there have been various types over the past 10 years, but three areas stick out the most.

"The first would be in the deep value space where there's perhaps a big risk arbitrage between the upside and downside on the stock. With a capital cycle lens of looking through those companies, particularly when capital is coming out of an industry, it's quite good for the incumbent players that are left."

Then there are the quality compounders or distrusted growth companies.

"These are good companies that fall on hard times. That's exploiting the human-nature element to this, where we're prone to extrapolate news, and when it's good, you tend to get too optimistic and overprice a stock, and when it's bad, people get too pessimistic, assume the news flow is going to stay bad and eventually underprice the stock."

The rich pickings for the fund are the structuring plays.

"Often with good companies, they make mistakes. There are self-inflicted wounds like doing an M&A that goes wrong or they change management and it doesn't work out," said Fairbrother.

Because they have a lot of knowledge on that company, the fund can then make a decision to buy and make money as the shares start to reflect not the controversy, but the company's reality.

No room for a benchmark

In a world inundated with strategies set against a benchmark, the MFS Global Contrarian Equity Fund has a very concentrated portfolio of 30 stocks with a focus on absolute returns.

"We're aware of the benchmark, but we don't try and build a portfolio around it. We want an idiosyncratic portfolio of risks that are not slaves to the bench, and that's the contrarian instinct in us."

"I put the question back to the investor and say, 'Do you want to own the stock or the industry when it's three per cent of the benchmark or when it's 30 per cent?'"

He argues, "If a stock is already 30% of the bench, everyone's already in there. They [everybody] own that stock. We want to own the unknown stock that's not in the bench."

Without the need to hug a benchmark, Fairbrother has more control - but also more at stake - in his portfolio.

Here's the best bit though. Both traditional and contrarian investors get blindsided by market shocks in equal measure.

While the traditional investor takes whatever the market serves, the contrarian fund manager Fairbrother orders his usual: bad news, turbulence and a generous heap of conviction.

In its report Sitting on the sidelines: What's holding Australia back from investing? Vanguard spoke to 1002 Australians in February 2026 prior to the Federal Budget.

Nearly one in five Gen Z Australians report owning ETFs at around 19%, the highest rate of any age group. Ownership is slightly lower among millennials at around 16% and declines sharply among older Australians.

"This research confirms what we're seeing on the ground: young Australians are increasingly interested in investing and more likely to be using ETFs," Vanguard Australia managing director Daniel Shrimski said.

"That's why it's important that policy settings continue to support long-term investing, particularly for younger Australians."

The research also found men are more likely than women to report being very familiar or somewhat familiar with ETFs.

Simplicity and diversification were the standout reasoning for the rising appeal of ETFs. Around three in 10 respondents point to instant diversification across many companies or industries and describe ETFs as simple to manage with minimal ongoing effort.

Gen Z was also the cohort most familiar with ETFs at 45% following by millennials at 33%.

"The higher levels of ETF familiarity reported by younger Australians may reflect the fact that ETFs have only been available in the Australian market for 25 years, with the first Australian ETF launching in 2001," Vanguard said.

Vanguard data showed approximately two thirds of accounts on its personal investor platform are held by people under 45, with this group also the fastest-growing cohort.

In 2024 and 2025, Vanguard Australia saw 42% annual growth in accounts held by investors under 45, compared with 32% for those aged 45-64 and 14% for those aged over 65.

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical maritime chokepoint, which according to United Nations (UN) carries about one quarter of the world's seaborne oil trade, sent supply chains and crude oil prices into a tailspin, and exposed the country's overreliance on the Middle East to supply nearly all its oil.

As part of the first nationwide energy-saving measures, Marcos rolled out a four-day work week and imposed limitations on air-conditioning usage for government workers. He recently suspended fuel tax excise on liquified petroleum gas and kerosene and implemented temporary work-from-home arrangements for private companies.

The Philippines' crude oil supply, Marcos said, will last until June 30.

SunAsia Energy chief executive Maria Theresa Capellan says the Philippines is not like the rest of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"We don't have coal. We don't have oil. We're totally and largely dependent on fossil fuel, and this is the reason and driving force behind our transition to clean energy," she says.

When she addressed the Asia Pacific Investment Summit in Sydney in late March, the country had about 60 days of fossil fuel stock left.

"That is how vulnerable the Philippines is right now. As early as 2005, the government started its path towards the clean energy trajectory. In 2009, it enacted the law, the Renewable Energy Act, and committed the energy system, our energy mix to reach 35% renewables by 2030 and 50% by 2040," she says.

A newly published report by the UN estimates the military escalation in the Middle East will cost Asia and Pacific countries US$97 billion to US$299 billion in output losses.

Through higher fuel, freight and input costs, what is at stake is diminishing household purchasing power, rising food insecurity, strained public budgets and weakening livelihoods.

"In contexts where social protection systems are limited or fiscal buffers are constrained, these pressures may translate quickly into increased poverty and vulnerability," the UN said. Disruptions to remittance flows and exchange rate pressures may also weaken household resilience across parts of the Asia Pacific.

The Iran conflict represents an "exceptional negative supply shock" to global commodity markets with significant implications for emerging and developed economies alike, says Pendal Group senior portfolio manager Ada Chan.

Experts anticipate inflation will rise across all countries via energy prices at first. This will then spill over to food prices as driven by fuel and fertiliser costs.

Within Asia Pacific, which is home to many emerging markets, the crisis created an evident split.

"These inflation effects are expected to be most acute in emerging markets Asia and (as in 2022) in the world's poorest nations," she says.

"Energy importers are the clear losers, with several large economies highly exposed."

ASEAN: A new asset class

Dato Mohammad Faiz Azmi, the previous chair of the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum, is optimistic about the future of ASEAN as a formidable investment destination as members make concerted efforts to make it so.

When the Strait of Hormuz eventually opens, Azmi says, the question then becomes: are ASEAN's fundamentals strong enough to attract foreign investors?

Last year, off the back of US President Donald Trump's Liberation Day tariffs and in formulating their ASEAN's five-year plan, the member countries came together to do something unprecedented.

"For the first time, we decided to leave our swords at the door and talked about: how do we talk about ASEAN as an asset class? That requires a lot of thinking in terms of national policies and removing frictions. That got baked into the plan. We decided that, because of this massive [tariffs] shock, we needed to be nicer to our friends," he told the recent Asia Securities Industry & Financial Markets Association (ASIFMA) Annual Conference.

A regional intergovernmental organisation, ASEAN consists of 11 countries that include Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Singapore, aiming to promote economic growth, regional peace and cooperation, social progress and cultural development.

Initiatives members are trying to make a reality include synchronising some key policies, such making dual listings between member countries more efficient, Azmi explains.

"The other thing we realised is we're pretty bad at telling our story as a region. Most regions of the world would love to have a growth rate 5% to 6%. And it's happened quite consistently, with one to two blips here. But generally, as a region, it's been quite good," he says.

Sean Taylor, chief investment officer at Matthews Asia, remains positive on emerging markets relative to the rest of the world and Japan and Australia, pointing to a 16% earnings potential over the next two years and the growing trend toward international diversification.

Virtually in the last 10 years until last year, Taylor says emerging markets had very little to no earnings compared to the previous 20 years.

"Covid dampened their earnings ability further. It has been five years, but it's taken these economies a long time to come out of Covid. They didn't get support from the government that other markets got," he says.

The second tailwind for emerging markets is a weaker US dollar. For many markets, a weak dollar means a stronger local currency.

"If you've got a lot of debt, you're paying less immediately. It means that inflation is generally lower because of the currency. It means the spending power of the consumer is higher. It means central banks can cut rates without worrying, and it means growth picks up and investment picks up. It's a virtuous cycle," Taylor says.

About 18 months ago, Banyantree Investment Group investment manager and director Zach Riaz began talking to clients about introducing resources, such as natural gas, into their multi-asset strategy, "off the back of we how think the world is changing from intangible assets to hard assets."

While this was not a "big bet" per se, it was in response to the shifting investment landscape.

"We think there is potentially elevated inflation in the future, so let's at least provide our portfolio some buffer to those potential risks," he says.

This involved adding a natural resources manager to the fold and urging clients to keep gold and take a broader commodities exposure. The portfolio was subsequently underweight risk assets in anticipation of an attack on Iran.

Come late 2025, Riaz and the team briefed clients about a potentially volatile first half of 2026 that could deliver a 10% to 20% correction.

"Towards the end of last year, and the start of this year, if you look at the incentives of the different players in this conflict - Israel, the US and Iran - there is no way you would have concluded anything but that there will be an attack," he says.

"The incentive structure, the agendas of the different players, was always going to lead to an attack. The off ramps are very cloudy at best. People think that a deal will be done. I hope a deal would be done."

Russia and China: End game?

A two-week ceasefire took effect on April 7 where each side pledged to halt military strikes. A week later, the US 'blockaded Iran's blockade'. Washington said Trump directed "a bold and decisive US naval blockade to counter Iranian aggression and restore safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz."

Since the ceasefire, Al Jazeera reports only 45 ships have entered or exited the strait since then, while ship traffic through the strait plummeted by about 95% since the start of the war.  On April 21, Trump extended the ceasefire indefinitely.

Overnight, Bloomberg reported that a US source says Iran and the US have reached a tentative deal to extend a ceasefire as peace negotiations continue. But it is unclear whether Iran is onboard. In recent days, both sides renewed fighting around the Strait of Hormuz while Israel intensified its invasion and bombing of Lebanon.

Independent journalist Richard Medhurst says the US has "quietly been carrying out an armed robbery of the world's oil and gas supply".

He said: "We are witnessing the transition of the United States from an empire into a pirate state, and the birth of what I call the 'Petro Gas Dollar' or the 'LNG Dollar.'"

In the past three months, Medhurst analysed the US targeting Russian tankers, crippling China's oil supply, and capturing significant oil fields.

According to China's General Administration of Customs, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Iraq and Brazil accounted for 62% of China's crude imports in 2025. However, oil from US-sanctioned countries - Russia, Iran and Venezuela - reportedly export a vast amount of oil to China.

"China probably imported at least 2.6 million barrels per day (bpd) of sanctioned crudes in 2025, over 22% of total imports. This estimate includes 1.38 million bpd from Iran and 389,000 bpd from Venezuela, according to Kpler, and at least 800,000 bpd of oil from Russia," according to research organisation the Centre on Global Energy Policy.

"It is difficult to determine exactly how much crude the Russian oil companies sanctioned by the United States - Rosneft, Lukoil, Surgutneftegaz and Gazprom Neft - shipped to China because there is no publicly available, official data that show Russian exports to China by company."

Medhurst goes on to say the US has become the world's top LNG exporter, exploiting the Nord Stream pipeline's destruction to force Europe to buy American LNG at higher prices.

"The strategy aims to weaken competitors like Russia and China, drive up global energy prices, and secure the USD's dominance," he says in his new documentary The Petrogas Dollar: The secret US strategy behind the Iran war.

Targeting Venezuela, Russia and Iran, the US has ultimately forced China to buy American oil and gas.

"The United States is transitioning from an aerial power to a naval power, fully cementing their status as a pirate state," he says. America's Maritime Action Plan released in February, is a testament to this.

"If they're able to control others' economies, they may not even need to maintain their 800 bases. From a purely business perspective, when corporations find a more efficient way to do the exact same thing and save costs, they always go for it. So why wouldn't that apply? In this case, none of these events are coincidences," he says.

"None of these things happened by accident. They were all carefully planned at the highest levels of government and corporate America."

Some experts believe China will come out on top regardless of the direct or indirect punches the US throws at it.

European think tank Bruegel believes China is better positioned than other Asian countries to withstand the energy crisis, but its exports could take a hit.

"A sharp reduction in global growth will end up as additional overcapacity and even thinner corporate profits, with severe consequences for the financial health of Chinese companies. Wage growth already stands at barely 1% and could drop lower," Bruegel said.

"This will further reinforce the weakness of domestic demand in China, with less investment from profitless companies and deceleration of consumption."

Taylor remains optimistic about China, predicting big growth in its services and tourist industry.

"At the moment, a lot of growth in China is driven by government policy to be self-sufficient - to be equivalent to the US in semiconductors and innovation," Taylor says.

"A lot of that is driven by academics, whether it's private sector research or government research. They're using AI and robots a lot more in technology and it's not creating more jobs to the degree it did in the past."

China's household balance sheet is also healthy, underscoring consumer confidence.

"Money is now being spent on long-term  savings through insurance companies, financial products, and dividend funds," he says.

Consumption is estimated to growing at 4% to 5%, he adds, noting as consumers are gaining confidence as the property market stabilises, and the stock markets go up these will lead to positive wealth effect.

Nothing to fear

Each trading day since the start of the conflict has dragged investors through wild swings and pirouettes.

South Korea's Kospi, for example, dropped nearly 20% in early March only to unwind most of the losses in April. Interestingly, March year-to-date MSCI figures show that emerging markets were close to a full recovery. In 2025 and over a 20-year run, emerging markets have outperformed the MSCI World Index by 10.6% p.a. and 1.4% p.a. respectively.

The energy crisis has spurred the urgency for emerging economies to commit and take action on net zero goals even more.

SunAsia's Capellan says this is important for the Philippines as it declares its commitment to transition into clean energy.

"I think investment will have to be a major part of it, because the Philippines is a liberalised market, and as we transition, we don't only transition our generation, but the infrastructure that goes with it," she says.

Macquarie Group has been instrumental in SunAsia's initiatives and bridged an early-stage financing gap and facilitated other funding mechanisms.

"Opportunities for grid improvement, that's an investment area, opportunities for storage, opportunities for electric vehicle, opportunities for charging stations and opportunities for software when we do peer-to-peer trading etc.," Capellan says.

"Once there is a commitment for long-term investments, all these opportunities open, and therefore that partnership takes you to the transition where we want to be, not only on the generation side, but the entire chain of energy transition."

Banyantree's portfolio aims to provide clients 8% p.a. to 12% p.a. return through the cycle parameter.

"We take a core barbell approach to our portfolios. The core or 60% to 80% of the portfolio are long-term, buy-and-hold, good quality companies, or good-quality investment managers or ETFs, that we can hold through the cycle," he says.

The remaining 10% to 30% are more actively managed. Frontier markets fall into this category. Banyantree typically holds a 12 to 15-month view on these allocations, which provide the ability to move out earlier if things do not pan out as expected.

"With that in mind, we're not looking for high-octane strategies or ideas but be able to take advantage of them," he says.

"Frontier markets are not as scary as people think they are. Some of the things that we are used to in developed markets are slowly being introduced in frontier markets. So, there's a long growth runway, because they're catching on to smartphones or doing business online, online payments and whatnot."

Frontier markets also have a young cohort that are adopting some of the things developed markets have fully integrated into everyday life.

The 28 countries MSCI classifies as a frontier market include Vietnam, Romania, Bangladesh Jordan, Slovenia and Morrocco.

"Frontier markets provide a decent yield, low correlation and a lot of the risks are idiosyncratic to the individual sovereign nation," Riaz says.

"Adding frontier markets to an international global portfolio or finding a good manager who can specialise in frontier markets underscores a genuinely diversified global strategy."

If the US-Israel-led war on Iran has taught businesses and governments anything thus far it is the importance of diversification - across suppliers and geographies.

For countries like the Philippines, and even Australia, it is also a bitter lesson on oil-refining self-sufficiency.

And, if it has taught investors anything, it is that money doesn't make the world go around. Oil does.

While the group is not new to Australia, it established an office in Sydney in December 2021 and has been offering its clearing and over the counter (OTC) hedging capabilities in the market since.

It also became an ASX Clear (Futures) clearing and trading participant in 2023.

Marex Financial Products head of APAC Franck Fayard told Financial Standard Australia remains a crucial market for its expansion across the broader region.

"The expansion of Marex Financial Products is a natural evolution of that footprint, extending the group's offering into a new segment of the market," Fayard said.

"The timing is a reflection of market opportunity for us. Australia's structured products market is expected to grow over the next decade, driven by converging forces, including increasing affluence among HNWIs and a structural shift toward alternative and yield-generating assets.

"APAC is a key geography for Marex Financial Products, and Australia represents a natural extension to replicate the success the business has built in Europe, as well as across the rest of Asia."

To expand in Australia, Fayard said an uplift in structured product education is need and that Marex is keen to fill that gap.

"We see our high attention to service as a key factor to unlock the market's growth potential," Fayard said.

"Across APAC, we have been collaborating with a number of private banks to develop customised structured products on any asset classes, and a similar approach can be anticipated in Australia."

In the near term, Fayard said Marex will focus on building relationships with private banks, wealth managers, and independent financial advisers (IFAs) across Australia.

"The financial products expansion will initially be driven out of Singapore, building on that existing local Australian infrastructure rather than starting from scratch," Fayard said.

"We operate with a service-led model globally, with a larger team of experts handling fewer accounts each as a deliberate point of differentiation from bank competitors, and that approach will be extended to our Australian distributor relationships."

He added that the business has already engaged with distributor clients in APAC to help strategise their offerings, which include crypto-linked products, in response to recent market volatility.

"That responsive, service-led engagement will be part of how we build our Australian client base," he said.

"In the longer term, the ambition is to replicate the success of the business in APAC. One of our goals is also to support the local institutions who may wrap and distribute products under their own brand and wrappers."

The fund will seek to allocate approximately 60% to public credit assets managed by Capital Group and 40% to private credit assets managed by KKR. It will offer opportunities for monthly repurchases of up to 3% of the fund.

KKR partner and head of global client solutions Eric Mogelof said: "Having a single access point to invest at scale across public and private markets with world-class managers is a compelling value proposition."

Capital Group president of Europe and Asia Pacific client group Guy Henriques said GMS+ is designed to sit between traditional bond funds and alternative investments, offering the potential for enhanced returns, lower volatility and greater diversification.

KKR and Capital Group formed an exclusive strategic alliance in 2024 to democratise hybrid public-private market investment solutions across multiple asset classes, geographies, and channels.

Last year, they launched their first two public-private investment products, interval funds focused on credit strategies.

"When we announced a strategic partnership with KKR two years ago we said it marked the start of our long-term collaboration. Today, we're extending that commitment by bringing our first public-private strategy to investors in Europe and Asia Pacific," Henriques said.

"Through our strategic partnership with Capital Group, we are demonstrating the power of delivering a holistic solution that combines our firms' near 150 years of investment leadership, deep expertise in credit investing, a shared commitment to education and client service," Mogelof added.

To date, Capital Group and KKR have launched two public-private credit strategies and one public-private equity strategy in the US.

As uncertainty around geopolitical risks and geoeconomic shocks heighten, asset owners and wealth managers must anticipate the potentially negative impact on assets, investments and economies, the annual Responsible Investment Association Australasia (RIAA) Conference held in Melbourne heard.

Speaking on a panel, Colonial First State (CFS) chief investment officer Jonathan Armitage warned geopolitical disruption is no longer episodic but a defining feature of today's investment landscape, with far-reaching implications for asset pricing and portfolio construction.

"There's this view that geopolitical events occur once in a while and are one-off scenarios. The events of the last five or six years have demonstrated that that is no longer true," he said.

What is happening now, Armitage explained, is a "magnification" of several forces - a confluence of events in the Middle East and other parts of the world, along with macroeconomic factors, such as the reversal of globalisation, volatile inflation and resource scarcity.

While this is not necessarily new, Armitage said it is a good reminder for investors that these are becoming part of the new investing landscape.

"It's less about thinking this is a one-off scenario with a relatively small probability of occurring. This is now almost the operating environment we have to invest in," he said.

What is inevitable is the rise in the cost of capital.

"That will feed through into bond markets [and] reflected in the way investors think about private assets and long-term investments, particularly in reassessing where it is considered safe to do business," he said.

The conflict proved that once historically stable environments, whether defined by geography or politics, are now less stable.

"One of the ramifications of what's happened in the Middle East is significant financial services development across the peninsula. I don't think anyone expected those areas to come under missile or drone attack. That was not a scenario many businesses setting up there had really thought through," he said.

Such developments underscore the need to incorporate geopolitical risk more systematically across both liquid and unlisted markets.

Despite these dynamics, Armitage said markets have yet to fully reflect the repricing required.

"I don't think you've necessarily seen that adjustment yet. I think the cost of capital is rising everywhere," he said.

"Do I think there will be an adjustment process over time? Yes, but I'm not entirely sure we're seeing that yet."

Armitage also flagged a growing disconnect between opportunity and risk, as investors seek exposure to markets being positively rerated despite the underlying geopolitical uncertainty.

This doesn't mean avoiding such investments opportunities, rather, finding ways to build protection and resilience around them. Diversification from a total portfolio perspective, he said, is one way.

Furthermore, investors should not ignore the speed at which assets respond to front-page news, whether on a data terminal or via the internet.

"We need to ensure that we're constructing portfolios that can absorb those very rapid developments," Armitage said.

FS Sustainability is a media partner of the 2026 RIAA Conference.

Allan James, head of indigenous engagement at BHP, said that co-designing the rules of engagement with the community is centre to what they do, acknowledging that previous agreements were shaped by a Western construct.

Today, it's moving away from that and, more importantly, ensuring staff and management within BHP have a high level of cultural knowledge and awareness.

"We've got various phases of different cultural awareness programs underway. From a 45-minute online course to actually spending a week on country with traditional owners," said James.

The programs are ongoing, not just a box-ticking exercise. "It's a continuum. It's not just what course you've done so you can call yourself competent," he added.

Jamie Lowe, panel chair and chief executive of the National Native Title Council, also believes cultural engagement is not enough. Companies should have a good relationship with Indigenous communities.

"You can't have engagement in a bad relationship, and you can't have a relationship without conversation. The first one you generally don't have a whole lot of choice in, so you make the best of it. But when a new relationship is going, it's got to be pretty intentional."

Having those conversations mean companies can avoid potentially disastrous environmental activities, including a tree-planting project in the wrong location.

"We would have been ploughing lines into a cultural heritage site. That risk was avoided by having traditional owners walk on site, which is a very practical example of a beyond-compliance approach," said Laura Osmetti, head community & social performance at Silva Capital.

Kado Muir, chair of National Native Council and former chair of First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance, said that existing sustainable frameworks provide the community with a negotiating tool - but that engagement is about finding a common ground and fully recognising First Nations rights.

"It would be great to reach a point where our contribution to the products that come off our land is recognised in value, where customers across the world would value knowing their minerals or energy came from Australia with First Nations cultural stewardship embedded in it."

FS Sustainability is a media partner of the 2026 RIAA Conference.

Income Insurance manages a diversified $33.6 billion multi-asset investment programme spanning bonds, equities, and private assets and serving close to 1.4 million customers.

Income Insurance chief investment officer David Chua said Russell Investments stood out for its portfolio hedging and implementation expertise.

"The proposed solution aligns with Income Insurance's investment model towards operating efficiencies and execution capabilities," Chua said.

Russell Investments head of Asia-Pacific Jason Edgar said securing the mandate was a clear sign of the rising demand for currency solutions.

"Delivering efficient implementation to improve returns for insurers and family offices is a core part of our continued expansion in Asia," Edgar said.

Russell Investments director, customised portfolio solutions, Asia-Pacific Alistair Martyres added: "Institutional investors are placing greater emphasis on how currency exposures are managed within complex global portfolios."

"FX management has become an increasingly important component of portfolio implementation and risk management. A disciplined overlay programme can provide greater transparency across currency exposures while supporting more efficient and consistent execution."

Under the mandate, Russell Investments will deliver a customised FX overlay programme to manage Income Insurance's currency exposures in line with its overall investment objectives.

The solution provides transparency over FX exposures across asset classes and regions, enabling effective management of currency risk.

Russell Investments will also support overlay implementation through a streamlined operating model, leveraging straight-through processing (STP) and direct integration of custodian data.

Russell Investments' currency capabilities include an agency-only model with multi-venue access to more than 25 banks and 50 streaming liquidity providers. In 2025, Russell traded over $630 billion in FX and over 190 currency pairs.

The new estimates have increased from the previously anticipated $160 million to $180 million.

Technology modernisation is largely driving the 18% to 21% jump in total expenses. Much of this stems from technology cost inflation, and support and maintenance costs for new technology platforms for CHESS Release 1 and enterprise cloud, data and integration platforms.

Several reform initiatives are also driving up expenses. This includes investing in its response to the ASIC Inquiry, most notably the Accelerate program.

The program involves a reset of new targets and benchmarking agreed to by ASIC and the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and "reviewing workstream target states to ensure appropriate aspiration" for its key role as the operator of critical market infrastructure and adding governance and independence workstreams to address key inquiry findings.

The money has also been allocated to customer-driven growth initiatives and market innovation, such as new data and technology initiatives, expanding derivatives product offerings, refining listing policies and uplifting issuer experience.

Initial investments in tokenisation have been made, including collateral mobilisation and exploring tokenised trading and settlement models.

The new estimates reflect investments needed to continue to be a steward of critical market infrastructure, the ASX said. "The Final ASIC Inquiry Panel Report identified historical underinvestment compared to global peers, which ASX has committed to address with faster pace and greater ambition."

In early January, the ASX flagged the first half of the 2026 financial year already incurred a 20% rise in total expenses to $264.4 million.

The bourse announced yesterday it entered into an agreement to sell its 49% interest in electronic property settlements company Sympli Australia to its joint venture partner ATI Group for a nominal amount.

This will result in an after-tax loss of about $12 million being recognised as a significant item in FY26.

The ASX invested $30 million in Sympli in 2018. Sympli allows parties prepare and lodge instruments and settle funds through an electronic lodgement network.

Kroll said the offer price for Atlas Arteria should be between $5.39 to $6.20 per security - valuing the global toll operator at minimum around $7.8 billion, which is a $1 billion short of what the bid values the firm. On the upper end, Kroll values the firm at around $9 billion.

"As both the offer price of $4.75 and the maximum consideration of $5.1 fall below our assessed value range for an ALX security, the offer is not fair," Kroll said.

Atlas Arteria has hence told shareholders to reject the offer.

IFM Investors had launched a hostile takeover bid for Atlas Arteria in late April, stating the action was spurred by continued underperformance from Atlas Arteria, and a significant change in strategy to pursue more mergers and acquisitions (M&A). IFM already owns a 34.5% stake in Atlas Arteria through its wholly owned subsidiary Diamond Infraco 1.

The toll road operator called the bid "too low, opportunistic and highly conditional" and asked shareholders to simply ignore all correspondence from IFM.

In its takeover bid, IFM pointed to Atlas Arteria's acquisition of the Chicago Skyway in 2022 - after which Atlas Arteria said it would not be pursuing further M&A, other than growth opportunities directly related to, or in proximity of, the existing business.

"The bidder wished to avoid a repeat of what it regards as the shareholder value destruction associated with the Chicago Skyway acquisition in 2022," IFM said.

Atlas Arteria had said prior to the takeover bid it was actively considering its holdings in Chicago Skyway and had issued a notice to Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan (OTPP), the other major shareholder in Chicago Skyway, to sell its stake.

OTPP did not accept the notice which expired on May 22, which allows Atlas Arteria to consummate a transfer of its entire stake to a third party. It intends to explore a sale of its 66.67% stake to a third party to maximise value for securityholders.

Both IFM and Atlas Arteria have taken the dispute to the Australian Takeover Panel.

Scarcity Partners notes the deal reflects growing demand for strategic capital among advice businesses as advisers contend with rising compliance obligations, technology costs and increasingly complex client needs.

Infocus said it currently has 270 advisers and  nearly $21 billion in funds under advice, positioning the group among the country's nine largest advisory networks.

Scarcity Partners said its investment would support continued spending across infrastructure, technology, investment capabilities and operational support for advisors operating within the Infocus network.

Adrian Whittingham, founder and managing partner of Scarcity Partners, said the transaction was designed as a long-term strategic partnership rather than a short-term capital event.

"Infocus has built something genuinely differentiated. It is a founder-led business with deep adviser relationships, award winning technology and a three-decade track record of backing independent advice," Whittingham said.

"Our investment is a long-term commitment to ensuring Infocus has the capital and strategic support to keep investing in its advisers and to remain one of the defining players in independently aligned advice in Australia."

The deal comes as the advice sector continues to undergo structural change, with many firms seeking scale and external investments to manage increasing operational complexity while preserving adviser independence.

Industry participants have increasingly pointed to integrated technology platforms and operational support capabilities as key differentiators in attracting advisers and sustaining long term growth.

The partnership will provide MPC Markets advisers with consolidated multi-asset reporting, automated branded review documents and broader total wealth visibility for clients with complex portfolio structures spanning multiple investment channels.

HeirWealth said the Atlas platform was designed to address longstanding gaps in portfolio reporting, particularly for investors with holdings spread across domestic and international brokers, alternative investments and cash management accounts.

The platforms aggregates client data into a consolidated household and entity structure, while also layering in calculated income entitlements and performance attribution metrics.

This allows advisers to track valuations, asset allocations and total returns across portfolios, with returns broken down into capital growth, income and foreign exchange components.

MPC Markets chief executive Mark Gardener said the firm selected Atlas after reviewing multiple reporting systems currently available in the market.

"Atlas was the only one that handled the full picture: multi-broker, multi-currency, FX-attributed total returns, and the kind of automated branded reviews our clients deserve," said Gardener.

"It's the first platform I've seen that tracks multiple assets in real terms, not in isolation," he said.

The integration also introduces rules-based portfolio classification capabilities, allowing MPC Markets to apply custom sector exposures such as liquidity and currency allocations.

Clients seeking broader wealth visibility will also be able to access HeirWealth Portal directly, extending reporting beyond advised portfolios to include personal bank accounts, property, insurance holdings and collectibles.

The portal also includes document storage, wealth calendar functionality and estate planning style features including the ability to record expressions of wishes and share information with family members or advisors.

HeirWealth founder Ray Tubman said MPC Markets played a key role in shaping the products development as an early adopter of the platform.

"As an early adopter, they've worked closely with us to shape a product that represents a genuine step change in portfolio reporting and client review statement generation," said Tubman.

MUFG said the appointment marks the commencement of a strategic partnership supporting members across South Australia's electricity supply industry.

Under the agreement, MUFG Retirement Solutions will provide core administration services supported by its integrated technology platform, bank-grade governance framework and Clientfirst operating model. The partnership also covers contact centre support, online member services and security and fraud management.

The transition, scheduled to complete in late 2026, will migrate accumulation, pension, and defined benefit members using MUFG Retirement Solutions' methodology.

MUFG said the approach prioritises service continuity, data integrity and operational resilience, which is said would ensure ElectricSuper members benefit from a secure, scalable service model underpinned by modern digital capability and strong risk and compliance disciplines.

ElectricSuper, a South Australian exempt public sector superannuation fund, serves approximately 3300 members, including around 700 pensioners and 300 defined benefit members, with funds under management of about $1.8 billion.

"We are proud to partner with ElectricSuper. This collaboration demonstrates our ability to deliver complex fund transitions efficiently while maintaining the highest standards of governance and member service," MUFG Retirement Solutions ANZ chief executive Frank Lombardo said.

"It also reinforces our commitment to growth and innovation in the Australian superannuation market, helping funds like ElectricSuper navigate evolving regulatory requirements and member expectations while building a platform for long-term success."

ElectricSuper chief executive Melanie Muston said the appointment of MUFG Retirement Solutions supports the fund's dedication to the member experience.

"We are confident that working with MUFG Retirement Solutions will provide a smooth transition for our members and strengthen our operational capability," Muston said.

"Their proven experience with both accumulation and defined benefit schemes and commitment to strong governance will bring benefits to our members and the fund. We are looking forward to working closely with MUFG Retirement Solutions and are confident that this partnership will enhance the overall member experience."

In the Managed Funds Net Flows Report, which tracks 160 investment managers' performances over the period, 77 had net inflows and 83 had net outflows.

The overall sample's total FUM, which include 1221 products of ETPs and unit trusts, increased $113 billion or 13% from $855 billion to $968 billion.

Unit trusts gained 7% or $44 billion over 12 months, primarily driven by $45 billion in positive market returns, "as the segment's minor negative flow would have meant FUM plateaued."

ETP, on the other hand, had a total gain of 32% year on year ($69 billion), Rainmaker said.

Of the total increase in FUM, 21% came from net flows and 11% from market gains.

In terms of net flows for individual products, ETPs had 237 products with 12-month positive net flows versus 71 with negative net flows (77% positive). This contrasts with unit trusts which had a ratio of positive to negative flows of 44% (404 had positive net flows versus 509 with negative net flows).

Categorising top net flows by businesses, Vanguard topped the chart with $17.6 billion inflows over the period, followed by Betashares ($11.8 billion), BlackRock ($8.2 billion), Macquarie Asset Management ($6.9 billion) and VanEck ($3.9 billion).

Meanwhile, of the 1221 products in the sample, 641 had positive net flows and 580 had negative net flows over 12 months. The median net flow for products with positive net flows was $45 million while the median net outflow for products with negative flows was $26 million.

Across asset classes, short duration bonds were the fastest growing sector, increasing 15% over the period with $9.1 billion in net inflows.

Further, there were 13 asset class sectors which had positive net flows (largest to smallest): international large caps, bonds (credit/high yield), bonds diversified, Australian large caps, multi-asset class, cash, alternatives, infrastructure, emerging markets equities, Australian equity income, international small caps, Australian small caps, and international property.

Financial Standard and Rainmaker Information are both part of ISS Market Intelligence.

Founded in 2020, Bridgewest Venture invests in the sectors of life sciences, medical technology, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced materials and clean technology that operate across New Zealand and Australia.

John van der Wielen was hired to be a senior adviser to Bridgewest Venture, as well as lead the Australian distribution strategy.

The Bridgewest Venture Fund I LP is aiming to raise $82 million (NZ$100m) by June. It has already achieved a first close of $49.4 million (NZ$60.2m). Ideal target companies tend to be at an earlier stage than what many international investors can access directly.

The fund is structured as an eligible investment under New Zealand's Active Investor Plus (AIP) visa program.

Companies in Bridgewest Ventures' portfolio include battery technology maker Entropeak, home-compostable bioplastics Compostify and non-invasive skin cancer screening tool Luminoma.

"New Zealand and Australia are producing globally relevant intellectual property in sectors such as life sciences, medical technology, advanced materials, artificial intelligence, and clean technology - yet the market remains significantly undercapitalised relative to the quality of innovation being developed. We believe this creates a compelling asymmetry for sophisticated investors," Bridgewest Venture chief executive Saum Vahdat said.

The firm is also actively raising funds from US institutional and high-net-worth investors.

Bridgewest Venture is part of the Bridgewest Group, which has portfolio of global companies worth $4.2 billion (US$3bn).

Bridgewest Venture Fund I general partner Paul Brownsey said: "We believe New Zealand and Australia represent one of the more overlooked innovation markets globally. Through our local operating presence, proprietary sourcing network, and active management model, we aim to help companies scale internationally while giving our limited partners exposure to growth opportunities that are often unavailable in larger, more efficient venture markets."

The group has increased its operating earnings per security from 100 cents to 103 cents, a 26.5% increase from FY25.

The growth is underpinned by heightened allocation from institutional investors, with $6.5 billion inflows to its PFM platform through investments, partnerships and mandates during the period.

PFM's funds under management (FUM) surged to $74.7 billion, up from $71.7 billion as at 31 December 2025 with a new $1.2 billion diversified core direct institutional real estate mandate in April, following another $2.1 billion mandate secured in 1H FY26.

Recent client activity has resulted in the addition of 25 new institutional investors to the platform over the last 18 months, including several institutions making initial allocations to the Australian property sector, supporting long term growth potential, Charter Hall said.

The update also follows the launch of the Telco Exchange Fund 2 (TEF2), by Charter Hall Direct, achieving full reservation of its $82 million equity raising, which provides exposure to Australia's telecommunications data exchange assets.

Commenting, managing director and group chief executive David Harrison said Australia continues to present a sizable appeal for institutional capital across the property market.

"We are seeing increased allocations from existing institutional investors alongside new domestic and offshore inflows seeking diversified exposures," Harrison said.

"The resilience of unlisted property returns, and inflation hedge characteristics continue to support strong investor demand, with Australia remaining a preferred destination for global capital.

"Our platform scale, disciplined capital deployment and co-investment alignment continues to drive equity flows and sustained earnings growth."

Looking ahead, Harrison said FY26 is set to be the strongest year of capital raising since inception despite recent changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing brought forward in the Federal Budget.

"Across the capital spectrum, we anticipate heightened demand for higher yielding retail, industrial, social infrastructure and office assets, particularly when secured on long lease contracts with fixed and inflation linked annual rental growth," Harrison continued.

"As Australia's largest diversified manager of attractive yielding real estate, active across public and private markets, we see continued growth in capital inflows seeking to partner with the group."

Speaking at the Morningstar Investment Conference 2026 in Sydney, BT Financial Group chief executive Matt Rady noted the role of platforms as a core component of the financial system enabling efficient transition of capital, and it would be dangerous for platforms to shrink options too much.

"The capital system actually requires us a bit like the ASX to enable efficient movement of money and creation of new structures. I think sometimes the regulators just need to have that perspective of just how relevant we are in the overall industry," he said.

AMP group executive of platforms Edwina Maloney said there is also a mistaken view among regulators that you do not need a lot of options for the same assets on a platform.

"We need to educate the regulators around what that choice is designed to provide, and that it is very important to provide optionality and choice," she said.

"You could destroy your Australian share public markets capital issuance here if we push too far down a certain path, and that's not the role of a platform either."

Maloney said the North platform is getting "much sharper" in removing investment options that are not scaling rather than leaving them to linger on the menu. She added the trend historically has been to leave small options to "wither on the vine".

"I think that will stop...we will be culling more regularly what sits on the platform," she said.

While she said AMP is adding options on the platform all the time, it is being more circumspect with how many it adds to ensure there is actual demand for them.

The move follows Janus Henderson's acquisition of the Chicago-based private credit manager in October 2024 and reflects growing investor demand for alternative income and diversification strategies amid heightened market volatility and elevated interest rates.

The two strategies being rolled out across EMEA are the Asset-Backed Opportunistic Credit Strategy and the Legal Credit Strategy.

The asset-backed strategy provides exposure to senior secured, asset-backed loans backed by short duration collateral across areas including receivables-based finance, hard assets and intellectual property.

Meanwhile, the legal credit strategy focuses on structured lending to the legal sector, with financing secure against diversified pools of legal receivables and supported by insurance protections and credit enhancements.

Co-founder and senior partner of Victory Park Capital Brendan Carroll said asset-backed finance offered investors structural protections and shorter duration characteristics at a time when markets continued to navigate "higher-for-longer" rates and macroeconomic uncertainty.

"Legal receivables, likewise, represent a globally established market with return dynamics that are fundamentally uncorrelated with broader macroeconomic cycles" Carroll said.

He added that VPC had spent almost two decades building expertise across specialist areas of asset backed fiancé.

Ignacio De La Maza, head of EMEA and LatAm client group at Janus Henderson noted investor appetite for private markets continued to increase as institutions sought resilient incomes streams and differentiated portfolio exposures.

"By offering access to VPC's specialist capabilities in asset-backed and legal credit, we're responding directly to the growing demand we're seeing from clients for innovative and differentiated private credit solutions," De La Maza said.

Founded in 2007, Victory Park Capital specialises in asset-backed finance and has invested more than US$11.6 billion across over 240 investments spanning sectors including receivables finance, hard assets and intellectual assets.

"When you see one cockroach," he told analysts, "there are probably more."

The cockroach Dimon was referring to was Tricolor Auto Group, an American subprime auto lender and used car retailer that entered liquidation after allegations of pledging the same collateral on multiple loans, costing Chase US$170 million ($236m).

Dimon was warning that the collapse could signal wider problems with the quality of loans across non-bank lending.

More recently Blue Owl Capital - a US listed private credit manager - applied its 5% cap on withdrawals after redemption requests surged on concerns over the value of underlying loans to software companies. Blackstone also froze redemptions after a rise in withdrawal requests.

These episodes have intensified scrutiny across the private credit sector, where funds raise money from investors and then loans to businesses are negotiated between the fund and the borrower directly.

Metrics Credit Partners managing director Andrew Lockhart contends the current rhetoric is designed to create fear among investors against the asset class.

"The asset class is not homogeneous," Lockhart says.

"This idea that all private credit, all private credit managers, all risks and returns are the same is not correct."

While the US private credit players loan to corporate balance sheets for expansion, Lockhart notes most of Australia's private credit is backed by hard real estate assets.

Real estate private credit manager MaxCap's deputy chief executive Kylie Robb says, like much of the world, the evolution of private credit in Australia is driven by a gap left by banks withdrawing from commercial real estate lending.

"The nature of private credit today is responding to that economic need," she says.

Robb notes real estate lending has a completely different risk profile with usually a shorter loan tenure and average maturity of 12 months, giving a natural redemption and forming a defensive part of private credit.

She adds there is no better or worse when it comes to the type of business one lends to - it all comes down to the risk versus the reward the fund is willing to take, with each deal assessed on its own merit.

Lockhart agrees. He notes what tends to happen is investors get seduced by headline return targets that can be similar to those of equities without fully understanding the risk profile attached to it.

Metrics is one of the few funds, he says, that lends across the risk spectrum from investment grade loans to riskier mezzanine debt, adding it's about helping investors understand where they sit in the capital structure.

"I think the whole position here is about how do you create investment products that signal clearly to an investor what the return target is?" Lockhart says.

Last year, Lonsec downgraded two of Metrics' funds on governance concerns - the Metrics Income Opportunities Trust went from 'recommended' to 'investment grade', and Metrics Master Income Trust from 'highly recommended' to 'recommended'.

This was on concerns of restructuring the Metrics Credit Trust (MCT), which involved an asset swap of MCT's interest in BC Group and Taurus in return for an interest in Metrics Credit Holdings.

Zenith Investment Partners, however, did not budge by keeping its view of 'recommended' and 'highly recommended' for both funds respectively.

The other part of the equation is who invests in these funds.

Cbus head of debt and alternatives Linda Cunningham says over the last five years there has been a rise in packaging up and selling private credit funds to retail investors globally, which had traditionally been a playground for bigger institutional and wholesale players.

Investors who expect regular liquidity from an illiquid asset is a classic mismatch, Australian Retirement Trust (ART) general manager of mid-risk assets and UK Michael Weaver says.

"It's no wonder problems get created," he notes.

With major funding coming from institutional investors, Robb refers to a large base of MaxCap's investors as 'patient capital' - they understand investing through the cycle and don't get easily spooked by short-term noise.

ART doesn't expect quarterly liquidity, Weaver says, because it understands the underlying asset and the lending arranged by the manager.

And the $370 billion super fund doesn't like to mix its institutional money with funds that may have retail money in them, he adds.

"That is at least an amber flag for us. Because we don't think that's in our members best financial interest," Weaver says.

Cunningham also notes Cbus will not sit in a vehicle that has retail investors in it.

Lockhart says if Metrics commingles different types of investors in a fund, it must ensure all participants are treated equally. If an institutional player doesn't want to mix their capital with retail investors, the manager is happy to set up a segregated account for the investor and offer a single investor trust.

The rapid growth of private credit as an asset class, introduction of retail money to it as well as limited understanding of the risk profile by this investor base has also heightened regulatory scrutiny.

ASIC's 2025 review concluded private credit is good for the economy, borrowers and investors - but only if done well. While  the $200 billion sector has grown rapidly, it needs improvement and, in some cases, "materially so".

Its review pushed for transparency across the sector on investment strategy, exposures, valuations, risks and fees. It said this would support comparability and informed decision-making by investors. While related party transactions are not inherently problematic, ASIC said, they can be a source of potential misconduct and have adverse outcomes for market efficiency and investor fairness.

Boutique real estate manager Woodbridge Capital managing director Andrew Torrington says at present there is no consistency in disclosures by funds.

"They can show it how they like, fees on page one or page 20. For your average investor, it's impossible to get through them," he says.

Mercer head of wealth management investment solutions Rebecca Jacques says: "We totally understand some of ASIC's concerns."

The asset consultant acts as a matchmaker, vetting private lenders and connecting them with the right capital.

"As you go down into less sophisticated investors that probably haven't read the 65-page fine print of all the documents, then they suddenly get surprised by something that was actually already part of the terms and conditions," Jacques adds.

In September last year ASIC told La Trobe Financial, the $23 billion private credit manager, to stop offering some of its products for three weeks on concerns target market determinations (TMD) did not adequately specify an investment timeframe for retail clients.

"These products are not bank deposits," ASIC said, noting returns are not guaranteed and dependent on future revenue of the assets.

Robb agrees the industry is still too opaque.

"They're trying to increase transparency and clarify what doing well actually looks like to get more consistency across participants," she says.

Cunningham welcomes ASIC's focus on transparency of fee margins, stating Cbus just pays its managers a fee to manage the assets and there is no performance fees on the investments.

"If someone is promising them 3% over on this private credit, if the manager is actually charging the borrower 6%, is that fair? The investor is taking the credit risk, and they are the ones who will lose the money on it," she says.

Torrington says his rule to manage conflicts  of interest is simple: external fund trustee, external fund administrator and external and independent valuations.

With 90% of its private credit investments offshore in the US and Europe in corporate lenders, Weaver says ART manages risk in the portfolio by keeping it extremely diversified by manager and underlying credit.

"You're not really paid for the upside in credit, so diversification is the free lunch," he says.

ASX-listed real estate manager Qualitas group managing director Andrew Schwartz says the loan agreements have tight terms and conditions that set the covenants enabling funds to actively monitor and manage the portfolio.

Beyond the real estate fundamentals, he says for Qualitas the borrower is equally as important.

"We're really big believers in the soul of the person that we're lending to," he adds.

Jacques notes Mercer picks managers that can move through different market cycles.

She says in a downturn distressed and junior debt can offer high rewards but could risk getting locked in on economic recovery, making it important to look at how they are managing a normal economic cycle.

Cunningham adds appointing a manager can take up to 12 months with a focus on the fund's track record as well as a substantial business behind them.

"You don't want to have a key person risk," she says.

If the key person leaves the next day, she stresses it is fundamental to check if the business has the bench strength behind it and a natural person to step into the role.

Another factor to consider is who else is in the syndicate.

"Who will we have to work with if something does go wrong on this asset? Who's the agent, who's the trustee... there'll be transactions where we want to make sure we've got good, like-minded lenders alongside us," Cunningham says.

While things will still go wrong at times, Jacques says one wants managers who don't just throw their hands up when things go wrong and know how to get your money back.

In 2024, Metrics opted to take control of the struggling Pacific Hunter Group now renamed Hunter St. Hospitality - owner of Rockpool Bar and Grill - after it defaulted on debt obligations.

"There is always going to be investment risk. We're not perfect," Lockhart says.

"What people think is that when you take control of a defaulted asset, that you've also lost money. It's not the case."

Lockhart says he would be more concerned if a manager never disclosed taking control of an asset to protect value.

"You'd sit there and say, 'Well, that must be a problem'. You are just not managing the risk," he says.

In contrast, Schwartz says Qualitas is not interested in having problems and having to deal with owning properties in its debt strategy.

At Mercer, it's not a black-and-white approach; it would look at the skill set and heritage of the manager taking over the ownership. Jacques adds Mercer would question how the manager is able to get better returns, if there is concentrated risk, and if there is a core competency in managing the asset.

While Jacques says Mercer considers Metrics a very good real estate debt manager, it chose not to participate in those vehicles that took Rockpool's ownership as it did not see it as an area of core competency.

Both Lockhart and Schwartz agree size matters tremendously in the business.

"Size matters in that you need to have critical mass by way of funds under management so that you don't cut corners in how you really think about loans and how you manage loans," Schwartz says.

He adds it is harder for smaller funds to qualitatively say no to a lot of opportunities as well as afford to have the infrastructure around them to tightly manage their portfolios.

Additionally, Schwartz says, there is no substitute for local knowledge.

"I do think that where potentially people fly in and fly out of the country looking for investments, it's hard for them because they don't know the markets. And real estate is not one market," he notes.

A spokesperson for ASIC says in FY27 the regulator will conduct a data gathering pilot for a small sample of retail and wholesale funds in a bid to calibrate baseline data needs across the sector. It also plans to address areas of poorer practices within wholesale private credit funds.

Torrington says a lot of the money going into private credit is also coming through wealth investors from the adviser channel.

At present, a wholesale investor is someone with net assets of at least $2.5 million or a gross income for each of the previous financial years of at least $250,000 a year.

"They're likely not truly sophisticated investors. They're mum and dad investors putting money in with no protection," Torrington says.

ASIC already recommended the government increase this threshold in 2024, stating individual wealth tests have drastically changed in the last 20 years. In 2025, ASIC reiterated the need for this reform in view of its private market surveillance work.

Looking ahead, Torrington says adviser education will be key.

"They should know what to ask. I'm always saying advisers will fix this long before ASIC," he adds.

While advisers are getting better and blunt with their questions, Torrington says there is still room for improvement.

Going forward, Cunningham predicts retail investors will realise this is not the liquid investment they thought it was, and the private credit premium they were getting a few years ago has probably dissipated a little.

"I think potentially there won't be as much volume of funds under management in the private credit space that is actually sold to retail investors," she notes.

And if there is a retreat of investors, she says, for most good transactions and deals they will be able to go back to either the private market or go to the public markets.

Weaver sees the current noise as a good opportunity for ART to invest more in the space.

He also doesn't see any systematic risks in the software sector in the US. ART has less than 0.5% of its private credit exposure in its largest software related asset, a small portion of the whole fund.

"Because these are cash-flowing businesses, they would need to have a major change before there's any significant impairment to the lender to the asset," he says.

He also notes these concerns are not likely as the whole size of the market in the US is just under US$2 trillion, which is less than half the market capitalisation of some of the largest listed equities globally. Nvidia just by itself has a market capitalisation of US$4.8 trillion.

Cunningham on the other hand sees a gradual wind down of some software businesses in the next 12 to 18 months, which she says will have an impact on private credit.

"Private credit, public credit and private equity are going to get surprises when they find out artificial intelligence can do things they didn't expect it to be able to do for them," she says.

Amid a shortage of housing in Australia, Lockhart says private credit also bridges the financing gap for residential development and a rising interest rate environment can challenge the feasibility of some projects.

Schwartz notes while this would mean higher rates and improved credit spread for private credit players, it is important to account for the negative impact on property values.

"A seasoned lender needs to be careful about the value of their underlying securities and the properties. A good lender with a good track record and with local knowledge really will understand how to navigate that very carefully," he says.

Back in the US, Dimon recently told shareholders in his annual letter that private credit probably doesn't pose systemic risks, in the "grand scheme of things".

"We have not had a credit recession in a long time, and it seems that some people assume it will never happen," he says.

He notes if anything ever goes wrong, one should assume retail investors, even though they were told about some of the risks, will seek remedy in the courts.

But for now, Dimon is still on the lookout for the roaches. fs

Speaking at the Bloomberg Forum for Investment Managers event in Sydney, Warner said as a long-term asset owner time horizon and breadth of the portfolio has worked in Aware Super's favour.

"I'll confess I'm quite surprised that the breadth has worked quite so well," he said.

"We've done nothing, we might do things, but we're going to have to try to see a higher probability of some of these scenarios panning out before we want to move."

He said Aware Super is tracking three channels in which the conflict could translate into changes in the capital market.

The first one he notes is stagflation.

"We don't have a very rich data set in terms of our stress tests. How do you scenario test that?" he questioned.

"How do you create a dashboard of indicators, hopefully leading indicators, alternative data sets, financial market data sets, that you think can inform that scenario to try to give you an early warning indicator?"

Other signs Warner is monitoring include a massive loss in one sector of the market that could cascade through the system, as well as a traditional trading partner shocks.

"We've got forward-looking dashboards...and they flash green or orange at the moment, but it could change at any moment," he said.

"Most of our tactical conversations are around ensuring the portfolio has resilience in both a return and a liquidity point of view, in order to be proactive in the event of stress."

Warner said the investment teams spends time to ensure it can be a buyer or provide liquidity to pockets of the market where it might dry up.

"But proactively selling out risk, I'm not sure we can time it," he said.

In terms of managing complexity in portfolios, Warner said the one principle the super fund follows is being clear on the risk premium and the idiosyncratic risk, which he said is natural for those working in the superannuation industry.

"It's not natural, actually, in many parts of private markets. Still there is a habit to confuse the two either inadvertently or deliberately."

Warner said Aware Super is being very targeted in where it delivers complexity and "it should be able to deliver an idiosyncratic source of risk and an idiosyncratic source of return, but we can't access in a simpler and cheaper way."

Shareholders have requested the resolution, coordinated by Market Forces, be included for consideration at Macquarie's annual general meeting (AGM) to be held on July 23.

Australian Ethical is part of the 160 shareholders on the resolution.

Last year, 35% of shareholders voted for improved climate risk exposure and management.

In its annual report published earlier this month, Macquarie said while it remains committed to the goals of the Paris Accord, its longstanding view remains that a managed "glidepath" to energy transition is the only long-term solution to manage "availability, affordability, and emissions reduction".

"High energy costs, and the accompanying impact on the cost of living, have seen a shift in public policy priorities and greater recognition in recent years that fossil fuels, particularly natural gas, will be required for some time, even as the transition to renewables continues," Macquarie said.

The World Benchmarking Alliance (WBC) gives Macquarie Group an ACT (assessing low-carbon transition) core rating of "D" - unstructured plan execution.

The score indicates that while Macquarie has sufficiently detailed transition planning covering the most material sources of the company's emissions, it does not provide evidence that it is influencing suppliers and investors to reduce upstream greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

WBC said if firms disclosed further information on investments and "consistent emissions time series that demonstrate significant emissions reductions", it would move the company to a higher total score.

Shareholders claim the latest disclosures and financing activity appears inconsistent with accepted science-based pathways to meet the Paris climate goals, substantially decrease reported green-energy exposure, and significantly increase reported fossil fuel exposure.

The resolution stated these developments "call into question the credibility of Macquarie's climate representations and exposes the group to growing climate-related financial risks."

To meet public commitments, the resolution said Macquarie must disclose a clear approach to ensuring its fossil fuel financing activity is consistent with the Paris climate goals.

"MQG appears to be reducing its contribution to the energy transition by retreating from direct green energy investment, which fell 65% over two years to just $700 million in FY26," the resolution read.

Macquarie also said in its annual report climate-related opportunities are not expected to be material in the short-term.

"Over the medium- to long-term, opportunities may emerge; however, these are contingent on a range of external factors, including investor demand and market conditions," Macquarie said.

It added in the long-term the range of possible outcomes become increasingly broad and estimating the financial effects beyond the medium-term "would not be decision-useful".

The Intelligent Investor business, comprising the website and management rights to its four ETFs, will be sold to Teaminvest Private Group (ASX: TIP) for $16 million, which will be above the business' current share price once completed.

The suite includes the Intelligent Investor Select Value Share Fund (ASX: IISV); Intelligent Investor Equity Growth Fund (ASX: IIGF); Intelligent Investor Ethical Share Fund (ASX: INES); and Intelligent Investor Australian Equity Income Fund (ASX: INIF), with combined funds under management (FUM) of $280 million as at 31 March 2026.

Notably, InvestSMART, through InvestSMART Funds Management Limited, will remain the responsible entity.

The transaction is subject to several conditions, including shareholder and regulatory approvals.

Commenting, InvestSMART chief executive Ron Hodge said TIP is well-placed to bring the business forward, as the sale "further strengthens" InvestSMART's balance sheet.

"InvestSMART has spent the last 12 years growing the Intelligent Investor business including issuing four ASX-listed active ETFs and acquiring and integrating Eureka Report," Hodge said.

"TIP has indicated their commitment and focus to grow the newsletter and funds management business, including through the financial adviser market. The TIP funds management business follows the same value investing methodology as Intelligent Investor and will be a perfect fit.

"The sale of Intelligent Investor will allow InvestSMART to focus on growing its wealth advice business through the InvestSMART platform, technology tools for investors with the addition of financial advisers."

TIP chief executive Andrew Coleman said the incoming business will become TIP's retail facing arm, aligned with its existing wholesale and institutional investing education, advice and funds management offerings.

"Intelligent Investor has been the premier retail focused value investing brand for well over 20 years... [it has] cultivated a premier position through consistent, detailed, research: and critically has changed the lives of tens of thousands of Australians," Coleman said.

"We at TIP are excited to work with the wonderful team of analysts, journalists and staff to change the lives of even more Australians through access to quality investing research and commentary.

"We think Intelligent Investor will find a wonderful long-term home in TIP, aligned with our mission of using proprietary, research driven, insights to create better investors and better business people."

More investors are pivoting to emerging markets amid weakened demand for the USD and blue chips like the Magnificent Seven becoming expensive.

At the performance level, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index has delivered about 44% p.a. in the year to April, while the MSCI World returned 28% p.a. Year-to-date, this works out to be 14% p.a. and 5.26% p.a. respectively.

On top of these, J. P. Morgan Asset Management Asia head of investment specialists for emerging markets and Asia-Pacific equities Alexander Treves said there are even more compelling reasons to invest outside of developed markets.

"The USD has historically been a safe haven from risk. People are reassessing some of that to some extent, because, already, it's such a well-held asset class. Already, USD equities are expensive. Already, there's been a lot of flow into them, and so when we see geopolitical events and concerns emanating out of the US, that's causing people to look to the East right now," he told the annual Stockbrokers and Investment Advisers Association (SIAA) Conference.

"People I speak to, having had a lot of USD exposure, now think, 'Maybe at the margin, my next dollar should be invested in another part of the world, maybe a faster-growth part of the world, or a cheaper part of the world, or a less risky part of the world'," he said.

Emerging markets are synonymous with significant demographic shifts that underpin consumption and consumer confidence.

But it is the innovation piece in emerging markets, Treves noted, taking shape.

"It's emerging markets companies selling things, innovating, generating value and running businesses with high barriers to entry. That's much more exciting to me. So, the fact that technology is a big part of emerging markets now is something to celebrate, because it shows that we've got a higher quality opportunity set," he said.

Echoing this rhetoric, Platinum portfolio manager of Asia strategies Cameron Robertson pointed to Korea and Taiwan.

"The world's chips used in all these AI data centres come out of those markets. Electrical infrastructures going into data centre builds also come from there," Robertson said.

More vulnerable to the oil and energy crisis, on the other hand, Southeast Asian countries, like the Philippines, experienced massive sell-offs.

"These [selloffs] are quite big moves, but there are always some more subtle themes that are playing throughout the region," he said.

"When you think about some of the risks that are coming through, like the Iran war, what's the solution to that? Sometimes the solution also sits in Asia, because of the innovation there. The world's biggest battery company, Chinese business CATL, is seeing increased orders for energy storage solutions for the grid."

When assessing the quality of governance of emerging markets companies and the regulatory environment they operate in, Treves said this requires work and due diligence, taking into account the wide range of governments in emerging markets.

"Governments play different roles in different markets in our part of the world. The Chinese government is obviously much more interventionist in capital markets, and we play the case in some other places. Sometimes that causes issues, sometimes it's actually a tailwind.

"China's ability to build that infrastructure and get stuff done is directly correlated to the role the government plays there," Treves said, adding that, ultimately, it comes down to a stock-by-stock basis.

Robertson added, "governance can make huge impacts to returns," highlighting the case of South Korea's and Japan's corporate governance improvements.

"When you don't have some of those regulatory backstops, which in many emerging markets you don't have, a lot of it comes down to the quality of the individuals and teams that you're backing and their ethical moral compass, which sits on a scale," Robertson said.

"So, you have to incorporate that in what you're willing to pay."

Financial Standard is the official media partner of the 2026 SIAA Conference.

This builds on the first tranche of reforms introduced in 2024.

The changes will set a new performance target to decide all low-risk applications within 30 days from the beginning of next year. It will also update and remove ineffective conditions on existing foreign investment approvals.

The government will amend the foreign investment laws to expand exemption certificates to reduce regulatory burden on low-risk investments by frequent low-risk investors.

The changes will eliminate approval requirements for some low-risk transactions, ensure more agile compliance and enforcement powers to better respond to non-compliance and increase screening requirements for targeted investments to better protect more sensitive sectors.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the second round of foreign investment reforms is about making improvements so the regime is stronger where risks are high and faster where risks are low.

"These reforms will increase certainty for investors and will lead to faster and fewer approvals, reduced regulatory burden, and improved tools to address high-risk investment," Chalmers said.

He added foreign investment is crucial to Australia's prosperity and the government is committed to ensuring it is in Australia's national interest as well.

"We are strengthening and streamlining Australia's foreign investment system to attract investment that drives economic growth, creates skilled jobs, and lifts competition and innovation."

Last year Treasury released a discussion paper for feedback to further streamline and strengthen the foreign investment framework.

It said the reforms will seek to ensure Australia remains an attractive destination for global capital, while managing new and evolving risks to the national interest and security in an "increasingly challenging" international environment.

The Australian unit trust, now registered for sale to wholesale investors and advised clients, aims to deliver long term returns through a diversified portfolio of global equities incorporating both fundamental and ESG considerations.

The launch marks Federated Hermes' second wholesale fund introduced to the Australian market this year, following the February rollout of its Global Trade Finance Fund. The firm already has a sizeable institutional footprint locally though its stewardship arm, EOS at Federated Hermes, which advises on approximately US$2.3 trillion (AU$3.38 trillion) in assets globally. This includes mandates linked to several of Australia's largest superannuation funds.

Benchmarking against MSCI World ex Australia Index, the strategy will typically hold between 250 and 500 stocks selected through a systematic and data driven investment process supported by fundamental oversight from the portfolio management team.

The strategy also integrates a proprietary ESG framework incorporating engagement insights from EOS, alongside Federated Hermes; multi factor risk model, MultiFRAME, which is used to manage portfolio risk and balance exposures across the portfolio.

Geir Lode, who leads the global equities team and serves a lead portfolio manager for the strategy, said heightened macroeconomic volatility continues to create opportunities across global markets.

"Our disciplined, risk aware approach aims to identify resilient businesses that look attractive across multiple dimensions and avoid material weaknesses, while controlling risk and maintaining balanced exposures," Lode said.

The strategy has been managed since 2007 and oversees approximately US $5.8 billion in assets globally.

Associate director of business development Liz White said the launch reflects growing demand among Australian wholesale investors for broader global diversification beyond domestic equities.

The new business will provide advisers with access to margin lending services supported by dedicated account manages, while allowing clients to retain trading arrangements with their existing or preferred stockbrokers. Advisers and investors will also be able to monitor lending arrangements through a dedicated portal.

The launch comes as demand for margin lending rebounds. According to Reserve Bank of Australia data cited by the firm, the value of margin loans increased to about $16.8 billion in December 2025, up from just over $15 billion three months earlier.

Chris Fox, manager director of Bell Potter Capital said gearing strategies are becoming increasingly relevant for investors seeking flexibility and diversification.

"Borrowing funds to increase your investing capacity can be a powerful wealth creation tool. Gearing to buy equities can provide greater flexibility, liquidity and diversification," Fox said.

He added proposed Federal Budget taxation changes could further increase investor interest in margin lending strategies.

Fox said Tandem Capital was developed to help advisers broaden their service offering without disrupting existing broker relationships.

"Bell Financial Group has worked with advisers for over 50 years, so we understand the need for flexibility and efficiency," he said.

The launch also expands Bell Financial Group's broader Tandem offering, which includes Tandem Securities and Tandem Clearing.

Fox said the addition strengthens the group's ability to provide financial advice firms with either end-to-end or tailored solutions designed to complement their existing client propositions.

Founded in 1970, Bell Financial Group has approximately $92.1 billion in funds under advice and services more than 600,000 clients across institutional, wholesale, advised and retail channels.

At the annual conference in Melbourne on day one, SIAA chief executive Maria Lykouras unveiled the association's new vision: "building prosperity for Australian investors" - a shift from "serving the interests of investors."

"I believe this change makes our industry's role in the lives of our clients clearer and more ambitious," said Lykouras, who was appointed to the top job last December.

"Our purpose is to champion and advocate for a dynamic, inclusive and future-focused industry, empowering smart decisions by Australian investors. We've been very specific about every word that you see in that purpose.

"We wanted to be clear to our members in the market what our role is, and we want to call out how we are focusing on the changing dynamics, such as technology and client behaviours for the future."

The association is driving home several strategic imperatives: advocacy, lifting industry capability through knowledge and education, effective member collaboration and engagement, professionalism, and raising awareness to promote the value of the industry to the broader community.

"We are an incredible profession to be a part of, so we want to attract, retain and advance a diverse profession that is representative of our community and awareness. We will continue to promote the value of this industry to the broader community to support these strategic imperatives," she said.

"We're going to deepen even further our relationships with government and regulators."

In the last 12 months, SIAA has launched 13 public policy submissions and attended 127 government meetings.

Among other initiatives, SIAA helped secure recognition for reform to adviser education standards to rebuild the pipeline of professionals, prevented increases to wholesale investor thresholds and engaged closely with ASX on its CHESS replacement project.

"We're going to be proactive in our positions to lead government, regulatory, and market change where it's needed. Our board had a very significant discussion yesterday about how we're going to start leaning into this industry further to see how we can drive change more broadly," Lykouras said.

Financial Standard is the official media partner of the 2026 SIAA Conference.

Speaking at the Financial Standard Advisers Big Day Out (ABDO) in Sydney, Simpson said the asset class has attractive valuations and has been a good income generator for underlying clients.

Simpson added the fund manager sees significant value in emerging market bonds when assessing real yields, which measure the returns earned after accounting for projected inflation.

According to Colchester, emerging market bonds prospective real yield came in at 2.85% at end of February.

"You look where it is now - it's not the cheapest it's ever been - but compared to history, it does to us, look relatively attractive," Simpson said.

He added while not all countries have shown resilience, select emerging markets have increasingly resilient economies that have not been fully repriced.

Colchester's investment opportunity set includes names like Taiwan and South Korean with AA credit rating; China and Malaysia with A credit rating; India and Mexico with BBB credit rating and countries like Brazil and Turkey with BB credit rating.

Simpson said these countries have been able to get good credit ratings on the back of decent economic policies such as inflation targeting and strong fiscal rules since the global financial crisis.

However, he also flagged event risks when looking at the asset class.

"Even though there has been things that have gone wrong you've got reasonable returns over time," he said.

"It doesn't mean you get a positive return all the time. I'm not promising that, but at real times, historically, it's tending to do okay."

Simpson, however, noted if the Strait of Hormuz stays shut for a long period of time, emerging markets probably aren't the place to be.

"But neither is any other risk asset that I could think of because it will be a really, really big problem," he said.

The Colchester Emerging Markets Bond Fund has provided an annual return of 5.66% on average since inception to end of January.

Speaking at the Financial Standard Advisers Big Day Out (ABDO) in Sydney, Bennett said the fund manager is using the data sets to drive better return and risk outcomes in their portfolios.

"While the fundamentals of investing are relatively straightforward and simple, we do think you can gain a slight edge by using some of the more interesting data sets and compute power that we now have available relative to what we had 20 years ago," he said.

Bennett said Invesco has recently started looking at credit card data to evaluate a company's earning momentum and sentiment.

Rather than waiting quarterly to get information on key metrics like company sales, Invesco is assessing credit card transactions data that happen every day globally.

"The ability to not have to wait means we can actually get a slight edge on the market but it also allows us to effectively get a better predictor of what those earnings announcements will be ahead of them," he said.

Another way Invesco is trying to get an edge is by comparing what the management says on the day to what they have said in the past.

"It's not so much what they're saying in their scripted comments but we like to measure the tone of how the actual Q and A session is going, so when management is talking to sell side analysts," he said.

"We track every single manager for every company around the world, so whether they were working at BHP and then switched over to Rio or whether they were working at NAB and now they're working at ANZ. We effectively track their career and their history, and we track everything that they've ever said in history over time."

Bennett said they do the same for sell side analysts, as the tone of their questions can help determine the sentiment.

"The sell side analyst is probably where we get more insight than from the management, because we track every single analyst and we can measure the questions they're asking a particular company relative to questions they've asked other companies around the same time," Bennett said.

However, he said strong compute power and scalability is required to process these large data sets over time.

Bennett also said an investor must have an economic intuition when looking at any of the data that comes in. He gives the example of Glassdoor data.

While the initial proposition with the Glassdoor data set was that if a company has a lot of positive ratings from employees, that will likely mean it's a positive company with a good culture and will provide positive returns. Bennett contends the data shows something completely opposite.

"The worse your Glassdoor rating was, the better your share price performance was," he said, noting the narrative was the company mistreats their employees because they are rewarding their shareholders.

"That's the type of data set that we're very, very skeptical of and doesn't hold a lot of economic intuition. Interesting data set, but not really useful for how would you actually go about building a long term fundamental portfolio," he said.