Pixabay CC0 Public Domain. ¿Será 2022 un año más “débil” en términos de negocio para las gestoras?
After a positive 2021 for European asset management driven by the recovery and strong risk appetite, the analysts of Bank of America think 2022 will be more challenging given conflicting messages on markets, growth, inflation, rates and COVID. In their last report, they reveal that they are taking a defensive approach at this stage in the cycle.
Sector valuation of 14x 2022 PE is optimistic as it is above the long-term average and implies 2021 trends continuing. The research shows that although a yield of 5% is supportive, there is downside risk to ratings given the long-term correlation between markets, flows and valuation. “We prefer to be defensive at this stage in the cycle and favor stocks benefiting from structural growth (passives, private assets), absolute/total return exposure, stable asset bases (wealth) and proven cost control”, it says.
Structural growth drivers
After rising 45% in 2021, Bank of America expects sector earnings to fall 5% in 2022 as operating margins compress by 1-2pp on cost growth normalization post lockdown, lower performance fees from cyclically high levels, and “slower net new money growth”. In this sense, their strategists forecast 3% net flow growth in 2022from 4-5% in 2021. “Given the pro-cyclicality of the sector and expected market pressure, there is also downside risk to valuation. We expect a wide valuation range between those with inflows and those without”, they add.
As for the key themes of the year, the report highlights four, starting by the continued structural growth for private assets as rates remain near historically low levels and investors seek higher returns through an illiquidity premium. The second one is increasing demand for absolute/total return through hedge funds to preserve capital and diversify in light of market risks.
The last trends into 2022 would be a rotation back to passive funds (including ESG) after a strong year for active; and importance of cost management to maintain operating margins given top-line pressures.
The analysts of Bank of America don’t forecast a negative scenario, but expect structural growth drivers to outweigh cyclical in 2022 as macro uncertainty rises and market beta comes under pressure. In this sense, they favor high quality, defensive stocks; and highlight that their buy ratings have average 27% total return potential.
“Our top picks are alternative & private asset managers, Italian asset gatherers and diversified firms with leading passive exposure. Our underperform ratings are ABDN, JUP and ASHM which face outflow pressure. We think their multiples are capped until flows inflect. We have Neutral ratings on SDR, DWS, N91 and Baer”, they conclude.
Foto cedidaSophie Del Campo, responsable de distribución para el Sur de Europa y Latam de Natixis IM. . Natixis IM nombra a Sophie Del Campo responsable de distribución para el Sur de Europa y Latam
To increase proximity with local clients and partners and meet 2024 development ambitions, Natixis Investment Managers (Natixis IM) continues to execute on its strategy to strengthen key business regions. In this context, the asset manager has announced the appointment of Sophie Del Campo as Head of Distribution for Southern Europe & LATAM.
In her new role, she will be responsible for expanding Natixis IM’s footprint in the Southern Europe & LATAM region andwill oversee Iberia, Italy, LATAM and US Offshore. She is based in Madrid and reports to Joseph Pinto, Head of Distribution for Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Asia Pacific, at Natixis IM.
“Sophie’s appointment contributes to reinforce our regional capabilities and reflects our commitment to keep closer to our clients and better meet their specific needs. Since she joined Natixis IM in 2011, Sophie has achieved significant milestones. She successfully led our development in Spain, she drove our expansion in Andes, Southcone, US Offshore, and more recently in Brazil”, commentedPinto.
He also claimed to be confident that Del Campo’s “strong leadership and experience” in business development across countries and client segments will help her to succeed in her new role and to achieve their ambitions in the Southern Europe & LATAM region.
Meanwhile, Del Campo said she is pleased to take on more responsabilities: “I am looking forward to pursue our goals, together with my team. Our purpose in Southern Europe & LATAM is to deliver high quality services to our clients and offer them the investments that suit their long-term requirements. We’ll accomplish that, by following a selective and diversified development strategy, leveraging on the high-value solutions from our affiliated investment managers. We’re committed to further expand into the Retail & Wholesale market through strategic distribution partnerships, and to increase our portfolio of large accounts”.
Del Campo has 20 year experience in the asset management and financial industry. She started her carreer at Deloitte Consulting Group and then worked at ING Direct to develop a mutual funds broker-on-line in Spain. In 2001 she joined Amundi in Spain where she led the wholesale distribution until 2006, and she became Head of Distribution for the Iberian market. From 2008 to 2011, she was Head of Spain and Portugal at Pioneer Investments. Del Campo was most recently Head of Iberia, US Offshore and LATAM at Natixis Investment Managers. She holds an Master in Finance from IEP Paris, and a Master Degree in Economy from the University of Sorbonne Paris.
As demand increases for ESG investing, several key trends are emerging—from climate change to human rights. The global pandemic, in particular, has turned the spotlight on the interconnectedness of sustainability issues and financial market performance. In this Q&A, we ask Thornburg’s Director of ESG Investing & Global Investment Stewardship, Jake Walko, for his insights on ESG trends that will emerge or continue in 2022.
As sustainable investing has become relatively entrenched in Europe and is becoming more mainstream in the U.S., many asset managers have been actively integrating ESG considerations into their investment processes. There are many ways to do this. What is Thornburg’s approach?
Our philosophy centers first and foremost around appreciating the complexity of the world and the ESG issues that exist. As investors with the goal of supporting the transition to a more sustainable world, the most important thing is the ability to determine the materiality of ESG factors—in other words, teasing out material ESG factors that stand to significantly impact a company’s long-term performance. In contrast to this, there are salient ESG issues that may be anecdotally and morally important, such as human rights issues, but do not currently impact the financial performance of a company in a consistent or well understood way. So, the question then becomes: How does one determine materiality?
At Thornburg, we think the best approach is to first leverage the expertise of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) as a starting point to guideustowardthemostmaterial and actionable ESG factors. From there, we overlay our own internal analysis and research to develop a holistic ESG viewpoint on individual companies we’re interested in.Due to our commitment to the ESG space, we have a team of ESG specialists that work collaboratively and organically with our investment team. As partners, our portfolio managers, analysts, and ESG specialists discuss how we can invest in a more responsible manner while simultaneously delivering excess returns for our clients.
How big of a role do you think ESG factors, such as climate risk, generally play in determining a company’s financial performance?
Carbon emissions are likely one of the most universally material current ESG factors that can alter a company’s ESG profile. In an effort to rapidly cut emissions, many countries are turning toward policy tools, such as levying a carbon tax, in order to encourage companies to adapt and make meaningful changes to reduce their carbon footprint. While the U.S. may not be close to imposing a carbon tax, American companies from all sectors are facing pressures to reduce emissions. In this instance, the combination of tighter government regulations and increased penalties has transformed climate risk into a source of business risk for companies, which then translates into a level of investment risk for investors as well.
From a financial-performance perspective, we do not expect ESG factors to have an immediate influence on a company’s stock—any related drag on a company’s earnings or share price will be fairly incremental, occurring over an extended period of time. The exception may be such unpredictable idiosyncratic risks as petrochemical disasters, like a major oil spill, which can result in short-term abnormal losses for a company.
How useful are third-party ESG data and ratings, and do you use them as part of your process?
As interest grows in ESG criteria, investors increasingly need a way to access an objective assessment of a company’s ESG performance. While we believe ESG data can be useful in helping investors identify financially material ESG risks to a business, there’s no single data point that can inform us whether a company is a good or bad ESG citizen. Accordingly, a comprehensive ESG assessment needs to incorporate both quantitative and qualitative information about a company’s current and forward-looking ESG strategy and goals. Managers with strong commitment towards ESG investing excellence, like the one we have at Thornburg, will be better positioned to do this and can provide a richer picture of a company’s current and future ESG impact. While we leverage third-party ESG data as a starting point, we rely on our own internal research to determine our forward-looking ESG viewpoints on companies.
For example, some companies that we see as opportunities may not be obvious “good” ESG companies today, but they have the potential to be tremendously impactful in the future when it comes to moving along such ESG goals as mitigating climate risk. We believe that understanding how a company helps the transition to a more sustainable future is more important than its ESG score or label at a particular point in time.
Do you see any transformative technological innovations on the horizon? What are the key opportunities and risks to keep an eye on?
Financial markets have witnessed a general mindset shift from concern around managing ESG risks to a more opportunistic and return-driven approach: finding companies that will take on the role of creating value in this sustainability era. We think there are many potentially transformative innovations scattered across a variety of industries that have the potential to solve huge sustainability issues.
As an example, there is strong demand for a wide variety of clean-energy technologies, and these will be needed to decarbonize many parts of the economy. The electrification of cars is a popular technology that has gained a lot of traction over the years, although other promising developments include the use of hydrogen as a renewable energy source. Hydrogen, when produced sustainably, can be used as a high-efficiency fuel that has little to no environmental impact. And wind, solar, and even nuclear energy are all opportunities on the table that deserve close attention.
Thornburg is a global investment firm delivering on strategy for institutions, financial professionals and investors worldwide. The privately held firm, founded in 1982, is an active, high-conviction manager of fixed income, equities, multi-asset solutions and sustainable investments. With $49 billion in client assets ($47 billion AUM and $1.9 billion AUA as of December 31, 2021) the firm offers mutual funds, closed-end funds, institutional accounts, separate accounts for high-net-worth investors and UCITS funds for non-U.S. investors. Thornburg’s U.S. headquarters is in Santa Fe, New Mexico with offices in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai. For more information, please visit www.thornburg.com.
Xavier Pardo Y Lelo de Larrea, Executive Director de Morgan Stanley
Copyright: LinkedIn. Foto cedida
Xavier Pardo Lelo de Larrea joins Morgan Stanley this Friday as Executive Director, according to BrokerCheck.
Pardo manages more than $300 million in client assets with about 40 high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth relationships, industry sources told to Funds Society.
He has more than 16 years of experience at Citi and was most recently Director of Wealth Management at the firm, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Pardo arrives to Morgan Stanley with a team of five Citi former advisors who work with clients in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Central America.
The new team will review nearly a billion dollars in assets.
In recent weeks, several senior Citi officials have left the company after the firm announced its exit from the offshore Wealth Management business in Uruguay and Asia.
Michael Averett, Fernando Campoo and Alex Lago, also left the firm few days ago.
Foto cedidaPascal Blanqué, presidente de Amundi Institute y miembro del Comité Ejecutivo de Amundi.. Amundi crea la división Amundi Institute y reúne en ella sus actividades de análisis, estrategia de mercado y asesoramiento en asignación de activos
Amundi has announced the creation of the Amundi Institute, a new division to strengthen the advice, training and day-to-day dialogue to help their clients better understand their environment and the evolution of investment practices in order to define their asset allocation and help construct their portfolios. In this sense, the management company is responding to needs that it had been detecting for some time.
The Amundi Institute’s objective is to strengthen the advice, training and day-to-day dialogue on these subjects for all its clients – distributors, institutions and corporates – regardless of the assets that Amundi manages on their behalf, explained the firm in a press release. This new division brings together its research, market strategy and asset allocation advisory activities.
The Amundi Institute will also be responsible for conveying Amundi’s convictions and its investment and portfolio construction recommendations, thereby furthering its leadership in these areas. This new business line will continue to serve Amundi’s investment management teams and will contribute to strengthening their standards of excellence.
With an initial staff of around 60, the Amundi Institute will soon be strengthened to serve these new objectives. Pascal Blanqué has been appointed as Chairman and will supervise this new business line. He will be supported by Monica Defend, who will be Head of Amundi Institute.
“Inflation, environmental issues, geopolitical tensions… there are many structural regime changes underway. Investors across the board expect a deeper dialogue and sophisticated advice to build more robust portfolios”, said Blanqué.
Vincent Mortier will succeed Pascal as Amundi’s Group Chief Investment Officer. Mortier commented that the creation of the Amundi Institute will enhance the contribution of research to all of Amundi’s asset management activities so that they can “continue to create highperforming investment solutions over the long term, adapted to the specific needs of each client and taking into account all the parameters of an increasingly complex environment.”
Lastly, Matteo Germano, Head of Multi-Asset Investment, will be Deputy Chief Investment Officer.
Dynasty Financial Partners has announced in a press release that Sean Lindenbaum joined the firm as Director of Network Development, Southeast Division. He will be based on Florida’s East Coast and will report directly to John Sullivan, Head of Network Development.
“Sean brings a long and successful track record of experience to this newly created position at Dynasty. He has been recognized throughout his career as a skilled communicator, collaborator, and top performer – all qualities that will serve him well as he begins the next chapter of his career at Dynasty,” commented Sullivan.
In his new role, Lindenbaum will be responsible for collaborating with the Dynasty Network Development team, consulting to advisors interested in the independent model, and work alongside Dynasty’s other business segments to service the Dynasty Network as needed.
“We believe the broader southeast market, and Florida in particular, represent a significant opportunity for Dynasty. There are a number of advisors in the southeast market who are at wirehouses and IBDs who want a supported independent model and many RIAs who are looking to outsource technology, investments, and capital needs to gain further scale, efficiencies, and to grow faster both organically and inorganically”, remarked Dynasty’s CEO, Shirl Penney.
Additionally, they find that many of the top independent advisory firms and the advisors who run them “want to be independent but not alone”, so they “are looking forward to the opportunity to continue to grow” their Dynasty Network of RIAs in the southeast.
Lindenbaum was Managing Director of Sales at TD AmeritradeInstitutional from 2005-2021, where he was responsible for leading the Southeast and MidAtlantic sales team and has over 20 years of experience in delivering business solutions designed to accelerate revenue and sales growth. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Strategic Sales Planning based out of New Jersey with TD Ameritrade Institutional. He has his BS in Economics from the State University of New York at Oneonta and earned a professional certificate through Securities Industry Institute at The Wharton School.
Thus far in 2022, Dynasty has hired 9 people in St. Petersburg.
Wellington Management has announced the strategic expansion of its Alternative Investments platform through the hiring of the investment team of Shelter Haven Capital Management.
Founded in 2017 by Jerry Kochanski, an experienced alternatives portfolio manager, Shelter Haven is a market neutral, long/short equity manager that primarily focuses on small and mid-cap companies in the technology, media, telecom and consumer sectors, the asset manager revealed in a press release.
The boutique currently oversees around 350 million dollars in client assets across separate accounts and commingled funds. Its team of five investment professionals includes Hedge Fund Analysts Ross Hammer and Michael Yuan, and Research Associates Julia Karl and Alan Zhang, who will all be joining Kochanski at Wellington on 1 March. They will continue to manage the same market neutral, highly idiosyncratic investment strategy at Wellington.
The strategy focuses on delivering returns that are uncorrelated with market betas, an approach that fits well with Wellington’s plans to expand its long/short platform and build out its suite of multi-strategy investment products and custom alternative solutions to meet increasing client demand for liquid alternatives.
“This exciting development represents a unique opportunity for Wellington to expand our alternatives capabilities with an experienced investment team and an established client base. The market neutral strategy also aligns well with our alternatives priorities and demand from our clients,” said Christopher Kirk, Senior Managing Director at Wellington Alternative Investments.
Meanwhile, Kochanski commented: “I am looking forward to returning to Wellington where I began my investment career in 2003 and served as an equity analyst until 2008. Joining Wellington offers current and future clients the opportunity to access a breadth of capabilities, and benefit from the firm’s substantial global research, operational, risk, legal and compliance infrastructure.”
Michael Averett, Head de Business Development y complex manager de Bolton Global Capital
Copyright: LinkedIn. . Foto cedida
Bolton Global Capital has announced the hiring of Michael Averett as the Head of Business Development. He will also serve as a member of the firm’s Executive Committee and as the Complex Manager for Bolton’s Miami and Weston, Florida offices.
Throughout his 21-year career at Citibank, Averett has held multiple senior-level positions in the firm’s wealth management complex, most recently as Regional Director of Sales for the International Personal Bank (IPB) division, has highlighted Bolton in a press release. In this role, he led a team that managed $10 billion in client assetsand generated annual revenues in excess of $100MM for Citi’s high-net-worth offices in Montevideo, San Juan and San Francisco.
Prior to that, Averett managed IPB’s Client Solutions team and served as IPB’s Sales Head for all of its U.S.-based offices.
“We are delighted to bring on board a professional with such broad knowledge and experience in the international wealth management business”, stated Ray Grenier, CEO.
Established in 1985, Bolton Global Capital is an independent FINRA member firm with an affiliated SEC registered investment advisor. The firm manages $12 billion in client assets for US based and international clients through 110 independent financial advisors operating from branch offices in the US, Latin America and Europe.
Charlie Burrows, Head del mercado onshore del sureste de EE.UU.
Copyright: LinkedIn. Foto cedida
Charlie Burrows has been promoted as Head of the US Southeast Market at Deutsche Bank’s International Private Bank. The appointment is part of a strategy of expansion in the southern region of the North American power.
“Florida is becoming more and more important as some of our onshore clients choose to move there permanently. Charlie Burrows will do a great job leading our growing onshore Deutsche Bank wealth management team in Miami”, Arjun Nagarkatti, Head of the International Private Bank for Americas at the bank, posted on Linkedin.
In addition to Miami, Burrows will oversee the bank’s expansion in Palm Beach, Naples, Tampa Bay and Jacksonville, Funds Society confirmed with company sources.
“Anthony Valvo (Managing Director and Market Head for New York and Southeast at Deutsche Bank) and I are so excited by the momentum and enthusiasm of our Miami team and what we offer to our clients through our wealth planning capabilities, custom real estate lending solutions and our domestic and offshore expertise”, added Nagarkatti.
With more than 35 years in the industry, Burrows has worked at JPMorgan Chase & Co and Merrill Lynch‘s US Trust Cash Management Solutions Segment Executive division, according to his LinkedIn profile. The executive has been with Deutsche Bank since 2011.
Foto cedidaÁlvaro Palenga, Sales Director de AMCS. Foto cedida
AMCS Group has announced the promotion of Álvaro Palenga, CFA, to Sales Director and his relocation from Montevideo to Miami. He will be reporting to Andrés Munho, Co Founder and Managing Partner.
In a press release, the company has pointed out that Palenga is assuming the role “at an exciting time”, as the business is seeking to significantly grow the market presence of its three asset management partners, AXA Investment Managers, Jupiter Asset Management and Man Group, in the US Non-Resident channel.
In his new role, he will be focused on covering wirehouses, private banks and broker dealers in Miami and Texas, while providing additional support to the New York area market, which is currently serviced by Chris Stapleton, Co-founder and Managing Partner of AMCS.
“We are extremely excited with the promotion and relocation of Álvaro as our Miami-based Sales Director. He has made significant contributions to our business in a short period of time, and we’re confident his consultative, investment-centric approach will be well received by our North American clients”, commented Munho.
Reorganization of the team
The firm has also announced the hire of Santos Ballester Molina as Sales Associate, based in Montevideo. He will support the wider AMCS sales team across the entire Americas region, with a focus on the southern cone client group.
“Having Santos join us in Montevideo at a pivotal time for our business to be able to support the wider team’s efforts represents a key addition to our team, and we’re confident he is up for the task of adding value for our clients across the Americas. We all look forward to both of their contributions to our ambitious growth plans”, said Munho.
Ballester will report to Santiago Sacias, Managing Partner and Head of Southern Cone Sales, who is also based in Montevideo. He joins from Riva Darno Asset Management in Buenos Aires where he has worked since completing his bachelor’s in economics from the University of San Andrés.
As part of this reorganization of the AMCS sales team, Francisco Rubio has left the business “to pursue other opportunities”, the press release says. He leaves “with tremendous gratitude” from the firm for his significant efforts over the years”.
