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Australian retail investors are at a distinct disadvantage in the bond market. Credit ratings are an important indication of the perceived future risk of an investment, but brokers are not able to show them to retail investors because of a quirky ASIC ruling. The credit rating agencies refused to pay higher...

T he Australian ETF industry continues to grow strongly, with Quarter 1, 2019 cash flows reaching $1864 million, and returns bouncing back from December lows, according to the latest figures released yesterday by the Australian Securities Exchange. While international equity ETFs continue to receive the strongest cash flows quarter on quarter,...

Think of the last time you made a large purchase, such as a car, house, or even a TV. You would have compared products before you made your decision. In the investment world, bond yields are used as a key comparison in the valuation process for many different assets and...

Professional fixed income investors are increasingly turning their attention to emerging markets as they chase more attractive yields and greater diversification, according a new survey by Invesco. The third annual Invesco Global Fixed Income Study captures the views 159 CIOs and fixed income asset owners globally with combined AUM totalling...

The Federal Government has launched an inquiry to investigate ways to expand the corporate bond market in Australia and provide mum and dad investors with easier, cheaper access to debt securities. The Committee will consider the tax treatment of corporate bonds as well as the Corporations Act 2001 to determine...

Today marks the official launch of a new Australian based fund manager - Fortlake Asset Management. Fortlake brings together some of the best investment minds in Australia – brain child of ex UBS executive Christian Baylis and supported by “Australia’s Warren Buffet”, investor Alex Waislitz, as a major shareholder, together...

Leading non-bank lender Firstmac has completed a $1.4 billion RMBS issue – its largest ever public trade – within days of passing the milestone of $11 billion in loans under management. Managing Director Kim Cannon said a total of 25 institutions had invested in the oversubscribed issue, which was more...

FlexiGroup Limited (ASX: FXL) ( has announced the pricing of A$265m asset-backed securities (“ABS”), supported by a pool of unsecured, consumer receivables originated in Australia under its rebranded Buy Now Pay Later offering - humm. Flexigroup is a regular ABS issuer and has been executing securitisations of its Buy Now...

A conventional approach to “risk” in fixed income is the idea of a single obligor default risk, i.e. the risk of an individual borrower failing to repay amounts to a lender when they are due, resulting in a potential loss to that lender. This risk is generally well understood...

Can Government Bonds Continue to Act as Defensive Investments? Government bond markets are now at the precipice of a paradigm shift. Unprecedented global fiscal stimulus. Extreme monetary policy experiments. Yields at multi-century lows. In combination, these factors fundamentally change the risk vs. reward proposition of government bonds. So much so, they...