Bhanu Singh

This week’s move – with the S&P 500 approaching 2026 highs – is a timely reminder of how markets process uncertainty. Even amid heightened geopolitical tension, markets have once again demonstrated their forward‑looking nature, rapidly absorbing new information and repricing risk.

While headlines dominated by conflict can feel overwhelming, history suggests investors should be cautious about drawing long-term conclusions from short-term market reactions.

Markets are forward-looking. Prices move in response to changes in information. When unexpected developments arise that investors deem to be poor for markets, markets often drop.

But the flip side is markets always set prices for positive expected returns. Once the news gets reflected in market prices, investors can still expect positive returns even amid worrisome circumstances.

Bhanu Singh, CEO of Dimensional Fund Advisors Australia, notes:“Market volatility is a sign of a well-functioning market. Market prices are continuously responding to changes in expectations and new information. So, even while the news headlines may be concerning, investors have good reasons to stay invested because prices are always set to provide positive expected returns.”

Australian equity market history supports this perspective. Intrayear declines have ranged from approximately 4% to as much as 45%, yet many years that experienced sharp pullbacks still finished with positive full‑year returns. In fact, Australian stocks posted gains in 16 of the past 20 calendar years (Figure 1).

Figure 1:

This resilience extends globally. Global equity markets have continued an upward climb even in the face of economic and political upheavals. We don’t have to look far for illustrative examples. During the past few years, stock markets have had positive returns despite multiple wars being fought around the world (Figure 2).

“Investors in global equity portfolios inevitably face periods of geopolitical tensions and uncertainty,” Singh says.

“While the temptation to react to market highs and lows can be strong, particularly with the benefit of hindsight, staying invested through periods of uncertainty has historically tended to be the best bet for long-term investors. Tuning out the noise, maintaining discipline, and staying the course has been the most effective strategy for long‑term investors.”

Figure 2:

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Anna Shelley

AMP has announced the launch of its Constructor Series, a new suite of investment solutions designed to deliver diversified, differentiated strategies for financial advisors and their clients.

Traditionally only available to institutional investors, the Constructor Series was built to provide retail investors with access to differentiated strategies that aim to enhance returns, manage risk, and deliver resilience across market cycles.

It brings together leading global and specialist managers Dimensional Fund Advisors and SouthPeak Investment Management, offering retail investors access to innovative approaches to portfolio construction and risk management.

Through partnerships with Dimensional and SouthPeak, AMP is offering solutions that combine academic rigour, systematic implementation, and advanced risk management techniques.

The AMP Constructor Series

Dimensional Fund Advisors

Dimensional has been applying financial science to investing since 1981. The firm is driven by an evidence-based approach and decades of expertise working to outperform benchmarks and peers while maintaining low costs and diversification.
Dimensional has 15 global offices across North America, Europe, Asia and Australia and has been in Australia since 1994. As of 30 September 2025, Dimensional manages AUD$1.4 trillion for investors worldwide.

SouthPeak Investment Management

Founded in 2010, SouthPeak is a specialist volatility manager with deep expertise in derivatives strategies for institutional Australian and global clients. SouthPeak employs a proprietary, systematic approach combining alternative alpha and strong risk management, aiming to deliver attractive and differentiated performance by capturing upside while protecting against downside.

Funds available through the Constructor Series include:

Dimensional Global Profitability Fund

A fund that delivers systematic exposure to two-thirds of the highest profitability large-cap companies in developed markets (ex-Australia), with additional emphasis on smaller, cheaper, and high profitability stocks. Since its launch in October 2015, the fund has outperformed its benchmark by 1.57% p.a. (net of fees).

Dimensional Global Listed Infrastructure Fund

A core global infrastructure strategy emphasising small, value, and high profitability infrastructure securities. The fund also emphasises sustainability by targeting a meaningful reduction in GHG emissions intensity exposure relative to its benchmark. Fully hedged to AUD, the fund has delivered 0.99% p.a. (net of fees) above its benchmark since inception in January 2022.

SouthPeak Alternative Alpha Fund

The fund maintains a low correlation to traditional asset classes like bonds and shares and aims to provide strong resilience during large equity market falls. It is designed for investors seeking defensive returns and regular income through diversification beyond shares and bonds, enhancing portfolio stability across market condition. The fund’s strategies have delivered 3.6% p.a. (net of fees) above the benchmark since the inception of SouthPeak’s wholesale funds in February 2012.

Mattias Soderberg, SouthPeak Investment Management Co-Chief Investment Officer said: “At SouthPeak our focus has always been to deliver consistent, positive returns, especially in large equity falls. With traditional diversification tools starting to struggle, we believe a different approach can help deliver both attractive returns and resilience.”

“Our strategies have been used by large Australian investors since 2012, and we are very excited to partner with AMP to deliver our institutional offering to platform investors for the first time.”

Bhanu Singh, Dimensional Fund Advisors CEO, Australia and senior investment director said: “For nearly a quarter of century, Dimensional has offered our systematic investment approach in partnership with financial intermediaries in Australia.”

“Dimensional’s investment approach combines the benefits of indexing—such as low fees, low turnover, and broad diversification—with flexible implementation that supports a consistent focus on pursuing higher expected returns and managing risk.

“By launching these two strategies in partnership with AMP, we are expanding investors’ choices in how they access our investment expertise. And we always start with client need.”

Anna Shelley, AMP’s Chief Investment Officer said: “We’re thrilled to be launching the AMP Constructor Series as we partner with external fund managers that we have institutional investments and relationships with to offer a series of funds to the retail market.

“By partnering with Dimensional and SouthPeak, we are providing access to world-class strategies that combine systematic design, robust risk management, and proven performance.”

“We’ll continue to draw on the expertise of our investment professionals to select high quality fund managers and strategies that are typically only available to institutional investors.”

“The Constructor Series reflects AMP’s commitment to unlocking innovative investment solutions that help clients achieve their goals, along with delivering a unique and differentiated experience to advisers on North.”

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Bhanu Singh

Global asset manager Dimensional Fund Advisors, the world’s largest issuer of actively managed exchange traded funds (ETFs), has extended its suite of equity ETFs on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) to support financial professionals seeking to access the firm’s systematic approach.

Following its initial launch last November of three actively managed core equity strategies in ETF form, Dimensional has now supplemented that offering with three component funds explicitly targeting long-term premiums available from Australian and global value stocks, as well as global small caps.

The three new strategies are the Dimensional Australian Value Trust (DAVA), the Dimensional Global Value Trust (DGVA) and the Dimensional Global Small Company Trust (DGSM). As with the core funds, the new vehicles are available in a “dual-access” structure accessible through both ASX-listed and unlisted distribution channels.

“These component strategies supplement the Australian and Global Core Equity ETFs launched last year and allow financial professionals to tailor asset allocations to meet a range of client needs,” said Dimensional Australia’s CEO, Bhanu Singh.

“Our strategies offer the benefits of indexing—such as low costs, low turnover, and high diversification—paired with the advantages of flexible implementation that provide a continuous focus on higher expected returns.”

Dimensional’s first three local ETF offerings were Australian Core Equity (DACE), Global Core Equity—Unhedged (DGCE) and Global Core Equity—AUD Hedged (DFGH). Those strategies provide broad exposure to the Australian and other developed equity markets, while emphasising the size, value and profitability premiums. The component strategies offer a more targeted approach to those individual premiums.

Dimensional was founded in the US in 1981 and has been in Australia since 1994. The firm manages more than $AU1.1 trillion for investors globally, including more than $50bn for clients in Australia and New Zealand. Its clients are financial intermediaries like advisers, brokers and super funds.

Systematic investing or factor-based investing is a rules-based approach to managing money. It replaces the subjectivity of traditional active management with rigorous academic research and avoids the restrictions of indexing through an active but process-driven pursuit of higher expected returns.

“For four decades, we have focused on empowering investment professionals so they can deliver their clients the best investment experience, says Nathan Krieger, who heads Dimensional’s client group in Australia. “We believe a rules-based investment approach can help deliver a more reliable and smoother markets experience for investors and can help to better address a variety of portfolio goals and aspirations.”

Dimensional entered the ETF market in the US in November 2020. Since then, the firm has experienced significant growth, becoming the largest issuer of actively managed ETFs globally. The firm now offers more than 35 ETFs in the US with approximately $220bn in assets. It decided last year to begin offering funds under the dual-access model in Australia because of requests from intermediaries for greater flexibility in how they access the firm’s approach.

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Bhanu Singh

Global asset manager Dimensional Fund Advisors, the world’s largest issuer of actively managed exchange traded funds (ETFs), today will launch ETFs in the Australian market to support those financial professionals seeking new ways to access the firm’s systematic investment approach.

Dimensional is initially offering three actively managed core equity strategies locally in a “dual-access” structure under which investors can access a fund through both ASX-listed and unlisted distribution channels. This allows investors to hold and transact in diverse ways according to their own preferences.

“We’ve been offering our systematic investment approach through financial intermediaries for nearly a quarter of century in Australia,” says Bhanu Singh, Dimensional Australia’s CEO. “By launching ETFs, we are expanding their choices in how they access our investment expertise on behalf of their clients.”

The three initial strategies Dimensional is offering in ETF form are Australian Core Equity, Global Core Equity (Unhedged) and Global Core Equity (AUD Hedged). These strategies – among the firm’s most popular – provide broad exposure to the Australian and other developed equity markets, while emphasising the known drivers of higher expected return in small caps, value stocks and more profitable companies.

Dimensional was founded in the US in 1981 and has been in Australia since 1994. The firm manages more than $AU900 billion for investors globally, including more than $38bn for clients in Australia and New Zealand. Its clients are financial intermediaries like advisers, brokers and super funds.

Systematic investing or factor-based investing is a rules-based approach to managing money. It replaces the subjectivity of traditional active management with quantitative research and avoids the rigidities of indexing through an active but process-driven pursuit of higher expected returns.

Dimensional entered the ETF market in the US in November 2020 following a regulatory change. Since then, the firm has experienced significant growth, becoming the largest issuer of actively managed ETFs globally. The firm now offers more than 30 ETFs in the US with approximately $US100bn in assets. It has now decided to move to the dual-access model in Australia because of requests from intermediaries for greater flexibility in how they access the firm’s approach.

“Our success in the US and our discussions with local clients tell us that some prefer the flexibility that ETFs offer,” says Nathan Krieger, who heads Dimensional’s client group in Australia. “It just gives advisers and other intermediaries more ways to access what we do. And we always start with client need.”

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Bhanu Singh

New Zealanders seeking global investment solutions that target measurable sustainability goals without sacrificing broad diversification, efficient tax management and higher expected returns now have additional access to the systematic strategies of one of the world’s most respected fund managers.

Dimensional Fund Advisors, which has a four-decade history of applying Nobel Prize-winning research to investing, has launched for Kiwi investors an Australian sustainability equity fund within a Portfolio Investment Entity (PIE), a tax-effective NZ-domiciled investment structure. The fund has gone live this week.

The launch of the Australian fund comes nearly 16 months since Dimensional offered two Global Sustainability Funds within the increasingly popular PIE structure. Those funds – one unhedged and the other hedged to the NZ dollar – now have more than $NZ450 million in assets under management.

Offering tax benefits to Kiwi investors and implementation advantages for advice firms, PIE funds have been rapidly expanding relative to Australian unit trusts in recent years. Over the past decade, PIEs have grown at a rate of 12.4% per annum to a total of nearly $60 billion in assets as of July this year.^[1]

“We have seen a strong appetite among New Zealand financial intermediaries for both our systematic investment approach and our sustainability strategies in recent years,” said Dimensional Australia Chief Executive Officer and Head of Asia Pacific Portfolio Management, Bhanu Singh.

“While some Kiwi clients are happy to continue investing through our Australian resident unit trusts, others have said the PIEs make more sense from an administration and tax perspective,” Singh said. “Ultimately, we want to give intermediaries choice in how they access our investment expertise.”

In a PIE, the tax administration is handled within the fund as opposed to the clients having to incorporate the fund’s returns and performance information within their own tax returns. This tax efficiency is aided by the fund holding stocks directly rather than via an offshore vehicle.

Dimensional, founded in the US in 1981 and with 14 offices around the world, now manages close to $NZ1 trillion for clients globally using a systematic investment approach. The firm applies financial science in real-world portfolios integrating research, portfolio design, management and trading. 2

This material has been provided by DFA Australia Limited (AFS License No. 238093, ABN 46 065 937 671). This material above is provided for information only. No account has been taken of the objectives, financial situation or needs of any particular person. Accordingly, to the extent this material constitutes general financial product advice, investors should, before acting on the advice, consider the appropriateness of the advice, having regard to the investor’s objectives, financial situation and needs. Any opinions expressed in this publication reflect our judgment at the date of publication and are subject to change.

Dimensional opened its Australian office in Sydney in 1994, initially as a regional trading centre, and began offering strategies tailored to Australian and NZ clients from 1999. These days, it manages more than $40 billion on behalf of clients in Australasia.

Among its most popular strategies in this part of the world are its sustainability suite of equity and fixed income funds which are designed to reduce carbon footprint exposure across markets and within industries while pursuing higher expected returns in a cost-effective and diversified way.

“New Zealanders increasingly are wanting to align their investments with their personal values around sustainability, but they also want to maintain the focus on their financial goals,” Singh said. ”So that requires a disciplined approach to sustainability within a sound investment framework.”

The newest PIE in Dimensional’s offering to New Zealanders is based on the Australian Sustainability Trust. Since its inception five years ago, this Trust has delivered competitive returns via a systematic focus on higher expected returns compared to its benchmark. It also delivered substantially reduced exposure to weighted average carbon intensity and potential emissions.

Total annual charges for the new fund is estimated at 0.35%. In launching the PIE, Dimensional is partnering with fund hosting platform FundRock New Zealand, which is registered as manager and issuer of the funds.

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[1] Source: Morningstar

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