A press release entitled, "SunGard Extends SGN Short-Term Investment Portal to Cash Managers in Australia," tell us, "SunGard has expanded its SunGard Global Network (SGN) Short-Term Cash Management portal to include Australian Money Market Funds. The SGN portal helps cash managers efficiently research, trade and report on their money market fund investments, while diversifying their investment options and establishing global best practices."
SunGard's release continues, "While corporations, insurance companies, pension funds and other cash investors in Australia typically invest cash in overnight holdings with banks, many are seeking greater yield, liquidity, diversification and ease of use. As part of an initiative to deliver the portal to customers in the greater Asia-Pacific region, SunGard's expansion of the portal into Australia includes funds from Goldman Sachs Asset Management & Partners Australia Pty Ltd., and Colonial First State Investments Limited. The SGN portal helps cash managers simplify tasks and limit the risk of errors. It also helps them integrate information into their treasury systems, including SunGard's AvantGard corporate treasury, cash and risk management solution, and increase transparency with fund managers by providing a wide variety of fund portfolio data."
Subash Pillai, head of fixed interest and multi-sector at Goldman Sachs Asset Management & Partners Australia Pty Ltd, says, "In today's more volatile credit environment, investors are increasingly focused on managing the credit risks associated with their cash and short term liquidity holdings. As a result, we are seeing a trend towards AAAm rated MMFs due to the ability of specialist investment managers to assess credit and liquidity risks."
Tony Togher, head of short-term investments at Colonial First State Global Asset Management, comments, "Asset managers and corporations seeking diversification of assets, liquidity and opportunity for enhanced yield may be ideally suited to using money market funds."
John Vander Vennet, managing director, Asia-Pacific for SunGard's wealth management business, adds, "It is our experience that since the global financial crisis, corporations, super funds and fund managers tend to hold greater amounts of liquid assets, including cash reserves. SunGard's Short Term Cash Management portal provides treasurers and asset managers with easy access to a wide variety of money market funds through which they may readily invest these assets. We look forward to working with both investors and money managers in extending SGN's presence in Australia and more broadly throughout Asia, as well as expanding opportunity for US and European investors already on the portal."
Crane Data is only aware of a handful of Australian Dollar Money Market Funds available to multinational investors, but Australia does have a budding domestic money market fund business. (See our Sept. 30 Link of the Day "Moody's Withdraws Some Ratings", which says, "Moody's Investors Service has withdrawn for business reasons the Aaa/MR1+ ratings of six Nomura money market funds: Nomura Multi Currency MMF -- US Money Market Fund, Australian Dollar Money Market Fund, G.B. Pound Money Market Fund, Canadian Dollar Money Market Fund, Euro Money Market Fund, and New Zealand Dollar Money Market Fund.") In Crane Data's Nov. 2 News piece, "Worldwide MMF Assets Down 7.5 Percent in Q2; France, Portugal Fall", we wrote, "Australia ranks fifth with 4.8% of assets, or $233.8 billion, citing ICI's "Worldwide Mutual Fund Assets and Flows Second Quarter 2010".
Finally, for more recent news on online money market trading portals, see Crane Data's Nov. 8 News "ICD and BNY Mellon Portals Unveil Transparency Reports at AFP" and our November Money Fund Intelligence article, "Guzman to Launch MF Portal; More AFP News."
