Super trustees urged to improve target market determinations
ASIC is calling on superannuation trustees to review and if necessary improve the effectiveness of target market determinations (TMD) for their products, after a sample review of trustee compliance found some poor practices. TMDs are an important requirement for all financial products under the new design and distribution obligations (DDOs). A TMD is a mandatory…
Institutional investors bullish on China market
In early 1990s, Principal Financial Group (PFG), an American global financial investment management and insurance company, set up its representative office in Beijing, together with many other international financial institutions drawn to China in search of business opportunities. Since then, PFG has maintained a strategic cooperative relationship with China Construction Bank (CCB). In 2005, they…
Port of Geelong acquisition cancelled
The Spirit Super and Palisade Investment Partners Consortium (the Consortium) has withdrawn its request for merger clearance from the ACCC for its proposed acquisition of the Port of Geelong. The ACCC recently informed the Consortium that it continued to hold preliminary competition concerns needing more time to investigate and the Consortium subsequently decided to not…
Making Australia’s new homes more liveable
Federal, state and territory building ministers have agreed on a series of sweeping national reforms that will ensure that new homes in Australia will be more comfortable, liveable, accessible and energy efficient. Industry Minister Ed Husic chaired his first Building Ministers’ Meeting on Friday afternoon, where ministers agreed to changes to the National Construction Code…
Software sector sees robust revenue growth
China’s software industry reported a 10.3 percent increase in business revenues in the first seven months of the year, according to official data. Revenues totaled 5.46 trillion yuan (about 796.66 billion U.S. dollars) from January to July, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows. Companies in the sector raked in 569.8 billion…
Federal Court penalises MobiSuper and ZIB Financial
The Federal Court has ordered MobiSuper Pty Limited (MobiSuper) and MobiSuper’s financial services licensee, ZIB Financial Pty Limited (ZIB), to pay combined penalties of $250,000 for failures surrounding promotion of the MobiSuper Fund. ASIC Deputy Chair Sarah Court said, ‘Superannuation is important for the future financial security of Australians. It is essential that consumers, when…
CommSec morning report Monday
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell noted in a speech to the Jackson Hole central bank symposium: “Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time.” And further: “The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy.” In US economic data, personal income rose by 0.2% in July (survey: +0.6%)…
Keep liquid and embrace volatility
A challenging macroeconomic backdrop of rising inflation and interest rates has tested investor patience over 2022 and more recent recession fears have done little to help. We asked portfolio managers Anthony Aboud and Sean Roger how a bottom-up stock picker goes about adding value when the broader market is so dominated by macro themes. Twelve…
Many jobs summit ideas for wages don’t make sense
Treasury’s issues paper for the jobs summit says fair pay and job security “strengthen communities, promote attractive careers and contribute to broad-based prosperity”. But it notes “many Australians have not experienced real wage gains”. It says real (inflation-adjusted) wages have grown by only 0.1% per year over the past decade and have declined substantially over…
Retirement planning? Even multimillionaires can run out of money
Once upon a time in the U.S., not long ago, the “4% rule” was a reasonable (albeit very general) rule of thumb for everyone (including the wealthy) planning their retirement. You probably could expect to spend around 4% of your assets annually and be unlikely to run out of money during the rest of your…
