LOANS NEWS AND GUIDES » funds

Trio Capital Funds Wound Up By Administrator

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 06:34:37 +0000

A group of managed investment and superannuation funds with $260 million in assets, once run by bankrupt investment company Trio Capital are to be closed down. The six investment funds which include the Astarra Startegic Fund, a fund which invested $118 million in an opaque company registered in the British Virgin Islands, are being forced to wind themselves up following action by the administrator of Trio, PPB. The administrator said it felt it had to wind up the funds after confirming the existence of investments made by the Astarra Strategic Fund and the ARP Growth Fund in companies based in the secretive tax haven. ARP held much of its $59 million of assets in the British Virgin Islands company.

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Trio Capital Funds Wound Up By Administrator

Mortgage Funds To Remain Frozen

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:00:05 +0000

Mortgage fund investors may be required to wait as many as four years for access to cash held in frozen investments. Investor group Light of day believes that as few as half a dozen of Australia’s over 200 mortgage funds will resume redemptions during the next 18 months, and most will only allow them on a highly restricted basis. The majority of investors however, will be required to wait a few years before being allowed access to their principal, because managers continue to be afraid that a resumption in redemptions would result in a run. “A handful of funds could be reopened to redemptions in the next 18 months if they can sell a property or two, but it will remain a very difficult situation,” Light of Day managing director Owen Lennie said. Mr. Lennie said that the reluctance of banks to lend to business following the global financial crisis has meant that even if there were potential buyers of properties, financing was not available. In October 2008, unlisted funds, which manage $25 billion in assets of 240,000 investors fell in to crisis, after the federal government announced measures which included guarantees of bank deposits of up to $1 million

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Mortgage Funds To Remain Frozen

Australian Investors Swarm Towards Precious Metal ETF’s

Wed, 20 Jan 2010 05:36:44 +0000

Investors are swarming to exchange traded funds that invest in precious metals such as platinum and palladium. The precious metal ETF’s have become popular because of the perception they carry as being a store of value and their relevance to cyclical global industry. The ETF’s purchase the metals on the open market and then proceed to store their stock waiting for the price to appreciate.

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Australian Investors Swarm Towards Precious Metal ETF’s

Perpetual Says Pace Of Mortgage Fund Redemptions Declining

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 04:19:48 +0000

Leading Australian asset manager Perpetual says the rush by investors to redeem investments in its mortgage funds significantly declined during the September quarter as investor fear subsided slowing the pace of their conversion into federally backed deposits. Simultaneously Perpetual said it enabled investors who wanted to redeem their assets, to withdraw the vast majority of funds. The redemption value during the quarter ending September declined by $100 million compared with the quarter ending June, according to a statement released by Perpetual on Tuesday. Perpetual currently manages approximately $1.7 billion in mortgage fund assets following a decline from over $2 billion prior to the government enacting a federal guarantee of all deposits in October last year. “It’s been quite a material decline.

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Perpetual Says Pace Of Mortgage Fund Redemptions Declining

Super Funds Record First Decline in Eight Months

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:09:09 +0000

October was the first month of negative returns for superannuation (super) funds, after seven consecutive months of gains, which is the first suggestion that the recovery in the pension fund industry may be faltering. Independent research firm Chant West released new data on Tuesday showing that the median fund showed a negative return of 1.2 per cent during October, following seven straight months of gains, after equities and listed property trusts saw their valuations decline

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Super Funds Record First Decline in Eight Months

Wall Street Profiting From Homeowners Again

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:54:28 +0000

As millions of Americans struggle to hold on to their homes, Wall Street has found a way to make money from the mortgage mess. Investment funds are buying billions of dollars’ worth of home loans, discounted from the loans’ original value. Then, in what might seem an act of charity, the funds are helping homeowners by

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Wall Street Profiting From Homeowners Again

AMP Chief Says Government Should Increase Mandatory Superannuation Contributions

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:15:00 +0000

Craig Dunn, chief executive of Australian wealth management company AMP has raised the temperature of its bid to acquire AXA Asia Pacific Holdings (APH), by saying the market likes the prospect of a deal and wants the target to continue negotiations for a transaction. AMP also said it would increase the value of superannuation contributions made by the company on behalf of its staff. AMP says it intends to increase superannuation contributions from the current mandatory 9 per cent, to 12 per cent over the next half decade. Speaking at a business conference, Mr. Dunn said that AMP thought that there was reason for Australia to start looking at a broader increase for all Australian workers.

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AMP Chief Says Government Should Increase Mandatory Superannuation Contributions

Super Funds Continue To Record Impressive Gains

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:51:17 +0000

Australian superannuation (super) funds have continue to record impressive gains over the last quarter, returning their levels to that of pre financial crisis according to new research. On Wednesday, research firm SuperRatings released research showing that the average balanced Super Fund recorded a 9.27 per cent gain in the quarter ending September, producing a total gain of just over 17 per cent since March. “Never have we seen super funds jump so quickly, with the median one year rolling return on balanced options set to return to positive territory in October despite hovering around minus 20 per cent just seven months ago,” SuperRatings said. Chant West, another research firm, released data saying that super funds achieved 9.9 per cent growth for the quarter ending September. Balanced funds allocate about 60 to 76 per cent of their holdings to growth assets, whilst growth funds allocate between 60 to 80 per cent

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Super Funds Continue To Record Impressive Gains

ANZ To Introduce Dedicate Retirement Bankers Across All Branches

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 04:55:38 +0000

Australian banking major ANZ is training up its staff to enable it to offer specialist retirement bankers stationed across all its 820 nationwide branches by the middle of 2010. The policy is as a result of the successful implementation of a pilot project last year in branches located along the eastern seaboard, which saw the introduction of retirement bankers in over 220 branches

Super Funds Claw Back Losses, Record Fifth Consecutive Month of Gains

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:45:40 +0000

Superannuation (super) funds recorded their fifth consecutive month of gains in July, clawing back some of the losses caused by the global credit crisis over the last two years ,according to a report issued by a research firm. On Monday research firm SuperRatings issued a report stating that the median balanced option fund returned 3.62 per cent in July. “This is a strong positive result for superannuants as their account balances slowly start to recover the losses that have previously been suffered,” SuperRatings said in a statement. Super Funds lost 8.64 per cent in the year ending July 31st as global equity markets felt the full brunt of the financial crisis. During the five year period ending July 3st however, Super Funds have returned 5 per cent annually. During that time frame, the best performing balanced fund was the OSF Super which returned 6.8 per cent a year, followed by the Catholic Super and the Buss (Q) which both produced a 6.7 per cent return each. The research firm re-iterated the stance taken by the independent private research industry, and said that data released by Australian Prudential Regulation Authority’s (APRA) which provided performance information, would not be useful for investors trying to gauge investment performance

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Super Funds Claw Back Losses, Record Fifth Consecutive Month of Gains