State Street Global Advisers has launched two new fixed income exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that invest in Australian government, semi-government and corporate bonds.
The SPDR S&P/ASX Australian Bond Fund and SPDR S&P/ASX Australian Government Bond Fund are the first ETFs to track indices from the S&P/ASX Australian Fixed Income Index Series, said State Street.
The S&P/ASX Australian Government Bond Index is 53.1 per cent government bonds and 46.9 per cent semi-government bonds, while the S&P/ASX Fixed Interest Index is 36.3 per cent government bonds, 32 per cent semi-government bonds, 21.5 per cent supranational/sovereign bonds and 10.2 per cent corporate bonds.
State Street signalled its intent on expanding ETF operations earlier this month, appointing former Russell Investments staffer Amanda Skelly to head up the Australian ETF business and Shaun Parkin to lead the push into the institutional market as business development manager.
A major super fund has defended its use of private markets in a submission to ASIC, asserting that appropriate governance and information-sharing practices are present in both public and private markets.
A member body representing some prominent wealth managers is concerned super funds’ dominance is sidelining small companies in capital markets.
Earlier this month, several Australian superannuation funds fell victim to credential stuffing attacks, which saw a small number of members lose more than $500,000.
Small- to medium-sized funds have become collateral damage in an "imperfect" model for super industry levies, a financial institution has said.