In the 2026 results, UBS continues to lead, securing first place.

Extel (formerly Institutional Investor Research) has published the 2026 Australia and New Zealand Research Survey, with results reflecting independent feedback from 369 investors, portfolio managers and analysts across 201 firms.

Now in its second year, the survey highlights the leading sell-side equities research teams, recognised for delivering high-quality insights that support the provision, acquisition and consumption of research advisory services across the Australia and New Zealand equity markets.

Originally conducted as part of Extel’s long-running broader Asia (ex-Japan) annual survey, the second iteration of the standalone Australia and New Zealand survey saw an increase in the number of participating firms (7.5%) and individual voters (9%), cementing the increasingly influential role of ANZ markets within the global equity landscape. This survey covers 12 equity research sectors, providing a comprehensive view of research and advisory excellence in the region.

In the 2026 results, UBS continues to lead, securing first place (17 positions), followed closely by Barrenjoey and J.P. Morgan tied for second (16 positions each).

Macquarie placed fourth (13 positions), with Jefferies and Morgan Stanley ranking fifth (five positions each). The remainder of the top ranking firms saw BofA Securities and Jarden tie for seventh place (four positions each), Citi and Goldman Sachs tie for ninth (two positions each), and Evans & Partners and MST Financial tie for eleventh (one position each). Barrenjoey’s rise in the rankings this year was underpinned by a significant increase in first place rankings, converting a number of second and third place positions from 2025 into six first place sector rankings in 2026, the firm’s strongest performance in the survey to date.

Kieren Chidgey and Marcus Curley, Co-Heads of Global Research, UBS Australasia said: “We are delighted with this strong result in a very competitive survey. It is a meaningful recognition of the quality and breadth of UBS research that has been achieved in close collaboration with our distribution and corporate access colleagues. The past year has been especially dynamic for the Research business as we sought to help clients navigate complex markets through delivering timely, detailed, and relevant analysis.”

David Enticknap, CEO, Extel said: “The increasing engagement we’ve seen in the 2026 Australia & New Zealand survey reinforces the value of having dedicated, market-specific data for one of the world’s most competitive equity markets. Strong participation directly from buy-side voters ensures the results provide an accurate and trusted reflection of research quality across the region.”

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Liz McCarthy

Chant West has confirmed that MLC Retirement Boost^TM on MLC Expand delivers some of the highest income rates of lifetime products and has also rated it ‘Four Apples – Recommended’, which is the highest possible rating for a new product.

MLC Expand CEO, Liz McCarthy, said, “For too long, Australian retirees have been afraid to spend their own money in retirement. MLC Retirement Boost is changing that dynamic by giving Australians a smarter, more flexible way to generate income for life — and it’s exciting to see the industry acknowledge that.

“MLC Retirement Boost delivers the most competitive income levels, empowering retirees to unlock more from their super and feel more secure throughout their retirement journey.

“Receiving a ‘Four Apples – Recommended’ rating from Chant West is a strong endorsement of what we’ve set out to achieve with MLC Retirement Boost – giving Australians more confidence and more certainty in retirement. It reinforces that the market recognises the value of solutions like MLC Retirement Boost that help people make the most of their super.

“We’re seeing advisers adopt MLC Retirement Boost faster than we anticipated, and this strong independent rating from Chant West reflects this momentum. The solution is resonating because it addresses what retirees tell us they want most: dependable income and confidence it will last throughout their whole retirement.”

Chant West General Manager, Ian Fryer, said, “MLC Expand is now one of a small group of providers in market offering a Lifetime Product. As part of our assessment, we modelled a range of scenarios around using MLC Retirement Boost, including different incomes and singles vs couples. In all scenarios, key income metrics were almost always higher using a 50/50 strategy with MLC Retirement Boost and an account-based pension, than with just an account-based pension.

“MLC Retirement Boost provides financial advisers with flexibility to meet a range of client needs, and its adviser and client portals have rich functionality, including a straight-through application process and a well-presented interface.

“Our modelling shows that a strategy including MLC Retirement Boost provides higher annual income through the income that continues for life, as well as higher age pension payments, giving retirees greater confidence to spend more in retirement to maintain a higher standard of living.

“We also found that the outcomes delivered from MLC Retirement Boost (Pension) product are slightly above other similar lifetime products, and its range of features may lead to better outcomes than most other Lifetime Products. Use of Retirement Boost (Super) approaching retirement also further improves outcomes.”

This recognition also coincides with MLC Expand receiving 2026 Rainmaker AAA Quality Ratings for MLC Expand Essential and Expand Extra.

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In its research report published 11 March 2026, Lonsec commented that “Stephen Mildenhall provides strong leadership to a well-resourced team, reflective of the firm’s boutique culture to deliver performance. The collaborative investment process aims to identify undervalued stocks through proprietary research focusing on the team’s best ideas. The process is differentiated, talent-led, and the Manager’s portfolio construction approach can result in a concentrated style with very different outcomes vs the benchmark.”

The Fund continues to distinguish itself from other global equity offerings through its high-conviction, benchmark-unaware approach. Lonsec noted that “the Fund’s annualised net returns of 26.7% over five years is well above the peer median of 14.0% p.a.” Lonsec further noted that “the Fund’s outperformance for the year was primarily driven by strong stock selection in key ‘top 10’ holdings.”

Commenting on the ratings announcement, Simon Raubenheimer, director of Contrarius Investment Management Limited, noted that “Contrarius is honoured to have Lonsec reaffirm their ‘Recommended’ rating for the Contrarius Global Equity Fund, which is a testament to the consistency of our investment process. In an era often dominated by passive investing, momentum and short-term sentiment, we remain steadfast in our contrarian and valuation-based approach. We believe that the greatest risk to investors is the permanent loss of capital from overpaying for assets, and our focus remains on identifying the gap between a company’s price and its true intrinsic value.”

Chris Watson, director of Contrarius Investment Advisory (Pty) Limited, the Fund’s distributor in Australia, added that “the Lonsec rating provides financial advisors with an important and independent basis for evaluating the Fund’s investment merits”. He noted that “the Fund’s portfolio is intentionally benchmark-unaware, allowing the flexibility to take advantage of opportunities where the team identifies the most compelling risk-reward profiles”. He concluded that “the Fund’s contrarian approach provides a differentiated offering for Australian investors seeking global equity exposure”.

The Fund is available for investment directly online or through leading investment platforms, including Netwealth. More information regarding the Contrarius Funds is available on Contrarius’ website (www.contrarius.com.au). Interested parties may contact Contrarius directly to request a copy of the Lonsec research report or to arrange a meeting to discuss the Fund’s strategy and current positioning.

———–

Notes:
[1] Annualised net returns to 31 December 2025. Lonsec Peer Group: Global Equities – Global Large Cap – Value
[2] The report that included this extract and rating was published by Lonsec Research Pty Ltd ABN 11 151 658 561 AFSL 421 445 (Lonsec) on 11 March 2026. Lonsec receives a fee from fund managers for the preparation of reports. Lonsec’s reports are prepared based on a Research Process that is consistently followed for different products. The information included in the report, including the rating, is general advice only. An investor should be aware that: a) the advice has been prepared without taking into account; b) an investor should consider the appropriateness of the advice having regard to their own objectives, financial situation or needs before acting on the advice; and c) an investor should obtain a Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) (if required) relating to the product, consider the PDS and seek independent financial advice before making any decision about whether to acquire the product. The report, including the rating, is not a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold any product. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future performance. Reports are prepared based on information available at the time of preparation and may be subject to change by Lonsec without notice. Visit lonsec.com.au for important documents including the Financial Services Guide and Conflicts of Interests Statement.  © 2026 Lonsec. All rights reserved.

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Australia’s national residential vacancy rate fell to 1.1% in February 2026, down from 1.2% in January and notably down from February 2025 (1.3%). The total number of residential vacancies declined to 34,572 dwellings, indicating continued tightening in rental market conditions across most capital cities.

The February result suggests that the seasonal tightening typically observed at the start of the year has continued and expanded, with strong tenant demand absorbing available rental listings down to levels below what was recorded this time last year .

Capital city highlights

Sydney:
Vacancy rates declined to 1.3%, down from 1.5% in January, with 9,491 dwellings available. The city continues to see strong tenant demand following the summer leasing period.

Melbourne:
Vacancy rates tightened to 1.6%, from 1.7%, with 8,294 vacancies recorded. Rental conditions remain relatively balanced compared with other major capitals.

Brisbane:
Vacancy rates tightened slightly to 0.8%, down from 0.9%, with 3,002 dwellings available, maintaining one of the tighter markets nationally.

Perth:
Vacancy rates held steady at 0.6%, with 1,130 dwellings available. The city continues to experience strong rental demand amid extremely limited new supply.

Adelaide: Vacancy rates remained unchanged at 0.8%, with 1,203 vacancies recorded. Supply constraints continue to keep rental conditions tight.

Canberra:
Vacancy rates declined to 1.1%, from 1.4%, with 688 dwellings available. The drop reflects stronger leasing activity in early 2026.

Darwin:
Vacancy rates fell to 0.6%, down from 0.8%, with 144 dwellings vacant, marking one of the lowest vacancy levels among the capital cities.

Hobart:
Vacancy rates increased slightly to 0.5%, from 0.4%, with 132 dwellings available. Despite the increase, Hobart remains one of the tightest rental markets nationally.

Advertised rents analysis

National advertised rents continued to rise through early March, with combined rents increasing 1.0% over the past 30 days and 6.6% higher year-on-year, reflecting ongoing supply shortages across most capital cities. This represents an acceleration in rents compared to the same period in 2025.

The national combined rent average now stands at $688.76 per week, while the capital city average has increased to $782.57, supported by gains in both house and unit rents.

Nationally, house rents rose 1.6% for the month and 7.8% over the year, while unit rents increased 0.1% monthly and 4.6% annually, indicating steady demand for mediumdensity accommodation.

Sydney:
Combined rents rose 0.5% for the month and 7.3% year-on-year, driven by strong house rent growth with houses averaging $1,145.45 per week.

Melbourne:
Combined rents increased 0.8% monthly and 5.0% annually, supported by continued leasing activity across both houses and units.

Brisbane:
Combined rents rose 0.6% for the month and 8.0% over the year, reflecting sustained population inflows.

Perth:
Combinedrents lifted 1.3% month-on-month and 5.5% year-on-year, highlighting the city’s ongoing rental supply shortages.

Adelaide:
Combined rents increased 0.3% for the month and 2.8% annually, with house rents averaging $690.13 per week.

Canberra:
Combined rents declined 1.1% over the month and 2.5% over the year, indicating some short-term easing in the ACT market.

Darwin:
Combined rents rose 1.9% for the month and 12.7% annually, representing one of the strongest rental growth rates nationally.

Hobart:
Combined rents increased 2.9% for the month and 12.2% year-on-year, reflecting ongoing supply constraints.

Louis Christopher, Managing Director of SQM Research, commented: “The national vacancy rate falling to 1.1% shows the rental market remains very tight across most of the country. While some seasonal tightening is expected at this time of year, demand for rental housing is clearly continuing to outstrip available supply and so this move goes beyond normal seasonality.

“Vacancy rates below one per cent in cities such as Brisbane, Perth and Darwin highlight just how constrained rental supply remains in parts of Australia.

“With advertised rents continuing to accelerate higher, the data suggests tenants are still facing strong competition for available properties. Without a meaningful lift in new housing supply and an easing in demand, rental pressures are likely to remain a feature of the market through much of 2026, which may feed into the CPI.”

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HUB24 retains the top overall position in 2025, while also topping four categories. Netwealth and Praemium follow closely, underscoring the tight competitive environment among leading providers. BT Panorama, AMP North and Macquarie Wrap also performed strongly across multiple categories.

Investment Trends recalibrated its benchmarking methodology this year, increasing weightings in high-priority areas and removing commoditised features. As a result, overall scores moderated across the market, reflecting a more demanding assessment framework rather than a slowdown in innovation.

“The bar has been raised materially,” said Julian Cappe, Head of Research at Investment Trends. “Advisers are placing greater weight on integration quality, workflow efficiency and service responsiveness. We have been impressed with the significant investments that platforms have made in innovation, but expectations have risen even faster.”

New category awards reflect shifting adviser priorities. Macquarie Wrap led in Cybersecurity, while Netwealth ranked first in Service. More than 20% of advisers now rank security among their top three criteria when selecting a platform, reinforcing its rise from a compliance consideration to a core decision driver. Likewise, poor service was a driver in 50% of cases where advisers stopped using a platform, underscoring the commercial impact of responsiveness and execution.

“Cybersecurity and service are no longer supporting features, they are decisive factors in platform selection,” Cappe said. “Competitive advantage will lie with providers that can combine robust security, practical innovation and consistently strong execution.”

Efficiency pressures continue to shape adviser behaviour. With more time spent on client-facing activities, advisers are prioritising intuitive, frictionless platforms that reduce administrative burden.

At the same time, platforms continue to navigate the trade-off between value and cost. With advisers under pressure to deliver competitive pricing, many providers are introducing simpler, lower-cost investment menus.

Artificial intelligence is gaining traction across the ecosystem; our research shows that 60% of advisers are now using AI within their practice, including 27% who report using it extensively. Advisers are primarily leveraging AI for client communications, while platforms are focusing on operational efficiency and service enhancements. Meanwhile, heightened cyber threats and regulatory scrutiny are prompting further investment in identity verification, authentication and approval controls.

The findings underscore how platform competitiveness is increasingly defined not by feature breadth alone, but by execution, integration depth and operational resilience.

About the report

The Investment Trends’ flagship 2025 Platform Competitive Analysis and Benchmarking Report is based on qualitative benchmarking via data collection and interviews with platform providers from September to December 2025 covering functionality available to platform users as at 31 December 2025.

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Jun Bei Liu

Lonsec has rated the Ten Cap Alpha Plus Fund Complex ETF ‘Recommended’, citing confidence in the ETF’s underlying investment process and portfolio management ownership.

In its rating report Lonsec said lead portfolio manager Jun Bei Liu is a capable investor and has taken full ownership of the implementation of the Fund’s longstanding investment process.

“Liu brings a differentiated perspective to the process reflecting her cultural background and investment experience, with stock insights and portfolio management skill, including shorting, deemed to be strong. Liu’s two supporting investment analysts are considered to be quite capable and are adequately experienced, with an additional experienced dealing resource. The centralised team is aided by a collegiate structure and facilitates research collaboration.

“The Fund’s investment process is considered differentiated and delivers an intuitively appealing blend of fundamental long/short investing and usage of quantitative approaches to aid risk management,” Lonsec said.

Liu said: “We are focused on generating exceptional returns for investors by managing a long, short equity strategy that profits from stocks going up and down in the Australian market.

“The Recommended rating is a testament to the whole investment team’s efforts in executing the investment process to outperform the benchmark and deliver alpha to our investors.”

Jason Todd, CIO and co-founder, added: “Tcap was launched to make an institutional grade product available to a new set of investors. ETFs are a great vehicle for retail investors, offering affordable portfolio access.

“This rating reflects the confidence in Jun Bei, the investment team and investment process, and is an excellent outcome so soon after its listing,” he said.

Tcap (ASX: TCAP) was listed on the Australian Securities Exchange on 24 November.

Tcap’s underlying strategy is based on the firm’s long-standing investment offering, Alpha Plus, which is one of the longest running and most consistently performing long short equity only funds in Australia. Becore the launch of Tcap the strategy was only available to institutional investors.

The underlying strategy, the Alpha Plus fund, has returned 12.45 per cent a year since inception, outperforming the ASX200 index by 2.87 per cent.

Since taking over as manager of the fund in 2019, Ms Liu has delivered a return of 12.9 per cent a year compared to the ASX200 of 9.9 per cent – an annualised (net) outperformance of 298bps.

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Jessica Sclafani

T. Rowe Price, a global asset management firm and a leader in retirement, today announced the findings from its inaugural Global Retirement Savers Study, revealing that nearly 34% of retirement savers worldwide expect to work at least part-time after retiring. This expectation is most pronounced in the United States, where 37% of respondents anticipate working during retirement. This trend of “unretiring” is one the firm has been tracking closely, most recently in the U.S. and Hong Kong.

The research, which surveyed more than 7,000 retirement savers in the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan and the United Kingdom, also surfaced economic and financial uncertainty among savers: 50% of respondents expect a recession by mid-2026, with inflation rated as a top concern (42%), as well as geopolitical events (30%) and interest rates (27%). Additionally, 17% believe they will run out of money in retirement and only 27% are confident that they could withstand a major financial shock while retired.

“Research is at the heart of everything we do,” said Jessica Sclafani, global retirement strategist at T. Rowe Price. “It helps us understand the evolving needs of retirement savers around the world. Longer life spans, financial uncertainty, and shifting expectations are redefining retirement—transforming it from a fixed destination to an evolving journey that demands new thinking from both savers and the industry. By studying these shifts in attitude, we can better understand what savers need today and empower them with the strategies and solutions that can build financial security, confidence, and optimism for the future.”

Additional key findings from the survey include:

• Economic outlooks vary sharply by region. Economic pessimism is highest in Japan and Canada, where 62% and 56% of respondents, respectively, foresee a recession. In contrast, savers in the U.S., Australia, and the UK are more optimistic, with less than half bracing for a near-term recession.
• Retirement confidence is low worldwide—and deeply gendered. Only 31% of respondents expect to live as well or better in retirement. Pessimism is most pronounced in Japan and Australia, while optimism is highest in the UK. Confidence also differs by gender: women—especially single women—report significantly lower retirement confidence compared to men, most notably in Australia, where 31% of men report high confidence versus only 15% of women.
• Excitement for retirement is linked to financial confidence and progress. About one-third of global retirement savers say they are excited for retirement. As expected, this optimism correlates with stronger financial footing: confident savers are more likely to be higher earners, married, (39% versus 30% of single savers), and are twice as likely to report progress toward their financial goals.
• Workplace resources and human advisors are top sources of financial advice. Three of the four most relied-upon sources of advice for global savers are connected to the workplace, with the highest reliance reported in the U.S. Japanese respondents, in contrast, are more likely to self-direct compared to other regions. Meanwhile, despite the rise of digital tools, human advisors remain essential—tied with the retirement plan recordkeeper as the most relied upon source of advice worldwide.

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Colin Woods

We are extremely pleased to announce that the PAN-Tribal Global Equity Fund has once again maintained its prestigious Highly Recommended rating from Zenith Investment Partners (Zenith).

The global equities market is one of the most competitive fields in the investment landscape, containing a vast number of managers and strategies available to investors. Despite this challenging environment, the PAN-Tribal Global Equity Fund and its investment approach continue to stand out.

Our Fund offers investors a style-neutral, currency-unhedged, and benchmark-unaware exposure to international equities. While recent volatile equity markets have presented some challenging periods of performance, Zenith’s confidence in the Fund remains strong. According to their latest report, this conviction is firmly “underpinned by the high regard we hold for the depth and quality of the investment team.”

Commenting on this achievement, PAN-Tribal CEO Colin Woods said: “Despite the challenges posed to the Fund by challenging and increasingly concentrated markets, the Fund continues to be well supported by the advisory community.”

“That the Fund has retained its Highly Recommended rating for the eight consecutive years is a great result for the advisers and investors who have supported the Fund.

“It’s clear evidence of the quality of the Davis Advisors’ team and their consistent and reliable investment process, which they apply consistently in all market conditions.”

Some key highlights from the Zenith report include…

On the Fund overall

The report notes that Zenith “retains conviction in the Fund, which is underpinned by the high regard we hold for the depth and quality of the investment team.”

Further, Zenith “views Davis Advisors’ investment process positively, noting its successful implementation since 1969.”

“Zenith has a favourable view of the arrangement between Davis Advisors and PAN-Tribal, believing that it pairs a solid investment manager with a distribution partner that has a strong footprint in the domestic market.”

On the investment team

“Zenith has met with several members of the investment team and considers them to be high calibre, which we view as a key competitive advantage for the Fund.”

On portfolio manager Danton Goei the report notes: “Zenith rates Goei as a strong and highly experienced investor.”

On the investment process

“Davis Advisors favours market leaders with strong balance sheets, opportunistic investments and contrarian investments, expecting that the majority of the Fund’s performance to be driven by the investment team’s stock selection skills. Zenith believes the security selection process adopted by Davis Advisors is robust and detailed.”

“The portfolio construction process is primarily driven by the fundamental analysis conducted by the investment team. The primary determinants of a stock’s weighting in the Fund are the magnitude of the discount to fair value and the level of analyst conviction. Zenith is comfortable with Davis Advisors’ portfolio construction approach, which ensures a strong connection between the output of its security selection process and the resultant weight of the stocks in the portfolio.”

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Nehemiah Richardson,

Two of Pengana Credit’s global private credit investment vehicles have been given a Recommended rating by Lonsec, while the company’s innovative online term accounts, TermPlus, have received an initial Investment Grade rating.

The listed Pengana Global Private Credit Trust (ASX: PCX) was upgraded to Recommended by Lonsec. PCX is the most diversified global private credit vehicle listed on the ASX, and commenced trading in June 2024.

The wholesale Pengana Diversified Private Credit Fund was launched in late 2023 and has been given an initial rating of Recommended by Lonsec.

The retail consumer online term account products, TermPlus, which has redefined ease-of-access to global private credit, received an initial rating of Investment Grade for each of the one, two, and five-year terms on offer.

In its commentary on Pengana’s global private credit vehicles, Lonsec said they employ “…a global multi-manager strategy, offering broad diversification across individual borrowers, managers, and investment strategies helping to mitigate the default risk typically associated with private debt portfolios.”

Lonsec also said: “Pengana benefits from the strength of Mercer’s manager research capabilities, alongside significant scale, experience, and global resources. Mercer’s global Private Debt team brings over 20 years of ‘on-the ground’ presence in key regions.”*

Nehemiah Richardson, CEO of Pengana Credit, said the global private credit market is built on strong fundamentals and looks poised to grow. “Global private credit growth has been driven by a structural withdrawal of capital as regulations have prevented banks from holding too many long term assets with short-term liabilities.

“Hence private credit is playing an important role in the USA and European economies as private lenders fill in the vacuum left by the banks.

“For investors, this is providing a market with the depth and breadth of diversification and quality, which delivers income returns.”

The global private credit market is forecast to be worth $2.7 trillion globally by 2027, according to Preqin. “Structural supply and demand dynamics continue to work in private credit’s favour. As the industry grows it’s important to partner with top quartile managers who have proven experience across several cycles”, Richardson said.

* The ratings published on 11/2025 for Pengana Global Private Credit Trust and 11/2025 for Pengana Diversified Private Credit Fund and 11/2025 for TermPlus 5-Year Term, TermPlus 2-Year Term, and TermPlus 1-Year Term, are issued by Lonsec Research Pty Ltd ABN 11 151 658 561 AFSL 421 445 (Lonsec Research). Ratings are general advice only and have been prepared without taking account of investors’ objectives, financial situation or needs. Consider your personal circumstances, read the product disclosure statement and seek independent financial advice before investing. The ratings are not a recommendation to purchase, sell or hold any product. Past performance information is not indicative of future performance. Ratings are subject to change without notice and Lonsec Research assumes no obligation to update. Lonsec Research uses objective criteria and receives a fee from the Fund Manager. Visit lonsec.com.au for ratings information and to access the full report. © 2025 Lonsec. All rights reserved.

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Technology is also reshaping how Australians engage with advice.

Advice confidence rebounds, but nearly 16 million Australians still miss out and women are slightly more affected.

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