Asset managers need to offer more transparency
Morningstar Australasia has announced a campaign aimed at having asset managers taking voluntary steps toward full portfolio holdings disclosure.
The firm said it had reached out to 142 managers which collectively held around of $563 billion of assets under management.
More than half of managers opted for full disclosure across all products, another 11 per cent chose to disclose full holdings on a fund by fund basis while 38 per cent of asset managers said they maintained their top 10 disclosure policy.
As a result, over $337 billion worth of assets under management, which represented 60 per cent, were showed in full for Australian-managed funds, Morningstar said.
According to the company, asset managers responded in a constructive manner which signalled “a fundamentally positive move for the investor”.
Morningstar’s managing director of research strategy, Asia-Pacific, Anthony Serhan, said: “With full portfolio holdings disclosure regulation for superannuation funds still to be implemented and no disclosure requirements for investment funds on the horizon, there was an opportunity to step in and facilitate a movement that brings greater transparency to the industry.
“Exchange-traded funds, managed accounts and other managed investments already provide holdings transparency.
“This is a natural step for managed funds in Australia and will help expand the discussion with fund investors from performance to what they own.”
Morningstar said that Australia remained the only market with no implemented portfolio disclosure regime among the 25 analysed markets in its Global Fund Investor Experience Study.
“We worked with a small focus group of fund managers in the early days of the campaign including Aberdeen, Cbus, Franklin Templeton, JP Morgan, MFS, Nikko AM, Pengana, PIMCO, RARE, Fidelity and Vanguard,” Serhan said.
“With many more joining the movement every day, our goal is to work with the industry toward 100 per cent coverage and disclosure.”
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