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5 days ago | 
financialnewswire.com.au | Patrick Buncsi
Australia’s financial crimes investigator and intelligence organisation AUSTRAC has vowed to expand its collaborative data analytics hub, making it a “central function” of its financial crimes fight. AUSTRAC has hailed the success of the Fintel Alliance, the public-private financial data sharing cooperative which it oversees, declaring its intention to build out the alliance’s real-time data analytics hub.
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5 days ago | 
financialnewswire.com.au | Patrick Buncsi
AMP has announced a slew of upgrades to its adviser platform North, including a first-ever direct document upload and messaging capability, and a real-time tracker for client tasks. The enhancements promise to “reduce follow-ups, minimise delays, and enable real-time servicing without leaving the platform”, AMP said. Among the upgrades include a newly enhanced Activity Management Dashboard – a centralised tool to help advice practices manage and track client activities.
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6 days ago | 
financialnewswire.com.au | Patrick Buncsi
Gold bullion trading this month hit a new baseline floor price of US$3,000-3,100 (AU$4,700-4,850) per ounce, State Street’s latest Monthly Gold Monitor reports, with a protracted global trade war likely to buttress demand for gold as a safe haven and alternative fiat asset. Noting increased price volatility and higher gold price, State Street has widened its gold price outlook to US$400/oz from US$300/oz. The new baseline rate is up from US$2,800 to US$3,100 reported in April.
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1 week ago | 
financialnewswire.com.au | Patrick Buncsi
Exchange traded fund (ETF) specialist Global X has launched its newest ETF targeting listed technology innovators in China and Hong Kong. The China Tech ETF (DRGN) is a passively managed fund tracking the Global X Tech 20 Index – a proprietary index providing pure-play exposure to the Chinese tech sector. Based on Global X’s simulations, the Index has returned 8.0% to investors over the previous three years, and 7.1% in the year to date.
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1 week ago | 
financialnewswire.com.au | Patrick Buncsi
Artificial intelligence (AI) is seeing unprecedented uptake within the financial planning sector, with the technology yielding significant improvements in client engagements, despite ongoing concerns over the security and the accuracy of outputs.
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1 week ago | 
financialnewswire.com.au | Patrick Buncsi
Leading Australian advice technology developer GBST has announced key enhancements to its WealthConnect advice platform, flagging plans to embed advanced artificial intelligence (AI) features within the year. The most recent upgrades include a range of new wizards, research tools, and comparison features. This comes on top of extensive platform upgrades unveiled early last year.
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1 week ago | 
financialnewswire.com.au | Patrick Buncsi
First Sentier Investors has appointed seasoned finance chief and former investment banker Ashley Conn to head its financial and strategy function. Conn succeeds interim chief financial and strategy officer Noel O’Brien, who stepped in following the departure of Suzanne Evans earlier this year after nearly six years in the role. Conn joins First Sentier from Super Retail Group, owner of several high-profile Australian retailers, where he was interim general manager of group finance.
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1 week ago | 
financialnewswire.com.au | Patrick Buncsi
Digital assets trader BTC Markets has welcomed the re-election of the Albanese Labor Government, with the incumbent administration providing, it says, “the policy continuity and the stable governance” to meaningfully progress digital assets sector reform. Caroline Bowler, chief executive of BTC Markets, a major Australian-owned digital assets exchange, said the Albanese Government’s electoral victory brings “a legislative mandate and a timeline” for effective digital assets regulation.
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1 week ago | 
financialnewswire.com.au | Patrick Buncsi
While reflation of global bond yields has reinvigorated interest in the credit market and drawn investors back into the bond fold, many income-dependent investors feel shortchanged by plummeting cash distributions. Investment researcher Zenith, in a review of its International Fixed Interest (IFI) universe, has identified a growing gap between bond funds’ average portfolio yields and income distributions.
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2 weeks ago | 
financialnewswire.com.au | Patrick Buncsi
Aware Super has laid out its succession plan for long-serving chief investment officer (CIO) Damian Graham, with Australia’s third biggest super fund set to appoint a new CIO before the end of this year. Graham, who has served as the super fund’s investment chief for more than 12 years (including its previous incarnation, State Super), will transition to Aware’s London office to serve as head of international.
