Do Australian Managed Funds Investors Exhibit Return Chasing Behavior?

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thadavillil Jithendranathan ◽  
Rakesh Gupta
Keyword(s):  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5000
Author(s):  
Iqbal Owadally ◽  
Jean-René Mwizere ◽  
Neema Kalidas ◽  
Kalyanie Murugesu ◽  
Muhammad Kashif

We consider whether sustainable investment can deliver performance comparable to conventional investment in investors’ long-term retirement plans. On the capital markets, sustainable investment can be achieved through various instruments and strategies, one of them being investment in mutual funds that subscribe to ESG (environmental, social, and governance) principles. First, we compare the investment performance of ESG funds with matched conventional funds over the period 1994–2020, in Europe and the U.S. We find no significant evidence of differing performance (at 5% level) despite using a number of investment performance metrics. Second, we perform a historical backtest to model a UK personal retirement plan from 2000 till 2020, taking full account of investment management fees and transaction costs. We find that investing in an index-tracker fund overlaid with ESG screening delivers a pension which is 10.4% larger than is achieved if the index-tracker fund is used without screening. This is also 20.2% larger than is achieved by investing in a collection of actively managed funds with a sustainable purpose. We conclude that an ESG-screened long-term passive investment approach for retirement plans is likely to be successful in satisfying the twin objectives of a secure retirement income and of sustainability.


2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-481 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bart Frijns ◽  
Ivan Indriawan

Purpose This paper aims to assess the ability of New Zealand (NZ) actively managed funds to generate risk-adjusted outperformance using portfolio holdings data. Focusing on domestic equity allocations addresses the benchmark selection issue, particularly for funds with national and international exposures. Design/methodology/approach The authors assess performance using several asset pricing models including the CAPM, three-factor and four-factor models. The authors also assess performance across funds with different characteristics such as fund size, size of local holdings, type of fund provider, past returns and fees. The authors further examine whether funds engage in any stock-picking or market timing by considering the active share and tracking error. Findings The returns on NZ equity holdings of NZ actively managed funds from 2010 to 2017 provide little evidence of risk-adjusted outperformance and stock-picking skill. These exposures yield pre-cost returns that have a nearly perfect correlation with the market index and an insignificant alpha. Funds show little tendency to bet on any of the main characteristics known to predict stock returns, such as size, book-to-market and momentum. In addition, the authors show that the average active shares and tracking errors are low, suggesting that the majority of funds hold NZ equity portfolios that closely mimic the market index. Originality/value Existing studies rely on returns data which aggregate performance across all asset classes with varying exposures. This may lead to benchmark selection issues (particularly for funds with international exposures) which may obscure the fund manager’s true stock-picking skills. Assessment using holdings data would enable suitable performance measurement by researchers and industry analysts.


Indexes tend to beat active managers in the top-performing US equity asset classes and trail active management in the worst-performing US equity categories. It is hypothesized that the reason for this performance pattern concerns style differences between index and active funds. Indexes are more style pure than corresponding actively managed funds. As a result, indexes are harder to beat when their style is in favor and easier to beat when their style is out of favor. This idea is called the Purity Hypothesis. Data is presented showing that the Purity Hypothesis constitutes a reasonable explanation for the performance differences between index and active funds.


2004 ◽  
Vol 07 (03) ◽  
pp. 193-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Etienne de Malherbe

The recent development of the securitisation of funds of private equity funds poses the question of the individual and joint modelling of the underlying funds. Private equity funds are different from other managed funds because of their particular bounded life cycle: when the fund starts, the investment partners make an initial capital commitment, the fund managers gradually draw down the committed capital into investments, returns and proceeds are distributed as the investments are realised and the fund is eventually liquidated as the final investment horizon is reached. Modelling private equity funds therefore requires three stages: the modelling of the commitment drawdowns, the modelling of the investment value and the modelling of the return repayments. A standard lognormal process is utilised for the dynamics of the investment value. Squared Bessel processes are utilised for the dynamics of the rates of drawdowns and repayments. Résumé: Le récent développement de la titrisation de fonds de fonds de placements privés pose la question de la modélisation individuelle et jointe des fonds sous-jacents. Les fonds de placements privés sont différents des autres sociétés d'investissement à cause de leur cycle de vie particulier et limité: au démarrage du fonds, les associés s'engagent sur un apport initial en capital; puis les gérants du fonds opèrent des tirages progressifs sur le capital apporté pour procéder à des investissements; les revenus et les profits sont distribués à mesure que les investissements sont réalisés; enfin, le fonds est liquidé lorsque l'horizon d'investissement est atteint. La modélisation d'un fonds doit donc se faire en trois étapes: la modélisation des tirages sur l'apport en capital, la modélisation de la valeur des investissements et enfin la modélisation des paiements et remboursements des dividendes et retours sur investissements. Un processus lognormal standard est utilisé pour la dynamique de la valeur des investissements. Des processus de Bessel carré sont utilisés pour la dynamique des taux de tirage et de remboursement.


2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-75
Author(s):  
George Woodward ◽  
Robert Brooks

In this paper the authors extend the analysis in Woodward and Brooks (2010) to derive a generalized form of Merton's (1981) dual beta market timing model that allows for continuous adjustment of portfolio beta in response to changing market conditions, and also includes the dual beta model as a special case. The model provides a more realistic representation of the fund return generation process. Using this model the authors test the market timing skills of fund managers for a sample of Australian superannuation funds for the period 1990 to 2002. The authors find that managed funds in which investors voluntarily select a given fund (retail funds) experience frequent rebalancing when compared to managed funds in which the investors' contribution is involuntary (wholesale funds). The authors relate the greater sensitivity to all changes in market conditions of retail funds to higher expenses and poor performance that was found in a recent study by Langford, Faff and Marisetty (2006). The results have important implications for Australian superannuation policy, since the Australian Government, effective from 1st July 2005, has required all funds to introduce voluntary contribution schemes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 282-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wejendra Reddy ◽  
David Higgins ◽  
Ron Wakefield

Purpose – In Australia, the A$2.2 trillion managed funds industry including the large pension funds (known locally as superannuation funds) are the dominant institutional property investors. While statistical information on the level of Australian managed fund investments in property assets is widely available, comprehensive practical evidence on property asset allocation decision-making process is underdeveloped. The purpose of this research is to identify Australian fund manager's property asset allocation strategies and decision-making frameworks at strategic level. Design/methodology/approach – The research was undertaken in May-August 2011 using an in-depth semi-structured questionnaire administered by mail. The survey was targeted at 130 leading managed funds and asset consultants within Australia. Findings – The evaluation of the 79 survey respondents indicated that Australian fund manager's property allocation decision-making process is an interactive, sequential and continuous process involving multiple decision-makers (internal and external) complete with feedback loops. It involves a combination of quantitative analysis (mainly mean-variance analysis) and qualitative overlay (mainly judgement, or “gut-feeling”, and experience). In addition, the research provided evidence that the property allocation decision-making process varies depending on the size and type of managed fund. Practical implications – This research makes important contributions to both practical and academic fields. Information on strategic property allocation models and variables is not widely available, and there is little guiding theory related to the subject. Therefore, the conceptual frameworks developed from the research will help enhance academic theory and understanding in the area of property allocation decision making. Furthermore, the research provides small fund managers and industry practitioners with a platform from which to improve their own property allocation processes. Originality/value – In contrast to previous property decision-making research in Australia which has mainly focused on strategies at the property fund investment level, this research investigates the institutional property allocation decision-making process from a strategic position involving all major groups in the Australian managed funds industry.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Samyabrata Das

Since the opening up of the economy in the early 1990s, Indian mutual fund industry has witnessed fabulous quantitative growth. Funds which invest a larger proportion of their corpus in companies with large market capitalization are called large cap funds. Actively managed funds make use of a human element, such as a single manager, comanagers or a team of managers, to actively manage a fund's portfolio. The main objective of the study is to analyse the performance of select actively managed large cap equity funds in the line of risk-return parameters. This study is based on fourteen funds from twelve Asset Management Companies. All the funds are ranked under seven performance measures, namely, fund return, fund standard deviation, Sharpe Ratio, Treynor Ratio, return from systematic investment plan (SIP), Jensen Alpha, and RSQ, for five different time periods of 1-year, 3-year, 5-year, 7-year, and 10-year.


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