Brian Bissaker, Colonial First State’s chief executive, has been “made redundant” after a decade of service at the $59-billion asset manager. “I have decided to separate the advice and Colonial First State businesses, and have both of these leadership roles report directly to me,” says Annabel Spring, group executive of wealth management at Colonial’s parent Commonwealth Bank of Australia, in a statement. Colonial declined to comment further on the departure of Bissaker, who joined the company in 2002 and was appointed CEO in 2006. Marianne Perkovic, who worked at Count [...]

Victorian Funds Management Corporation, the fund for the state’s public authorities, increased its funds under management by $1.8 billion to $36.8 billion in the three months to March 31 after its stock, infrastructure and bond investments all performed well. The Melbourne-based fund said in a statement that half its assets are invested in shares in Australia and abroad.  Such investments performed better than benchmark measurements. VFMC’s Australian equities portfolio rose 9.9 per cent compared with a benchmark of 8.6 per cent in the first quarter this year. The fund’s international [...]

Australia’s budget was a disappointment for asset managers, according to the Financial Services Council (FSC). The government disagrees, saying its policies have improved fairness, sustainability and efficiency in superannuation. Asset managers, like many who run companies, expected a tax cut in the budget, says Martin Codina, director of policy at the FSC. The lack of a tax cut and an increase in the final withholding tax on income to 15 per cent from 7.5 per cent, which mostly applies to property and infrastructure investors, may damage the prospects of potential [...]

Franklin Templeton Investments Australia Ltd. has hired Joe Marassa as head of marketing. Marassa joined the company last month and is working from Templeton’s Sydney office. He previously worked at Colonial First State and ING Investment Management where he was head of marketing. “This appointment is another important step in our broader plans to expand distribution and market efforts,” says Franklin Templeton’s Australian managing director Maria Wilton, in a statement. The company has hired 11 people this year to make investments, distribute Templeton products and manage its operations. In Australia [...]

In 1993 Northern Trust’s Steven Fradkin was looking for office space in Sydney. He liked the potential growth of Australia’s mandated-pension-fund market, but wasn’t certain that custodians could meet the demands of Australian tax and foreign investment-fund reporting in a quality way. “The market has always been attractive,” says Fradkin. “It is a more complex market because of the tax environment.” Northern Trust decided not to open a Sydney office 19 years ago and would not have an Australian office until 2007, when it snagged perhaps the most prestigious custody [...]

Perennial Value Management Ltd., the $19 billion-asset manager, has hired Sam Berridge as a resources analyst concentrating on researching small mining companies. Berridge is part of a Perennial Value Small Companies team and started work at the company on April 30, a statement says. He was previously a metals and mining analyst at Royal Bank of Scotland in Sydney. The holder of a Bachelor of Science degree specialising in geology and chemistry from the University of Western Australia, Berridge worked in the mining sector in Australia and West Africa.

Tora, the software trading platform, says hedge funds want integrated trading solutions that incorporate risk and compliance amid a backdrop of new investment products and regulatory change. Robert Dykes, Tora’s chief executive, says changes in market structures in Asia means that many asset managers are recognising the need to have their personnel based in the different markets they wish to trade. “There is a need to have local expertise,” says Dykes. “I expect assets under management to grow in Asia at the expense of Europe and to some extent the [...]

BlackRock Inc., the world’s largest asset manager, does not expect markets to return to low volatile, highly liquid conditions that characterised markets before 2008. “Portfolios today must be more dynamic and more diverse than ever before,” says Michael McCorry, head of BlackRock’s Australian scientific active equities business in a statement. “It is unlikely we will see a return to the highly liquid, low volatility market conditions experienced before the global financial crises.” Volatility in markets was extremely low in 2005, 2006 and the early part of 2007, McCorry says. BlackRock [...]

Wealth advisers, compliance and risk management departments at financial companies are expected to continue to hire amid muted demand for banking and financial services workers in the second quarter, a report from recruitment consultants Robert Walter says. Struggling European markets, higher funding costs and a cautious recruitment approach by companies is dampening hiring, according to Robert Walter. However the company’s report forecasts more financial services jobs being advertised in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, and that financial planners are still in demand. The compliance and risk jobs that may be available [...]

Pierre Jond, the man in charge of BNP Paribas’ custody business in Australia, confidently predicted this year there will be “good news” for his bank in winning new business. The statement by AvSuper that the $1.25 billion fund has chosen the French bank as its new custodian is good news, even if the modest size of AvSuper will do little to help attain Jond’s goal of improving BNP’s ranking among custodians in Australia from third place. But at least Jond’s team is improving BNP’s market share. National Australia Bank is [...]

Since Vimal Gor, head of income and fixed interest at BT Investment Management, came to live in Australia he has not experienced a good summer. “There’s been lots of bad winters as well,” says the former London resident. On his 40th birthday Gor had to change into a dry suit in the office after getting soaked in a Sydney rainstorm. At BT Gor has sought a downpour of investor interest in his bond funds by characterising the philosophy of his seven-member team as the “most defensive fixed-income manager in Australia”. [...]