Asset consultants influence to grow amid industry changeBY MARK SMITH | FRIDAY, 16 NOV 2012 11:10AMDespite pressure on fees from a consolidating super industry, a combination of regulatory reform, increasing demand for less conventional assets and a rise in the amount of money going into super savings will magnify fund managers over-dependence on asset consultants. |
Editor's Choice
Federal Court lifts Merhi's travel ban
|Former financial adviser Ferras Merhi is now free to travel as the Federal Court lifted travel restraint orders imposed one year ago.
Hostplus delivers double-digit FY26 returns
|Hostplus Balanced (MySuper) option delivered members 10.8% for the financial year 2025-26, while the Indexed Balanced option and the High Growth option returned members 11.06% and 12.61% respectively.
ASIC levy estimates jump 19% as regulator ramps up funding
|ASIC has lifted its estimated industry funding levy by almost 20% for 2025-26, with regulated entities expected to shoulder $400.5 million in regulatory costs as the corporate watchdog expands its supervision and enforcement activities.
GQG bleeds over US$7bn in FUM in June
|Despite recording positive investment performance, GQG Partners observed a significant outflow, with net outflows of $4.62 billion recorded in the month of June, as FUM slipped to $225 billion at June end, compared to $235.5 billion in the month prior.
Products
Expert Feed
When geopolitics becomes a portfolio risk
Geopolitics is back - again - and Australian investors can no longer treat it as distant background noise.
Does association membership still matter?
With all the changes the advice sector has experienced in recent years, such as regulatory reform and increased education and professional standards ...
Digital assets and where they stand in 2026
So far in 2026 digital assets have captured the headlines largely for the wrong reasons, but that doesn't tell the full story.
Rethinking default design in a changing market environment
The evolution underway in the US DC system highlights the value of periodically reassessing default design assumptions.
Featured Profile
Blake Briggs
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
FINANCIAL SERVICES COUNCIL
FINANCIAL SERVICES COUNCIL
Since becoming chief executive, Blake Briggs has renewed the Financial Services Council's influence, expanded the membership base, and strengthened its policy and advocacy credentials. Karren Vergara writes.
How else do you explain that in markets which abound with opportunities returns are low and often about index, simply its because most managers are Index Managers and they are often taking fees for services they are not providing. Everyone happily sledges the Hedge Funds but at least you know you wont have a low tracking error. How can an Asset Consultant recommend a trading fund that has a low tracking error , because they do. Either they don't understand the maths or they simply like the big is beautiful mantra and neither generates above index returns.
Asset Consulting actually requires a reasonable amount of mathematical ability yet very few AC 's have the intellectual capital that can handle the maths required.