Government-sponsored pensions savings scheme allowing foreign managers to gain visibility in the Nordic region

ACM’s Mark Luning helped persuade his bosses in the US that the future would be about distributing funds through retail bank branches in Europe. With the prestigious, yet unproven, Deutsche deal under his belt he speaks to Yuri Bender

With responsibility for $112bn (e86bn) of Alliance’s $480bn total in assets under management, the non-US arm of ACM is a force to be reckoned with. Assets gathered from Europe are not disclosed, but received a shot in the arm when ACM International opened marketing offices in Germany, Spain and Switzerland in 2000. A Swedish office has opened in 2004.

Buoyed by a strong belief in the wisdom of third-party distribution, home-grown talent such as BNP Paribas, Axa, Crédit Agricole and Société Générale is making significant inroads into European markets. Yuri Bender explains

Distribution of third-party funds is growing in France at the same time as European banks open their networks to French products. Marc Raynaud, global head of mutual fund distribution, and Mario Petrachi, head of French mutual fund distribution at BNP Paribas Asset Management, talk to PWM about these trends

With profitability in mind, just how ‘open’ should distributors be when offering third-party products? Paula Garrido reports on the various views expressed at PWM’s second Open Architecture Forum

For Credit Suisse Private Bank, represented by Zurich-based third-party product chief Burkhard Varnholt, open architecture distribution is one of the tools which should be born in mind when translating market views into third-party product creation.

While some distributors are still considering whether to embrace OA, for others this has proved to be the only route ahead to remain competitive in an environment where investors are becoming more and more demanding.

If implemented properly, OA can bring benefits to the organisations involved and best value for customer, but according to Marc Hannan, at Barclays Global Investors, there are some risks that need to be considered.

As always happens when it comes to sales in a competitive environment, there is a danger that the end customers might buy the wrong product or one that does not fulfil their needs.

The private banking industry must respond to the downturn in global returns by adopting innovative asset management techniques

The fund of hedge fund strategy aims to produce absolute returns while inherently keeping a close grip on risk

DPI methodology has been designed to balance the allocations between risky and non-risky investments in order to maximise returns

UBS’s ‘Bank for Banks’ outsourcing initiative offers smaller institutions the capabilities to pack a global punch, writes Paula Garrido

Although European corporate bond spreads are tight and relatively pricey most analysts are cautiously upbeat on the asset class. Simon Hildrey explains

Just three managers in 50 years is testament to the Templeton Growth Fund’s belief in stability. Paula Garrido reports on a long-term perspective

“Entering the new year, our portfolio still stands near its maximum level of investment in equity (60 per cent) due to both fundamental and sentiment/liquidity factors. On the fixed income side, we drastically reduced our interest rate sensitive position after the euro rate hit its lowest ever. On the equity side, we switched a part of the portfolio to US equity, mainly from European oil companies, hurt by a declining dollar. Going forward, we intend to keep or equity holdings next to their maximum.”

“In euro terms all major markets made positive grounds in December for the second month running. It was a great month for our fund selections in general, lead by Legg Mason whose stunning charge during that month quadrupled the return of the average US fund. The few disappointments came in the bond sector where Baring High Yield Bond brought up the rear. Into 2005, our equity overweight is moderate.”

“The signs are encouraging that the spike in energy prices has served to mute the amplitude of the US economic cycle rather than end it prematurely. Crucially, employment trends and business confidence have remained solid, even as consumption has softened. Assuming that oil prices stabilise below $45 [e34] and that exchange rate adjustments are not too disruptive, we expect respectable (3 per cent plus) global growth in 2005.”

“As we expected equity markets, especially emerging markets, have performed very well. With Japan lagging behind our expectations we cut back the Newton Japan Equity to 4 per cent and therefore increased the Fidelity European Growth Fund by 2 per cent and the Oyster fund by 1 per cent. We also took profits in the M&G; Global Leaders fund and raised the stake of the defensive Meinl European Land to 10 per cent.”

“In 2004, financial markets posted performances in line with their level of risks: equities performed better than bonds, which in turn performed better than cash. Risk aversion was high as a consequence of the 2000-2003 equity bear market and it shouldn’t diminish significantly in 2005. Therefore, we don’t expect equity valuations to improve by much: equity returns will be driven by earnings improvement. With fixed income, the risk is asymmetric: there is a higher probability that interest rates fare higher, however, in a moderate way.”

“By adding Rodinia Fund to the portfolio we intend to provide further diversification and expect to benefit from the unconventional approach Alex Roepers has successfully established more than 10 years ago.

Alex Roepers has built an exceptionally impressive and consistent track record. His investment style can be characterised as a fundamental, bottom-up value approach combined with constructive shareholder activism.”

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.

In a world of ever diminishing openings Ricardo Maxit highlights the attractions of Latin America