Archive » 2011 » Issue 88 (March)
Taking stock from emerging market story
03 March, 2011
Emerging markets are still considered an attractive long-term play, but investors are shying away from over exposure in the short-term
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Jürg Zeltner |
Major players cling to integrated model
03 March, 2011
Regulators may be targeting the ‘one-bank’ model, but the major players continue to tighten the links between units, writes Yuri Bender
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Wealth management must adapt to the Web 2.0 era
03 March, 2011
Wealth managers have been slow to embrace technology but can learn some valuable lessons from the luxury goods industry, which is using interactive services to engage with customers, writes Stephen Wall
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An opportunity too good to miss
03 March, 2011
Emerging markets should form a bigger allocation in client portfolios according to a number of private bankers, but there are several ways into the market
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Lorenz Altwegg |
Combined pressures driving the outsourcing of fund manager selection
03 March, 2011
Mercer has traditionally focused on institutional investors but the consulting firm believes private banks will increasingly seek the expertise of third parties for advice on portfolio construction. Elisa Trovato reports
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Sri Chandrasekharan, HSBC |
HSBC banking on the strength of its brand name
03 March, 2011
HSBC Global Asset Management’s distribution chief, Sri Chandrasekharan, believes imposing a single identity on the funds house has ended confusion among clients, writes Yuri Bender
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Is there hope for the 'English Patient'?
03 March, 2011
In the first of a new series of polarised debates on key issues, two leading figures in asset management discuss what the year ahead may hold for the embattled UK economy, and what this means for investors
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Approaching the divide
03 March, 2011
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Shelby du Pasquier, Lenz & Staehelin |
With pressure mounting from both politicians and regulators, most commentators believe splitting up banks into their capital markets and retail and private banking arms is inevitable. But how quickly is this likely to happen, and what does it mean for wealth management units? Yuri Bender reports
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Farley Thomas,HSBC |
Innovative providers rise to challenge of an expanding market
03 March, 2011
As the European ETF industry continues to grow, providers are looking to more niche areas to gather new assets, writes Elisa Trovato. However, with so many players in the market, is there potential for consolidation?
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Alexander Scurlock, Fidelity |
Bright spots may yet cloud over
03 March, 2011
Investors have been largely underweight European equities of late, but inflows are improving with optimism driven by strong earnings growth in the North. However, there are worries that this may not be a long-term trend, writes Ceri Jones
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Climate Change 2011 - Introduction and speaker biographies
03 March, 2011
Forces of nature increase influence on investment returns
PWM invited seven leading figures in private banking and asset management to discuss the role climate change and sustainable investing considerations are having within the industry. Topics covered included the key drivers for sustainable investing and the prevalence of thematic funds. Elisa Trovato leads the discussion
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Climate Change 2011 Part 1 - Investing in climate change
03 March, 2011
Elisa Trovato
Welcome to the roundtable about climate change and sustainable investing. The aim for today’s discussion is to assess the impact of climate change on investment decisions.
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Climate Change 2011 Part 2 - The regulatory perspective
03 March, 2011
Elisa Trovato
Matt, what do you think are the fundamental drivers of the climate change theme that will be turning up in the year ahead, perhaps from the regulatory point of view? Are there any major initiatives underway?
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Climate Change 2011 Part 3 - Government policy and subsidies
03 March, 2011
Elisa Trovato
Looking at the at the government policies in the clean energy sector, what is the impact of subsidies on market efficiency? For example, in the US there are concerns about long-term legislative support for renewables, which is undermining the growth of the industry, as all the green jobs, and a lot of investments are going to places like China and Germany, where they have long-term programs.
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Climate Change 2011 Part 4 - Sustainable investments in private investors’ portfolios
03 March, 2011
Elisa Trovato
Themes, such as those related to water scarcity or clean energy, are easy to understand and to explain, they often incorporate an ethical or responsible investing component and meet investors’ increasing interest in this area. Are thematic funds still the most powerful means to draw investors’ interest in this area?
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Climate Change 2011 Part 5 - Exploding the underperformance myth
03 March, 2011
Elisa Trovato
Is that any clear evidence that can explode the myth that responsible investments under-perform?
And how important is the feel-good factor for clients to invest in sustainable investments?
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Climate Change 2011 Part 6 - Sustainable investing in emerging markets
03 March, 2011
Elisa Trovato
In emerging markets, is there enough data available for identifying companies with high standards of sustainability, in order to limit the sustainability risk?
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Climate Change 2011 Part 7 - Growth drivers
03 March, 2011
Elisa Trovato
Today there are also many sustainable products, indices and rankings of organisations by carbon emissions. Is this growing awareness going to have a positive impact on the way asset managers manage their funds or the way investors perceive sustainable products?
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Climate Change 2011 - Links to climate change studies
03 March, 2011
The latest Vontobel study entitled "Sustainable Investing in Asia - Uncovering Opportunities and Risks" shows that investors are significantly underestimating the topic of sustainability in Asia as there is a very high return potential for sustainable investments in the Asian region (excl. Japan) and the volume could increase from the current USD 20 billion up to USD 4,000 billion.
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Climate Change 2011 - A shorter version of the discussion
03 March, 2011
Forces of nature increase influence on investment returns
PWM invited seven leading figures in private banking and asset management to discuss the role climate change and sustainable investing considerations are having within the industry. Topics covered included the key drivers for sustainable investing and the prevalence of thematic funds. Elisa Trovato leads the discussion
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Concerns drive search for alternative access
03 March, 2011
With worries over inflation and unrest in the Arab world, fund selectors are looking to move away from the big emerging market funds and towards other ways of accessing developing countries’ growth. Elisa Trovato reports
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Graham Duce
03 March, 2011
co-head of UK multi- manager funds, Aberdeen Asset Managers
Based in: London, UK
“The last two years have witnessed a strong recovery in global investment grade credit. However despite the strength of corporate balance sheets and continued earnings recovery within many sectors the outlook for credit going forward remains uncertain. The threat of inflation and global authorities increasing interest rates remains a dark cloud for this asset class. With this in mind we have further reduced our investment grade allocation by allocating more capital to L&G Dynamic Bond fund. While this fund can invest in high rated corporate credit it has the extra flexibility to invest in a selection of different instruments both long and short.”
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Claudio Barberis
03 March, 2011
CFA, European Fund Selection Committee, Allianz Global Investors Investments Europe
Based in: Milan, Italy
“This month we keep an overweight on the equity markets, mainly focused on the European area. We sell the BlackRock Gold fund, investing the proceeds in a fixed income multistrategy managed by Western AM, a total return fund specialized in the credit markets. This change broadens the exposure to the full global credit spectrum and terminates the long held position in the gold markets that helped the portfolio during the financial crisis. The interest rate duration of the model portfolio is still contained and principally concentrated in the Allianz Euro Bond Strategy, plus some position in absolute return bond funds..”
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Management selection team
03 March, 2011
Eurizon Capital
Based in: Milan, Italy
“A bad start to the year for the portfolio as a whole with performance below benchmark. The biggest detractor was M&G Global Basics, suffering from the set back in materials and commodities, together with the weakness in emerging stock markets. Vontobel Global ex US Equity was also a detractor. The bond portion of our portfolio remains invested in pure Government bond funds, as we maintain our conservative approach. Equity exposure was raised by 5 per cent, while fixed income was trimmed by the same percentage. The Vontobel funds, a bit too defensive in our opinion, were dropped in favor of a more pro-cyclical positioning.”
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Peter Fitzgerald
03 March, 2011
portfolio manager, BNP Paribas Wealth Management
Based in: London UK
“When a fund manager tells you his asset class is expensive and he is struggling to find attractive investments, you should pay attention. We did. We sold our holdings in the First State Latin America Fund and invested into our existing European equity managers. While we agree with the long-term growth story of emerging markets, one must be careful of overpaying.”
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Christian Jost
03 March, 2011
executive director and chief investment officer, C-Quadrat Kapitalanlage AG
Based in: Frankfurt am Main, Germany
“Most of the major international stock markets started the new year on a positive note and managed to keep up the momentum until the end of January. European equities in particular benefited from the encouraging news flow regarding the peripheral states. Portugal, for example, succeeded in raising E1.25bn during its bond auction. Our portfolio, which is allocated according to C-Quadrat Best Fonds Strategy, reacted to this market environment by increasing its exposure to European equities and high yield bonds.”
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Steffan Selbach
03 March, 2011
head of funds of funds business, Dekabank
Based in: Frankfurt am Main, Germany
“The world economy is still in good shape and the earnings season surprised on the upside. Even if we used the high levels stock markets have reached to take some profits we still hold an overweight position in equities. On a regional basis we favour Germany, Euroland and Europe. The US market represents about 24 percent, with additional investments in global emerging markets. In bonds we remain cautious because the trend of increasing yields in Euroland is still intact, and focus on German bonds with a lower duration. We also invest in corporate bonds and European and global emerging market bonds.”
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Julien Moutier
03 March, 2011
head of portfolio management, FundQuest, BNP Paribas Group
Based in: Paris, France
“January proved to be a pretty tough month for equity markets. Our active managers were penalised by strong sector and country rotation. Even emerging markets suffered from inflationary pressure, especially in China. Given the cheap valuations in the eurozone, we replaced part of our pan European holdings with the BlackRock Euro Markets fund which focuses on this area. We cut our corporate investment grade holdings as current yields are no longer compelling compared to euro sovereign debt. We bought a eurozone high yield vehicle, Allianz Euro High Yield, as investors are discounting higher default rates than forecast.”
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Lionel De Broux
03 March, 2011
manager selection specialist, IPCM, ING Private Management
Based in: Luxembourg
“January saw disappointing performance of the emerging markets and the rebound of value versus quality growth. While we have been hurt by our exposure to both emerging market equity and debt, the impact of the correction was mitigated thanks to our style diversification. Main changes that have been implemented are in the hedge fund and fixed income areas. We sold our position in the Aviva Absolute TAA, replacing it with DB Platinum IV DBX Systematic Alpha. We also opened an exposure to GAM Star Emerging Market Rates, funded via a reduction of our directional exposure to emerging debt.”
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Bernard Aybran
03 March, 2011
head of manager selection, Invesco
Based in: Paris, France
“Yet again this month, the high level asset allocation has remained unchanged, with half the portfolio invested in equity funds. Similar to the end of 2010, a zero direct weighting on government bonds has been kept. The only change made to the equity part is a bigger tilt towards the Eurozone, through a very active stock picker. A fourth fund has been added to the fixed income part: a pure global high yield corporate fund, managed in a very conservative way, aiming to minimise the default likelihood by focusing in smallest or non benchmark issues.”
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Alex Borer
03 March, 2011
senior portfolio manager, Investment Management Balanced, LGT Capital Management
Based in: Pfäffikon, Switzerland
“The start into 2011 was strong for risk asset classes – equities, commodities and credit scored well. Long bond yields continued to move upwards alongside macro economic indicators that surprise positively for three months. Because the level of bond yields is still low in comparison to long-term history, equities are more influenced by better growth prospects. Risk appetite of investors is steadily increasing, but so far we see no irrational exuberance calling for a contrarian move. We lighten the allocation to goldmines by 2 per cent and increase global inflation protected bonds accordingly.”
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David Bulteel
03 March, 2011
head of international portfolio management, Rensburg Sheppards IM
Based in: London, UK
“After a sharp run-up in markets towards the end of 2010, the month of January represented a quiet start to the new year with the vast majority of the funds delivering plus or minus 1 per cent in absolute (euro) terms. On a peer group basis the relative performance of Threadneedle Asian is causing us most concern at the present time. No changes were made to the portfolio.”
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Gary Potter (L) and Rob Burdett
03 March, 2011
co-heads of multi-management, Thames River
Based in: London, UK
“Having ended 2010 strongly the tone was more muted in January as rising commodity prices and input costs were factored into inflation expectations. Europe was the one positive area, with emerging markets falling the furthest. The best performing fund of the selection was the CF Odey UK Absolute Return fund more than doubling the return of any other holding. The Veritas Asian fund was the worst, suffering the fate of Asian markets which fell as investors sold risk. We have made a number of fund changes this month to reflect our pragmatic approach to 2011 which we see as a year of continued volatility and opportunity.”
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