Market Narratives

All views expressed on this podcast are subject to change and do not necessarily reflect the views of Conexus Financial. This podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice.

All views expressed on this podcast are subject to change and do not necessarily reflect the views of Conexus Financial. This podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice.

All views expressed on this podcast are subject to change and do not necessarily reflect the views of Conexus Financial. This podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice.

All views expressed on this podcast are subject to change and do not necessarily reflect the views of Conexus Financial. This podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice.

All views expressed on this podcast are subject to change and do not necessarily reflect the views of Conexus Financial. This podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice.

All views expressed on this podcast are subject to change and do not necessarily reflect the views of Conexus Financial. This podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice.

All views expressed on this podcast are subject to change and do not necessarily reflect the views of Conexus Financial. This podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice.

All views expressed on this podcast are subject to change and do not necessarily reflect the views of Conexus Financial. This podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice.

All views expressed on this podcast are subject to change and do not necessarily reflect the views of Conexus Financial. This podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice.

All views expressed on this podcast are subject to change and do not necessarily reflect the views of Conexus Financial. This podcast is for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as investment advice.

Denise Hearn writes, presents, and consults on economic justice and human flourishing. She is co-author of The Myth of Capitalism: Monopolies and the Death of Competition - named one of the Financial Times' Best Books of 2018 and endorsed by two Nobel Prize winners. Denise has presented to over 50,000 people at venues including the Oxford Union, Bloomberg, a Canadian Parliamentary Standing Committ...

Joe manages a range of consulting assignments across Asia-Pacific. He works with clients to identify and mitigate risks to their investments, strategies and operations across the region, providing advice in areas including business intelligence, enhanced due diligence, dispute/litigation support, anti-bribery and anti-corruption consulting, and forensic investigations. He has particular experience...

This conversation discusses the questions that super funds need to consider as the start the journey of internalisation. The episode covers the articulation of the benefits to the board and/or investment committee beyond solely the long-term cost reduction from fee savings, the build-up of in-house investment expertise, and the integrated roadmap that considers the operating model, people, process...

Damian oversees the implementation of First State Super’s investment strategy and a team of investment specialists who manage investment portfolios across all asset classes. This conversation covers fiduciary duty, ESG risk management, metrics and impact, company engagement, climate and energy targets and their implications for portfolio construction. Note: First State Super will change its brand...

This conversation discusses the disconnect between the FAANGs and the international equity markets, the impact of the central banks, thematic investing, tactical and strategic asset allocation, building an internal investment team, where external managers are used, tail hedging, governance challenges, first principles and fiduciary duty, and what role super should play in nation-building.  ---- Un...

John was the Chief Executive of the Grattan Institute for eleven years. He has published extensively on economic reform priorities, budget policy, tax reform, housing affordability, and generational inequality. This work is underpinned by themes of prioritising government initiatives, and the limits to government effectiveness. John graduated from the University of Oxford in 1999 with a DPhil in p...

This conversation discusses the monetary framework alongside the macroeconomic environment, the notion of interest rates have been manipulated by central banks, convexity in fixed income, the defensiveness of fixed interest and real assets, the opportunity cost of cash,  optionality via options in a volatility market, why factor exposures are not preferred and the role of gold in portfolios.  

This conversation discusses digital transformation re people and technology, the speed of evolution/interdependence of systems, the challenges of big data for organisations, what can we measure and can we attain a complete sense of data, Nora Bateson's work on "warm data", AI’s ability to detect problems but not contextualise or understand its bias, and the significant challenges with ESG data.  -...

This episode discusses the disconnect between the economy and the equity markets, the changing relationship between valuations and future returns, the importance of tactical allocations in this environment, determining market expectations, finding diversification in a world driven by central bank policy, and commodities as a hedge against systemic risk.  

This episode discusses what differentiates a family office from a typical institutional investor, challenging the old adage of a family office to not lose money, where to focus limited resources, being opportunistic, the power of the network, how behavioural aspects impact risk tolerance, FX considerations, illiquidity preference and will there be a golden wave of private equity opportunities.  

This episode discusses the A-share, H-share and ADRs, relative value opportunities between onshore and offshore equity markets, correlation and volatility, the comparative strategies of growth, quality and value, management fees, the degradation of alpha, and the continuing challenge with ESG, data and transparency when investing in China.  

This episode discusses the Wirecard fraud, the cult of the CEO, due diligence in a Zoom world, the importance of desk work and insights from fieldwork, conflicts of interests when asset managers become partners and avoiding greenwashing in ESG.  This article is based on the following article: https://www.investmentmagazine.com.au/2020/06/the-power-of-the-eyes-and-finding-fraudulent-actors/

This episode discusses the systemic risks that the coronavirus has uncovered in Australia and steps to build a stronger Australia post-COVID.  This article is based on the following article: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/may/05/here-are-10-steps-to-build-a-stronger-australia-after-coronavirus

The conversation covered:  Are super funds set up to deliver real long term performance? Moreover, how will scale impact their decision-making?  Is there anything that we can learn from the great investors of the past that could apply to super funds?  How to blend the competing forces of business and art? Why relative performance is a fool's game? Why is doing nothing not good enough? How to balan...

In Episode 36, I discuss with Anastassia Juventin, portfolio manager at AMP Capital about their hedge fund and alternatives portfolio restructure, the dispersion of manager returns, does alt risk premia still make sense, the challenge of VOL targeting and liquidity requirements.