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24 March 2026
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Market volatility and uncertainty in 2025 prompt the need for a diversified portfolio. Floating Rate Notes offer stability, income, and protection against interest rate risks, making them a valuable investment option.
If you’re struggling to replace the hybrid exposure in your portfolio, you’re not alone. Subordinated debt is an option, and here is a guide on what it is and how it can fit into your investment mix.
In designing rules to protect investors, ASIC prevents reinvestment in products some people have held for years, even when investors qualify as 'wholesale'. How can ASIC change the rules to correct the imbalance?
Conservative investors who want the greater capital security of bonds can now lock in 5% but they should stay at the higher end of credit quality. Rises in rates and defaults mean it's not as easy as it looks.
The recent rise in the prices of bank hybrids fails to recognise the risks involved, and they now look expensive compared to alternatives available to both retail and institutional investors.
The margins (or spreads) on so-called AT1 bank hybrids have reduced significantly since the franking doubt was removed in the election, and investors should ask whether they are now rewarded for the risks.
While property and equity markets remain expensive by historical standards, yields achievable relative to risk remain strong in the hybrid market, notwithstanding recent upticks in price.
Factors relating to technical adjustments, timing of bank reporting and offshore influences have created wider spreads on bonds and hybrids which should mean revert in time.
Hybrids are complex instruments but they can be viewed as a bond with an embedded option, and they convert to equity in certain circumstances. Investors should consider the risk of this happening.
Subordinated debt issues are a less risky investment than capital notes and hybrids, but each transaction is different and not riskless. The current issue of NAB Subordinated Notes is just one example.
A more rational taxation system that supports home ownership but discourages asset speculation could provide greater financial support to first home buyers.
The capital gains tax discount is under review, but debate should go beyond its size. Its original purpose, design flaws and distortions suggest Australia could adopt a better, more targeted approach.
One in five Australians die before retirement and most have not set up their super properly so their loved ones can benefit from all their hard work and savings.
An ageing Australia is shifting the superannuation system’s focus from accumulation to the lifecycle of retirement. While these pressures have been anticipated for decades, they are now converging at scale and driving widespread industry change.
The 20 years after Peter Costello left Treasury have been deemed wasted...by Peter Costello. The missed opportunities for Australia began long before.
The best way to deal with the incoming Division 296 tax on superannuation is likely doing nothing. Earnings will be taxed regardless of where the money sits, so here are some important considerations.