110: Allspring Global Investment's Jamie Newton – Is Now The Time to Add Duration?
Conversations with Institutional Investors
Release Date: 03/04/2025
125: The Devolution of Neoliberalism – UTS Finance Department Roundtable
Conversations with Institutional Investors
In this special edition of the [i3] Podcast, in collaboration with the UTS Finance Department, we explore how the neoliberal model of economics, which largely ignored politics and focused on financial metrics, has eroded over time and made way for the rise of populism, which has exerted its influence on economies around the world. Why did the guardrails that neoliberalism provided slowly disappear and what are the consequences of this? Is there any model that will replace it? Political Economist Elizabeth Humphrys, Geopolitical Specialist Philipp Ivanov and UTS Industry Lecturer Rob Prugue...
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124: Fidelity's James Richards – Investing in Energy Transition Materials
Conversations with Institutional Investors
In this episode, I'm speaking with James Richards, Co-portfolio Manager of Fidelity International's Transition Materials Strategy. James runs a strategy that invests in stocks of companies that are exposed to materials that will play a crucial role in the energy transition. And it's not all about copper or lithium. James keeps his investment universe wide and includes commodities, such as animal fats and wood chips. We discussed the spike in rare earth materials earlier this year. We also look at why this is a super-cycle, but unlike the previous, China-led one. And finally, we explore...
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123: Cbus' Linda Cunningham – Pricing Risk in Debt Investments, Private Credit and the Impact of Retail Investors
Conversations with Institutional Investors
Note: This episode was recorded before the release of ASIC's Private Credit Surveillance Report 820. The ASIC report mentioned in the podcast relates to the Private Credit in Australia Report 814, released in September 2025. In this episode of The [i3] podcast, I'm speaking with Linda Cunningham, who is the Head of Debt and Alternatives for Cbus Super. We talk about some of Linda's core beliefs when it comes to debt investing, including the banking 101, to be very careful when borrowing short and lending long at the same time. We discuss the importance of cash flows and ensuring the ability of...
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122: Fidelity's Maroun Younes and James Abela – SMIDs in a World of Large Cap Dominance, Are Things About to Change?
Conversations with Institutional Investors
In Episode 122 of the [i3] Podcast, Conversations with Institutional Investors, we speak with Maroun Younes and James Abela, co-portfolio managers of the Fidelity Global Future Leaders strategy, about the attractiveness of small and mid-cap investments, a $12 trillion market with significant growth potential. They acknowledge the recent underperformance of small caps due to market concentration in large caps, particularly in US tech, but point out that people are starting to wake up to the risks associated with those concentrations. Are we in an AI bubble, driven by these large caps? The...
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121: JANA's Mary Power – Offices Market Woes, Liquidity and Blended Approaches to Property
Conversations with Institutional Investors
In this episode of the [i3] podcast, I'm speaking with Mary Power, who is the Head of Property Research at asset consultant Jana. We cover the struggles of the property market in the early 90s, when Mary started out in the industry, and the learnings from that time. We take a look at how investors have dealt with 13 consecutive rate rises, starting in 2022 and we cover portfolio construction issues, including blending listed and unlisted property assets, the convergence of real estate and infrastructure, while Mary also predicts that up to 50% of Australian property money might be reallocated...
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120: Stanford University's Ashby Monk - The Future of the Pension Industry
Conversations with Institutional Investors
In this episode, I speak with Ashby Monk, who is Executive & Research Director at Stanford Long-term Investing, a part of Stanford University in California. Ashby has been advising most of the large superannuation funds in Australia on governance, organisational efficiency and knowledge management. He is a regular visitor to our country, and has been here 55 times. We discuss the future of the superannuation industry and the role of innovation. Unsurprisingly, this means that we spend a fair amount of time talking about artificial intelligence and the changes it might bring to the...
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119: Janus Henderson's Richard Brown – Small Caps in a Concentrated World
Conversations with Institutional Investors
In this episode of the [i3] Podcast, I'm speaking with Richard Brown, who is a Client Portfolio Manager with Janus Henderson Investors. And today we are going to talk about global small caps. We look at whether small caps are affected by the increasing concentration of the equity markets, particularly in the US, where technology stocks have dominated returns in recent years. We talk about catalysts for unlocking the current small cap discount versus large caps, including the rate environment and the current business cycle. And we take a look at a few case studies of where to invest and where...
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118: National Reconstruction Fund's Mary Manning – Supporting Australian Manufacturing, Quantum Diamonds and Cyber Security
Conversations with Institutional Investors
In this episode of the [i3] podcast, “Conversations with Institutional Investors”, we speak with Mary Manning, Chief Investment Officer of the National Reconstruction Fund Corporation, a recently established $15 billion fund that has been set up to promote the manufacturing industry in Australia. We speak with Mary about the investment objectives and how to balance investing in innovative new technologies, such as the fund's investment in quantum diamonds, that is industrial diamonds, not the fancy ones, with the risk profile of the fund, Mary reveals that they have over 900 applications...
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117: Geopolitics with Alan Dupont – Tech wars, Geoeconomics and the Mag 7
Conversations with Institutional Investors
In this episode, I'm speaking with Dr Alan Dupont, who is the founder and CEO of Cognoscenti Group. Alan is a highly respected geopolitical strategist and has advised a wide range of governmental and commercial organisations, including the Northern Territory Government, Asia Society, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and Outcomes Australia. He has advised several Australian ministers of defence and foreign affairs, and in 2013 established and led the Abbott government's defence white paper team. Alan started his career in government, including as an Army officer, intelligence analyst...
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116: Igneo Infrastructure Partners' Danny Latham – Infrastructure 2.0, Waste to Energy and Transition Assets
Conversations with Institutional Investors
In this episode of the [i3] podcast, Conversations with Institutional Investors, we speak with Danny Latham, Partner and Head of Australia and New Zealand for Igneo Infrastructure Partners. We discuss the evolution of infrastructure assets, termed "Infrastructure 2.0," which includes renewable energy, digitalisation, and waste management. Danny highlights the shift from traditional infrastructure to more dynamic, B2B-focused assets, emphasising the importance of cash flow predictability and regulatory risks. He also touches on the role of gas as a transition fuel, the potential of...
info_outlineIn episode 110 of the [i3] Podcast, we speak with Jamie Newton, Head of Global Fixed Income Research and Deputy Head of Sustainability at Allspring Global Investments. We discuss why now is a good time to add duration to fixed income portfolios, concerns over the lack of experience with high default rates in private credit and opportunities in data centres and other digital assets. Enjoy the Show!
Overview of Podcast with Jamie Newton:
02:00 I was not going to spend 16 weeks looking through a microscope
04:00 I grew up in the go-go days of the internet
05:30 Is 2025 the year of Riding the Curve?
08:00 US Economy: ‘All in, we’re okay’
09:00 Will we ever see 19pc mortgage rates again? Highly unlikely
11:00 Recession: I think the risk has increased a little bit
12:30 Do leading indicators lag too much in today’s fast moving world?
13:30 We like ABS in general, especially in USD assets
15:00 FI opportunities in data centres and fiber assets
17:00 Concentration is not so much an issue, as there is a limit to upside in FI
20:00 Artificial intelligence and fixed income
21:30 Popularity of Private credit
22:30 Lack of experience with defaults is absolutely a concern
26:30 Green bonds
28:00 Thoughts on the Australian market
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