Fidelity’s deals with Deutsche Bank,Deutsche Postbank and Frankfurter Sparkasse show the market’s future.

SG powers up with 37 new warrants

Société Générale’s investment banking arm SG has backed up its confidence in the future of the fledgling UK covered warrant market by issuing 37 new warrants.

A freeing up of the UK market means banks will move towards the continental model of distributing third-party products.

Russell to develop portfolio analysis tools for partners.

Teresa Smith is now SEI’s London business director

SEI Investments has promoted Teresa Smith (pictured) to business director on the London Wealth Team. She will handle SEI’s 30 existing UK adviser partnerships and develop new relationships. Key targets are financial planning arms of professional firms including solicitors. She has worked for two years with SEI’s Wealth Team.

Yuri Bender reports on the paucity of Islamic products available.

EU deal protects savings secrecy – but its days could be numbered.

US manager to take advantage of Scottish Equitable’s UK retail sales channel.

On one side are the companies who would distribute the kind of retail savings products suggested by the UK Treasury review, and on the other are the fund managers who would more likely focus on creating products.

MFT’s Global Fund Administration System to take control of transfer agency, reports Roxane McMeeken.

Robin Geffen, one of the UK’s best performing fund managers over the last five years, is looking to expand distribution of his Neptune suite of equity products into Continental Europe.

Pictet makes fixed-income funds available in Sweden

Geneva-headquartered Pictet has registered its fixed income funds for sale in Sweden, both directly to private clients and through banks, Internet platforms and unit-linked providers. Rémy Best, managing partner of Pictet Funds, said Swedish demand for global bonds is fuelled by limited domestic opportunities.

The one factor that can make all the difference to fund distributors is access to more information. Akram Ben issues a warning to suppliers.

Royal Bank of Canada is securing its European presence with trust acquisitions, but, as chief executive Michael Lagopoulos explains to Yuri Bender, the focus is still on winning the faith of international clients.

Having set up stages one and two of its distribution model across Scandinavia, T. Rowe Price is now looking for the right associations for the ‘instividual’ stage to be pursued in the rest of Europe. Yuri Bender reports.

Roxane McMeeken finds out why so many institutions are refusing to jump onto the back-office outsourcing bandwagon, despite the advantages on offer.

In order to keep their investment goals on track and to limit risk, investors with cash-heavy portfolios need to rework their asset allocations. Here are some strategies they could put to use.

For investors who disapprove of too much cash sitting idly by in their portfolios, the advantages of using exchange-traded funds to soak up this cash are apparent: flexibility, diversification benefits and fair cost.

The greatest appeal of the AAA-rated money market fund lies in its simplicity and ease of use, plus it fits perfectly into the portfolios that are shifting away from high-risk investments.

With its built-in diversification across strategies, individual managers, markets and regions, the fund of hedge funds aims to deliver absolute returns decorrelated with traditional asset classes, but does so with limited volatility and controlled drawdown.

Fidelity Investments’ recently launched Global Focus fund is geared neither to the uninitiated nor the risk-averse, but to those high net worth investors willing to veer off the benchmark-beaten path. Yuri Bender writes

Simon Hildrey explains the allure of structured products and how their designs and actual day-to-day uses vary between providers.

Yuri Bender finds out what inspires the choice of fund selections at France’s Banque du Louvre.

High on stability but low on flash: Roxane McMeeken explains what makes Pimco’s flagship fund a star.

Roxane McMeeken finds that real estate in European cities is valued more if there are good connections.

Confident managers are expanding their private equity offerings, writes Roxane McMeeken

Is the fund of funds route less risky than direct investment? Roxane McMeeken presents the arguments.

Insulated by a border of dense pine forest and frequently under a cloud of mist, the city-state of Luxembourg is deceptively well connected.