In a first for the Australian funds management industry, Vanguard has announced it will publish quarterly portfolio holdings for all funds beginning in October.
Investors will be able to access details of the portfolios of the full range of Vanguard investment funds on www.vanguard.com.au from 11 October 2012.
Vanguard’s Head of Market Strategy and Communications, Robin Bowerman said: “This move is designed to improve transparency for investors and ensure they have the information they need to make well informed investment decisions.”
“Better disclosure is high on the agenda of the Stronger Super and FOFA reforms for good reason.”
“We believe disclosure of both fees and fund holdings can play a large part in restoring investor’s faith, post the Global Financial Crisis, in the investment industry as a whole,” he said.
“It is something that is regarded as best practice in other major investment markets, where regulations dictate it,” said Mr Bowerman.
Of the 22 nations (constituents of the MSCI World Index) surveyed in a 2011 Morningstar Global Investors Report#, Australia and New Zealand were the only two countries that do not disclose fund holdings.
Vanguard Chief Investment Officer Joseph Brennan said: “We have always advocated broad diversification both across and within asset classes and believe this measure may deepen the understanding of the spectrum of diversification inherent in our funds. It allows investors to evaluate exactly what they are paying for.”
“Transparency of portfolio holdings goes hand in hand with our investment philosophy as an index provider and we want to demonstrate our true to label investment solutions which are practical and easy to understand,” Brennan said.
“There are no surprises to what our funds invest in given we are tracking benchmarks, but now investors can see the individual holdings for themselves.”
“As the first Australian manager to provide after tax reporting to investors back in 2005, we see this as a further measure to help investors be fully informed about what they are investing in,” he said.