The recent appointment of Andrea Succo to Milan by Fortis Investment Management Italy begins a push for external client funds in line with its chief executive’s vision.

Expanding ETF products for European investors

Germany’s HypoVereinsbank (HVB) was out promoting Europe’s first government bond exchange-traded fund (ETF) at the Eurofunds 2003 conference in Munich this month.

SG expands to fill demand for covered warrants

French investment bank Société Générale has extended its coverage of European indices with new put and call warrants on the German DAX, the French CAC 40 and the UK FTSE 100 indices. The firm has issued the new covered warrants mainly on financial sector companies, such as UK bank Abbey National. David Lake, SG’s warrants director, said SG was responding to client demand. SG claims to have the largest market share – 15 per cent – of the warrants market worldwide.

Insurance companies often make headlines for all the wrong reasons, such as selling off equities and destabilising the market.

But for fund distributors, insurance companies are a gateway to a whole new customer base. Today’s emphasis on “best of breed” has led insurers to provide client access to the widest possible range of investment funds. Some even offer hedge funds. Long gone are the days of “own brand only.” Investing through insurance provides valuable tax benefits for customers – so valuable that the UK Government is considering changes.

Skandia adds Neptune double to fund range

Fund of funds provider Skandia has added two funds from Robin Geffen’s top performing Neptune stable to its range. Neptune was praised by Skandia’s selection team for its “excellent reputation” and ability to provide real returns. According to Standard & Poor’s, in 2002, Neptune’s Balanced fund ranked first out of 267 funds, and the UK equity fund ranked second out of 284 funds.

Demand from distributors was the impetus behind plans for a range of capital guaranteed products.

The ready-to-launch range of higher risk funds of hedge funds products will be the French company’s number one priority this year.

Wealthy investors seeking high yields may be attracted to MBS assets.

Investment bank Merrill Lynch is heavily promoting the concept of mortgage-backed securities (MBS), an often overlooked asset class, at a time when private clients are faced with an overwhelming shortage of suitable opportunities.

Outsourcing agreement means WealthBench will merge with Arakis in order to bring economy of scale to online wealth management service.

Wealthy private investors are one of the key targets of a new set of initiatives likely to follow an initial collaboration between the Italian stock exchange and index provider Standard & Poor’s.

The buyer/supplier relationship depends on such factors as whether the supplier can speak the local language and understand their clients’ businesses. Thus, suppliers need to keep their feet on the ground – literally – or risk alienating themselves from buyers. Monica Lara Acera gives a breakdown of Sector Analysis data gathered from across Europe, which shows different attitudes to ‘local presence’.

Roxane McMeeken talks to Pioneer’s new chief executive, Matteo Perruccio, about how he expects to meet some ambitious targets for product sales.

Yuri Bender explains why Morgan Stanley has tended to depend on banks for distribution and why depolarisation in the UK market is so crucial.

Despite the economic slowdown, Stefano Russo, managing director of distribution at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, recently presided over a significant landmark: the gathering of E15bn from European markets.

Roxane McMeeken profiles the fledgling Luxembourg firm which is offering to take care of the back- and middle-office needs of smaller banks, advisers and insurance companies.

Listed securities offer unique opportunities to diversify and hedge risk, if investors have the capability to consistently simulate asset behaviours across all markets.

Barclays Global Investors’ iShares brings the benefits of the exchange-traded fund – diversified exposure to numerous companies through a cheap and efficient single trade – to the bond market.

Despite the early resistance, this product, from Euronext.liffe, has rapidly taken off since its launch in 2001.

In an ideal world, investors would be able to take advantage of the current volatility of market indices, without the high costs of frequently buying and selling shares in their component companies.

The pace of development of London’s fledgling covered warrants market has attracted some comment recently. The advantages should appeal to sophisticated investors over the long term however.

Yuri Bender profiles the BNP Paribas Parvest European Bond Opportunities fund, which gives ‘fallen angels’ – downgraded household-name corporate bonds that used to be well respected – a second chance to fly high.

Simon Hildrey explains why the covered warrants market flourishes under current volatile conditions.

Thirty-seven new star funds make it into Canada Life’s Choice 100+ range, writes Roxane McMeeken.

Each month in PWM, six top European asset allocators reveal how they would spend E100,000 in a fund supermarket for a fairly conservative client with a balanced strategy.

Roxane McMeeken explains how two funds from Merrill Lynch have maintained their ‘must-have’ status.

CDC Ixis AM plans to launch ‘more daring’ hedge funds this year. Roxane McMeeken reports.

Roxane McMeeken writes about the unique benefits of the British commercial real estate market.

Roxane McMeeken explains how Carlyle has developed a unique distribution partnership with Coutts.

In this section of PWM we analyse two model portfolios constructed according to particular investment strategies. Each month we will look at a different European and global basket of stocks.