Brad Creighton

Specialist wealth platform provider, Mason Stevens, has announced the appointment of Brad Creighton as Head of Asset Allocation. Brad brings with him 17 years of extensive investment experience, having held senior roles in financial markets, most recently at AMP.

With a robust background in portfolio management, trading, macroeconomic and quantitative research, and risk management, Brad’s experience spans across global hedge funds and leading financial institutions. His deep understanding of portfolio construction, dynamic asset allocation, product development, and multi-asset class risk management will be a significant asset to Mason Stevens.

Brad is passionate about helping clients maximise their wealth and working with advisers to deliver the best possible investment solutions for clients throughout their investment journey. In his new role, he will lead the strategic and dynamic asset allocation solutions for Mason Stevens’ platform clients and collaborate closely with the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) Jacqueline Fernley.

Mason Stevens thanks David Macri, the outgoing Head of Asset Allocation, and wishes him well in his future endeavours.

Chief Executive Officer, Tim Yule, commented, “We are excited to welcome Brad to the team. His wealth of experience and passion for delivering exceptional client outcomes align perfectly with our commitment to providing high-quality investment solutions. We are confident Brad will continue to drive innovation and performance in this important role.”

The post Mason Stevens appoints Brad Creighton as Head of Asset Allocation appeared first on AdviserVoice.

David Macri

Specialist wealth platform provider, Mason Stevens, has announced it has appointed David Macri, as Head of Asset Allocation.

Mr Macri joins the firm after 14 years, at ASX-listed ethical investment management company, Australian Ethical Investment. He has over 25 years’ experience in investment management & superannuation, with proven capability in strategic planning, multi-asset portfolio management and executive leadership.

Mr Macri will report to Chief Investment Officer (CIO), Jacqueline Fernley, to continue to evolve the Mason Stevens Outsourced CIO offering. As Head of Asset Allocation, David will be primarily responsible for the strategic and dynamic asset allocation solutions for Mason Stevens’ platform clients running managed portfolios.

Ms Fernley said: “David has an enviable track record of investment performance and a broad experience across multi-asset portfolio management and investment strategy. David is highly credentialed in Responsible Investment, which combined with his investment experience and reputation, make him a valuable addition to the team.

“He will play an important role in helping advisers evaluate and implement strategic portfolios that aim to enhance investor outcomes. We look forward to welcoming David to the team.”

Commenting on his appointment, Mr Macri said: “I am excited to be joining Mason Stevens during such a key period of growth. There is strong personal alignment given Mason Stevens’ focus on meeting the needs of each client, I am confident that together with the very talented team, we will achieve great client outcomes.”

Mr Macri is a CFA Charterholder, holds a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance & Investment from FINSIA and a BSc (Advanced Mathematics) from Macquarie University. He is currently the Chair of MarketMeter’s Advisory Board and is an Advisory Board member of Australian Estate Management. He has held previous executive roles at Macquarie Securities, Credit Suisse Asset Management, Mellon and Mercer.

The appointment follows the recent hire of Chief Financial Officer Laurent Toussaint as Mason Stevens bolsters its executive and leadership teams.

The post David Macri joins Mason Stevens as Head of Asset Allocation appeared first on AdviserVoice.

David Macri, CIO, Australian Ethical was extremely pleased with the results as they continue to demonstrate the strength of Australian Ethical’s  investment philosophy and processes, which have allowed its investors to participate in top quartile performance without compromising on ethics or their values.

“Our domestic equities portfolios have consistently achieved outperformance with below average volatility, in some cases for over 20 years, incorporating several market booms and busts,” said Mr Macri. (See Mercer February performance table below)

“Our diversified equities fund, the Larger Companies Trust, was not only the top performing SRI/Ethical fund over the 12 months ending 28 February, it was also the top performing fund in the Mercer All Growth survey of Retail funds, returning 20.9% over the last 12 months. The Trust has a 25% allocation to the award winning Australian Ethical International Equities Trust with 75% allocated to companies listed on the ASX,” Mr Macri said.

In addition, the second best performing SRI/Ethical fund was Australian Ethical’s Australian equities fund, the Smaller Companies Trust, which returned 20.8% for our investors over the 12 months.

“While some may expect our a lack of exposure to the poorly performing Resources sector would have generated the most alpha, the main drivers of our excellent returns have in fact come from the healthcare, utilities and information technology sectors. Not only did the sectors outperform the market, our stock selection within these sectors added significant value for our investors,” Mr Macri said.

“It’s a real testament to not only our investment philosophy, style and process, but to an excellent and highly experienced investment team that are heavily focused and motivated  on delivering sustainable outperformance,” Mr Macri concluded.

The February Mercer Survey for managed funds and super

Managed Fund

• Advocacy Fund ranked 3^rd/24 over 6 months and 2^nd/23 over 1 year and FYTD.
• Larger Companies Trust ranked 3^rd/24 over 1 and 3 months, 2^nd/24 over 6 months, 1^st/23 over 1 and 2 years and FYTD, 1^st/19 over 3 years and 2^nd/14 over 7 years.
• Smaller Companies Trust ranked 1^st/67 over 7 years and 1^st/54 over 10 years.

Super and Pension

• Growth Pension ranked 1^st/65 over 1 and 6 months, 1 year and FYTD, 3^rd/65 over 3 months, 2^nd/63 over 2 years and 1^st/63 over 3 years.
• Smaller Companies Pension ranked 3^rd/68 over 7 years.
• Defensive Super ranked 3^rd/9 over 10 years.
• Growth Super ranked 1^st/50 over 1 month, 3^rd/50 over 6 months, 2^nd/50 over 1 year, 2^nd/45 over 2 years and 1^st/41 over 3 years.
• Advocacy Super ranked 3^rd/25 over 1 year.

The post Australian Ethical funds continue to lead most Mercer Survey performance categories appeared first on AdviserVoice.

Investing in ethical companies listed on the ASX, with a focus on ‘small cap’ stocks, produced a return of 16.05% for Australian Ethical’s Smaller Companies fund taking out the number one spot in SuperRatings’ ‘Australian Shares’ category.

This return provided Australian Ethical members with 65% higher returns than the second ranked option (9.69% return) and a staggering 225% more in returns than the median of 4.93% of the 85 other funds assessed in the category.

These results trumped well-known funds such as BT Super for Life and Statewide Super.

David Macri, Chief Investment Officer of Australian Ethical commented, “The results reflect both our commitment to our ethics and a proven investment process which has consistently enabled us to outperform.”

Australian Ethical’s Advocacy fund option was also top out of the 69 funds in the SuperRatings’ ‘High Growth’ category with a return of 15.98% in comparison to the median return of 9.06% from the other funds in the category.

The Advocacy option is invested in both Australian and international shares, with a small provision made to purchase shares for corporate advocacy purposes that aren’t approved under the company’s ethical assessment process.

In addition to the unique approach to investing, Australian Ethical takes an approach of complete transparency, as Macri further explains “We invest according to our ethical charter which is available on our website, alongside every single company that we invest in,”

“This gives customers the opportunity to see if their ethics align with our charter and to view the types of companies their super will be generating a profit from – this type of transparency is rare in the financial services sector.” concluded Macri.

Australian Ethical’s approach means that investing in industries like tobacco, uranium or coal mining, exploitation of people, or old growth forest logging are out and investing in building a new low-carbon economy, funding medical and technology breakthroughs, and energy efficiency are in.

The post Money + Ethics – the winning mix for savvy investors appeared first on AdviserVoice.

“I am delighted to move Mason up to full control of the Larger Companies Trust. He has become an invaluable team member at Australian Ethical over his 2+ years with us and is well regarded as an analyst. I have no doubt he has the necessary skills required to manage the Trust. His dedication and passion for investing is obvious for all to see,” said David Macri, CIO, Australian Ethical.

Prior to joining Australian Ethical Mason spent three years at ING Investment Management as a senior equity analyst. His career has also included time at ABN Amro and AMP Capital Investors. He is a CFA charter holder.

Mason replaces CIO David Macri as PM of the Trust to allow David more time to focus on strategic development of the current business and its offerings, as well as concentrating on managing the team and the overall investment process for managed funds and Australian Ethical’s superannuation fund.

The post Australian Ethical appoints Mason Willoughby-Thomas CFA as portfolio manager for the $277mn Australian Ethical Larger Companies Trust appeared first on AdviserVoice.