Foto cedidaNick Maroutsos, actual responsable de bonos globales y cogestor de las estrategias de retorno absoluto y renta fija multisectorial global de Janus Henderson. . Janus Henderson prepara a su equipo de bonos globales ante la salida de Nick Maroutsos
Janus Henderson has announced succession plans for its Global Bond team due to the departure of Nick Maroutsos, Head of Global Bonds and Co-Portfolio Manager of the Absolute Return Income and Global Multi-Sector Fixed Income related strategies. In a press release, the asset manager has revealed that he will be leaving the firm next October “to take a career break”.
As part of its succession planning, during the next six months, Maroutsos will work closely with the global bonds team “to ensure a smooth transition and handover of responsibilities“.
Effective October 1, 2021, the team will be left under the leadership of Jim Cielinski, Global Head of Fixed Income. The firm has highlighted that the following portfolio managers will continue to work in their current roles and will maintain the investment processes that have been “so impactful” for their clients to date. In this sense,Jason England and Daniel Siluk will remain co-portfolio managers on the Janus Henderson Absolute Return Income strategy and related funds. Also Andrew Mulliner,currently Head of Global Aggregate, will continue to serve in this role and oversee the multi-sector global bond portfolio strategies.
“While my decision to take a career break is bittersweet, I have the utmost confidence in the team and their investment process. Having worked closely with the team for many years, I have no doubt their talent and unwavering dedication to serving our clients will position them to generate solid returns. I thank the team and senior management for their trust over the past 15 years and will miss their professionalism and friendship”, Maroutsos said.
Meanwhile, Cielinski commented that their client commitment “has always been and will continue to be to seek to deliver dependable investment outcomes” to support their clients in achieving their long-term financial goals: “As a firm, we take a collaborative team-based approach focused on growing talent from within the teams, which allows for robust succession planning and a seamless transition for clients when we have personnel changes”.
He also thanked Maroutsos for his contribution to Janus Henderson, his “unwavering commitment” to clients, and his involvement “in developing the next generation of investors”. “Our dedicated Absolute Return Income team consists of thirteen people, of which Nick is one, split across the US and Australia. Given the lengthy transition period, and the breadth and depth of the experienced team, we are confident that this will be a smooth transition for our clients. Our global bonds effort has been and remains a strategic priority for the firm, and we will continue to invest in our team”, he concluded.
Janus Henderson’s Global Bonds team is built on collaboration across multiple geographies and anticipates no disruption to its cohesive global approach. Further it ensures global coverage across all major markets allowing for broader, more open collaboration, and increased idea exchange.
On January 1, the U.S. Congress enacted the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA), which represents one of the most significant changes to the anti-money laundering laws of the country since the USA PATRIOT ACT of 2001. The Florida International Bankers Association (FIBA) warns that one provision of the law could place foreign banks in a particularly difficult position.
“While AMLA has received considerable coverage, one provision seems to have been added to the legislation without much fanfare, presumably at the behest of the U.S. Department of Justice”, says FIBA in a notice. It refers to its Section 6308, where AMLA expands the authority of the Department Treasury and the DOJ to seek and obtain banking records located abroad, “while potentially limiting the ability of foreign banks to argue that the production of those documents would violate local banking laws and regulations”.
The association points out that the PATRIOT ACT since 2001 granted the Treasury and the DOJ the authority to subpoena any foreign bank that maintains a correspondent account in the U.S. and request records “related to such correspondent account,” including records maintained abroad. A limiting principle was that the subpoena had to seek documents “related” to the correspondent account. Further, a bank subpoena recipient could, if applicable, move to quash the subpoena by arguing that compliance with it would violate the law of the jurisdiction from which the documents were sought.
“Unsurprisingly, Section 6308 was a topic of keen interest at the recent FIBA AML Conference. Despite assurances from regulators and the Department of Justice that it would be used ‘judiciously’, it remains important to note that it eliminated both limiting principals“, states FIBA. In this sense, it expands the authority of Treasury and the DOJ to seek any records relating to the correspondent account “or any account at the foreign bank,” including records maintained outside the U.S. so long as they are subject to several enumerated categories, specifically, any investigation of a violation of U.S. criminal law, any investigation of an AML violation, a civil forfeiture action, or an investigation pursuant to the USA PATRIOT ACT.
Obligations for financial institutions
For FIBA, the key language is “or any account of the foreign bank” because no longer must the subpoena seek documents related to the correspondent account: it can seek records relating to any account. Further, while the bank recipient may still move to quash the subpoena, the AMLA states that the “sole basis” can no longer be that compliance would conflict with a provision of foreign secrecy or confidentiality law.
“This greatly expands the DOJ’s reach into foreign bank records and creates additional obligations for U.S. financial institutions to keep records and monitor the foreign banks’ compliance when subpoenas are served”, FIBA says. U.S. financial institutions may be subject to fines or penalties if the foreign bank does not comply with the subpoena, with no specific definition of what constitutes “compliance.” In this sense, the U.S. financial institution may be obligated to terminate the correspondent relationship with the foreign bank or be subjected to fines of up to $25,000 per day.
In their view, this puts U.S. institutions in a position where they must monitor the foreign bank’s compliance with a subpoena and forces U.S. banks to get involved in foreign bank compliance. “It is foreseeable that U.S. banks will end up in court to argue over what it means for the foreign bank to comply with the subpoena: is good faith all that is needed, or is there a degree of adequacy that must be met? All of these additional monitoring requirements will increase the cost of compliance for financial institutions”, the association points out.
An open issue is whether Section 6308 is intended to replace traditional processes designed to respect the sovereignty of foreign nations. Section 9-13.525 of the DOJ Manual provides that, “U.S. law, in the form of mutual legal assistance treaties, requires that the United States attempt to obtain records using the mutual legal assistance process prior to resorting to unilateral compulsory measures.”
“More worrisome is that Section 6308 might be utilized against foreign banks as part of an aggressive enforcement strategy. The issue of whether specific jurisdiction can be asserted over a foreign bank embroiled in a third party’s unlawful activity will likely prove fertile ground for argument before both state and federal courts”, FIBA warns.
In their opinion, “time will tell”, but for now, foreign banks need to be “keenly aware” of the U.S. government’s expanded subpoena powers.
The United States has resumed its role as the engine of global economic growth, points out Banque de Luxembourg Investments in its monthly analysis, “Highlights”. In the first quarter of 2021, US GDP grew at an annualised rate of 6.4% compared with the last quarter of 2020, thanks to strong fiscal support and the acceleration of the vaccination campaign.
“Household consumption and business investment both contributed to the improvement in economic activity. Net trade was the only drag on growth, since the increase in imports resulting from the acceleration of domestic demand was not matched by an improvement in exports, which even fell slightly”, says Guy Wagner, Chief Investment Officer and managing director of the asset management company.
In the Eurozone, GDP fell by 0.6% quarter-on-quarter, due to considerably more moderate fiscal stimulus and a less advanced vaccination campaign. In BLI’s view, the expected reopening of the European economies in the coming months should boost the recovery that began in the second half of 2020.
Meanwhile, in China, signs of the economic recovery weakening in February and March were confirmed with the publication of Q1 growth figures. However, “household consumption and business investment are expected to pick up again from the second quarter onwards, even though the monetary and fiscal support measures are much less generous in China than in the US” says Wagner. As for Japan, he believes that the current disruptions in global supply chains are preventing the export sector from reaping the full benefit of the mini boom in global manufacturing demand.
An unchanged monetary policy
As the bank expected, the Federal Open Market Committee left its monetary policy unchanged at its April meeting. The analysis reminds that Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated his view that the current pick-up in inflation is temporary, and that any hint of a slowdown in the Fed’s asset purchases would be premature despite signs of economic acceleration. “Only a change in long-term inflation expectations above the 2% target could trigger a shift in the FOMC’s attitude towards a less expansionary stance”, says Wagner.In Europe, the ECB opted for the status quo in terms of its anti-crisis toolkit, as expected. The significant increase in the pace of public and private debt buybacks decided in March is set to continue, he adds.
BLI’s analysis also shows that after rising since August 2020, US Treasury bond yields stabilised in April. In the Eurozone, long-term interest rates saw little change, with yield spreads between core and peripheral countries widening slightly after narrowing the previous month. After a strong rise in share prices in the first quarter, the equity markets continued their good run in April.
“Robust economic growth in the United States, the acceleration of the vaccination campaigns and the publication of excellent corporate results continue to provide a favourable climate for equities despite very high valuation levels“, states Wagner. He also highlights that sector divergences were less pronounced in April, with tech stocks regaining favour among investors as most of the sector’s leaders reported “spectacular results”. Meanwhile, oil stocks “levelled off after rising sharply in the first quarter,” he concludes.
Pixabay CC0 Public Domain. Jupiter lanza un fondo global de renta variable con su socio estadounidense NZS Capital
Jupiter has launched this week the Jupiter NZS Global Equity Growth Unconstrained fund SICAV, a global portfolio of companies that can adapt and thrive in a world dominated by disruption. The fund is managed by Brad Slingerlend and Brinton Johns, portfolio managers at NZS Capital, Jupiter’s US-based strategic partner. It invests in companies that maximize Non-Zero-Sum, or win-win, value for the benefit of all stakeholders, including customers, employees, society, and the environment.
In a press release, Jupiter has highlighted that “with extensive expertise gained from a combined total of 70 years of investment experience, the NZS team has a track record of generating significant outperformance for investors”. Based on the science of Complex Adaptive Systems, the NZS investment philosophy seeks adaptable and innovative companies that will successfully navigate the increasing pace of disruption as the global economy transitions from analogue to digital.
The asset manager believes that, while the technology sector is driving innovation today, in the coming years, the wave of disruption will impact every sector across the economy including industrials, consumer, financials, energy, and healthcare, and weightings in the strategy will evolve over time to reflect these changing dynamics.
“The team believes that the Information Age affords an unprecedented level of transparency, and companies still using the traditional methods of high barriers, wide moats, and information hording to extract value from customers are losing ground to adaptable companies that maximize Non-Zero-Sum, or win-win outcomes”, they add.
Adaptability for a disruptive future
At the heart of the NZS Complexity Investing philosophy is constructing a portfolio that balances two sets of companies the team calls “resilient” and “optionality”. In this context, resilient companies are those able to adapt and evolve to disruption and changing conditions, while optionality companies are adaptable, but earlier in their lifecycles with high asymmetry.
The fund will hold 50-70 stocks: the resilient portion will typically comprise 10-20 companies with a position size greater than 2.5% each, and the optionality component will have 30-50 names that are each less than 1.5% of the overall portfolio. The holdings will typically have market capitalizations above 5 billion dollars.
“As the global economy moves from the analogue-based Industrial Age to the digital-based Information Age, a vastly different set of characteristics are needed for success. We believe that the two things that matter most as the world makes this switch from analogue to digital are adaptability in the face of an uncertain future and a company’s ability to create more value than it takes – what we call Non-Zero Sum, or NZS”, Slingerlend commented.
In his view, investing in a world shaped by disruption and free-flowing information requires a new approach, and they have “carefully honed” their Complexity Investing framework over the last decade for success in this new investing frontier. “We are delighted to share this strategy with Jupiter’s clients in the shape of this new fund”, he added.
Meanwhile, Andrew Formica, Jupiter’s CEO, pointed out that Slingerlend and Johns are “talented fund managers with a carefully-constructed process” that has the potential to deliver long-term returns. He believes their approach is “clearly aligned” with Jupiter’s culture and focus on high conviction, active fund management, centered around client outcomes.
“We have already seen a real client interest and strong early growth in the strategy since confirming the partnership with NZS, and the launch of this fund will bring the company’s total assets over 1 billion dollars while offering a further opportunity for our clients to access this exciting new strategy, a key strategic priority for Jupiter”, he concluded.
Foto cedidaNadia Grant, directora de Renta Variable Global en BNP Paribas AM.. BNP Paribas AM nombra a Nadia Grant para el cargo de directora de Renta Variable Global
BNP Paribas Asset Management has announced in a press release the appointment of Olivier de Larouzière as Chief Investment Officer for Global Fixed Income. He will be based in Paris and will report to Rob Gambi, Global Head of Investments.
De Larouzière will be responsible for managing BNP Paribas AM’s global fixed income platform, with a strong focus on investment performance and commercial success. He will also retain his existing responsibilities as Head of the Global Multi Strategy Product (GMS) team and will additionally join the Business, Investment and Investment Management committees.
De Larouzière joined the asset manager in January 2019 to manage the GMS team and currently has more than 25 years’ experience in the fixed income investment area. The global fixed income group of BNP Paribas AM that he will be responsible for includes 80 investment professionals located in London, Paris, New York and Asia-Pacific. Collectively managing more than 168 billion euros of assets in single- and multi-strategy products across sovereign debt, corporate credit, emerging market debt, structured securities and currency, the group also encompasses money market products, insurance products and credit research.
“During the past two years in which he has headed multi-strategy fixed income, Olivier has been instrumental in developing the investment philosophy and approach of the teams for which he has been responsible. I welcome him to his new role and look forward to working with him as he develops our fixed income capabilities further in order that we can continue to deliver long-term sustainable returns to our clients”, said Rob Gambi, Global Head of Investments of the firm.
Prior to joining BNP Paribas AM, De Larouzière was Co-CIO of Fixed Income at Ostrum Asset Management and senior portfolio manager at Credit Lyonnais Asset Management, having begun his career as a fixed income portfolio manager at Ecureuil Gestion. He holds a Masters in Applied Mathematics from Paris Dauphine University.
Foto cedidaJames Tomlins, gestor del fondo de bonos flotantes de M&G.. James Tomlins: “Los bonos flotantes high yield ofrecen una forma atractiva de jugar la reflación y protegerse de una subida de los tipos”
In times of economic uncertainty, high yield floating rate notes (FRNs) often offer an attractive source of income. That’s why we spoke to James Tomlins, manager of the M&G (Lux) Global Floating High Yield fund, about how the asset class has performed and what role it can play in portfolios today.
Question. Has this asset class lived up to expectations? How would you assess its performance over the past year?
Answer. The crisis should probably be viewed in isolation given its scale and the lack of any modern-day precedent. The high yield floating rate market faced the same uncertainties as other risk assets when the pandemic struck, so it initially sold off, before recovering strongly during the rest of 2020. The bonds retained the relatively high yield levels that are not present in government bonds or investment grade credit however. High yield FRNs are insulated from rising bond yields, and would even benefit through higher interest coupons if central banks were to begin to increase interest rates. Overall, the asset class has performed largely as one might expect in the prevailing circumstances as the crisis took hold and as the world has tackled it.
Q. Investors have now turned their minds to the economic recovery, which is set to arrive with the vaccination roll-out. In this recovery scenario, what can these assets contribute to investors’ portfolio?
A. Investors should probably express some caution as much of that optimism is already factored into credit spreads, which have returned to levels that prevailed as 2020 dawned. Nevertheless, if bond yields continue to increase, undercutting fixed rate bond values, floating rate bonds will not see the same hit to capital. If, in due course, central banks decide to begin increasing interest rates to combat rising inflation, high yield FRNs will actually benefit from those higher short term interest rates in the form of higher interest coupons, thus being able to provide larger income streams. Such a scenario is the so called “FRN Happy Place”.
Q. Higher inflation is also expected. What are your expectations for inflation and how will it impact this asset class?
A. The prospect of higher inflation and what this means for financial markets has become a key area of focus for investors in recent months. Some factors could indeed push inflation higher, in our view, in particular the unprecedented levels of fiscal and monetary stimulus, combined with the release of pent-up demand as the global economy reopens.
I believe high yield FRNs provide an attractive way to play the reflation theme and to protect against rising interest rates. This was demonstrated in February as concerns over rising inflation triggered a sharp sell-off in global government bonds. In contrast to many fixed income assets, high yield FRNs proved resilient during this period, with their floating rate nature helping to offset the negative impact of rising bond yields. Indeed, if central banks respond to the inflationary threat by hiking short term interest rates, FRNS benefit from higher coupons and therefore higher returns.
Q. In the same vein, what are your expectations for the interest rate horizon and how is this reflected in your M&G (Lux) Global Floating Rate High Yield fund?
A. At present, none of the main central banks appear likely to change their policy stance of being supportive, and begin increasing interest rates. They are likely to prefer to allow economies more time to build on their respective recoveries, even if it means higher inflation begins to become more entrenched. We typically do not attempt to position the fund for particular interest rate moves, preferring to look manage the fund conservatively and invest in value opportunities as we identify them. The more important question though is what does the market expect and can these expectations change. It’s this that will drive the volatility in the fixed rate market. If investors are concerned that this volatility will hurt their fixed income holdings, what FRNS do is provide a safe harbour from such stormy conditions in the bond market.
Q. Where do you see the main opportunities right now?
A. One of our key preferences is to hold lower-priced issues in the fund, as we believe the prevailing market climate offers them greater scope to generate returns than issues that are less market-sensitive and priced closer to par (100), as high yield FRNs typically have lower call prices than their fixed rate counterparts. We also retain underweight allocations relative to the benchmark, to some of the more economically sensitive sectors such as energy and leisure. While the economic backdrop of ongoing stimulus and low interest rates is supportive of companies and risk assets, such as high yield credit, there is a risk that the recoveries may falter and put pressure on credit valuations.
Q. The COVID-19 crisis and governments’ and central banks’ stimulus measures have generated a debate about what is underpinning the quality of fixed income assets. In the case of high yield floating rate bonds, are you concerned about asset quality?
A. Investing in high yield markets means taking on some additional degree of credit risk compared to investment grade markets and even in the most benign conditions, defaults can occur. This is why having a large and deeply experienced team of analysts, dedicated to undertaking the most robust assessments of the credits we hold, is so crucial. Our preference is to focus on issues that offer investors more protection in the event of a default, such as senior secured bonds.
Q. What can the M&G (Lux) Global Floating Rate High Yield strategy provide investors’ portfolios?
A. We believe the strategy, with our careful and conservative management approach, can offer investors the opportunity to achieve an appealing level of returns in a low interest rate environment. It is insulated from the negative effects that rising yields can have on fixed rate bond strategies and actually benefits from rising interest rates, through higher interest receipts.
Foto cedidaSandro Pierri, CEO de BNP Paribas AM.. BNP Paribas AM nombra a Sandro Pierri CEO
BNP Paribas Asset Management has announced in a press release the appointment of Sandro Pierri as CEO, with effect from July 1st 2021. Based in Paris, he will report to Renaud Dumora, future Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the group, in charge of the Investment & Protection Services Division, which includes BNP Paribas AM, BNP Paribas Cardif, BNP Paribas Wealth Management and BNP Paribas Real Estate.
Pierri succeeds Frédéric Janbon, who will become Special Advisor to Dumora, to ensure the transition, before leaving the Group at the end of the year to pursue other professional opportunities.
“I would like to sincerely thank Frédéric Janbon for his overall contribution to the BNP Paribas Group, in which he spent most of his professional career. During his tenure at the head of Fixed Income and up until 2014, he successfully built and ran a powerful and recognized fixed income and debt capital market franchise. Since 2015, he has refocused and transformed our asset management activities into a fully integrated platform delivering solid investment performance to our clients. Under his leadership, BNP Paribas AM has become a global leader in sustainable investment”, said Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, CEO of BNP Paribas Group.
Meanwhile, Dumora believes that the appointment of Pierri, who has more than 30 years of experience in the asset management industry and has been Deputy CEO for BNP Paribas AM since January, demonstrates the capacity of their asset management business to organise “a seamless succession plan which will ensure consistency” with the strategy developed by Janbon.
He also pointed out that Pierri has transformed BNP Paribas AM’s Global Client Group into a client-centric distribution platform to support the growth strategy of the business. “This has proved successful with positive results in 2020, despite the impact of the pandemic”, he commented.
Lastly, he highlighted that, as CEO, Pierri “will uphold the strategy, philosophy and values of the firm within the framework of the Group business development plan and will reinforce the leadership of BNP Paribas AM in sustainable investment”.
Pixabay CC0 Public Domain. Los activos en fondos ESG alcanzan los 2 billones de dólares apoyados por los fuertes flujos de entrada en Europa
ESG investing continues to grow. According to the latest report by Morningstar, the global sustainable universe attracted 185.3 billion dollars in net inflows in the first quarter of 2021, up 17% from 158.3 billion in the previous quarter. Specially supported by strong inflows in Europe, global assets neared the 2 trillion mark, up 17.8% from the last quarter.
The universe of the Global Sustainable Fund Flows review encompasses open-end funds and exchange-traded funds that claim to have a sustainability objective and/or use binding ESG criteria for their investment selection. The report divides it into three segments by domicile: Europe, United States, and Rest of World.
Thus, it shows that Europe took in the bulk of the flows during the first quarter of the year (79.2%), while the U.S. accounted for 11.6% of them. In the rest of the world, they were considerably higher than in previous quarters, clocking in at 17.1 billion dollars for Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Japan, and Asia. This is compared with 13 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, a spike that can be largely attributed to an uptick in flows in Japan and China combined.
Europe accounts for 83% of global assets, followed by the United States with 12%. The past three years have seen a steady increase in assets in sustainable funds globally. “With currently 4,523 sustainable funds available and many more that now formally consider ESG factors in a nonconstraining way to better manage risks and improve returns, Europe is by far the most developed and diverse ESG market“, highlights the report.
Furthermore, product launches globally remained strong in the first quarter, with 169 new ones entering the market. This is down from the all-time record set in fourth-quarter 2020 with 215 launches but up from the first quarter of 2020. Morningstar explains that product development always slows down in the first quarter relative to the fourth one. The majority of the launches (65.6%) took place in Europe, while Canada and Asia ex-Japan both saw new 17 products, followed by Japan with 13 and U.S. with 11.
U.S. market
The analysis shows that, once again, sustainable funds in the United States attracted an all-time record level of flows in the first three months of 2021. In that period, U.S. sustainable funds saw nearly 21.5 billion dollars in net inflows. That’s slightly more than the previous record, USD 20.5 billion, set in the fourth quarter of 2020, and more than double the 10.4 billion seen one year ago, in the first quarter of 2020. It was also about 5 times greater than first-quarter flows in 2019.
Also, sustainable passive funds dominated their active peers in attracting flows. During the first quarter, passive funds claimed nearly 15 billion dollars, or 70% of all U.S. sustainable flows. In this sense, the five funds attracting the most flows in the first quarter of 2021 were all passive equity funds.
Meanwhile, assets in U.S. sustainable funds have stayed on “a steady growth trajectory”, says Morningstar. As of March 2021, assets totaled nearly 266 billion dollars. That’s a 12% increase over the previous quarter and a 123% increase year over year. Active funds retained the majority (60%) of assets, but their market share is shrinking because, as the report highlights, three years ago, they held 82% of all U.S. sustainable assets.
European market
Europe was the key to the good figures registered in the first quarter of 2021. European sustainable funds attracted inflows of 120 billion euros in the first quarter of 2021. This is 18% higher than in the previous quarter, and it represents 51% of overall European fund flows. Besides, sustainable fund assets increased by 17.5% over the quarter, reaching a record high of 1.3 trillion euros.
The report also shows that index funds and ETFs garnered 36.5 billion euros in sustainable fund flows, accounting for 30% of first quarter flows, up from 32.8 billion euros in the previous quarter.
As for product development, in the first quarter of 2021 it remained high in Europe, with 111 new sustainable fund launches identified by Morningstar. The firm expects this high level of sustainable product development to continue to be spurred by the Sustainable Finance Action Plan of the European.
Foto cedidaBhaven Patel, responsable global de ETF Capital Markets de HSBC AM.. HSBC AM nombra a Bhaven Patel responsable global de ETF Capital Markets
HSBC Asset Management continues to reinforce its team with the appointment of Bhaven Patel as Global Head of ETF Capital Markets. Patel, who joined the firm on April 6, will be based in London reporting to Carmen Gonzalez-Calatayud, Head of ETF Capability.
In his new role, he will be responsible for running the firm’s ETF Capital Markets function and driving the liquidity strategy for its ETF platform. The asset manager explained in a press release that Patel will work closely with the ETF sales team to help clients with their ETF trading and execution requirements, and with the ETF operations and product development teams to help design best-in-class primary market infrastructure to support the firm’s existing product range.
Commenting on the appointment, Carmen Gonzalez-Calatayud said that Patel’s experience in designing and launching asset class-specific ETF platforms will enable them to continue expanding their “growing range of ETF products and capabilities”.
Patel highlighted that HSBC Asset Management’s ETF business has seen “momentous growth” over the past year and it is “an exciting time” to join the firm. “I am looking forward to helping the company bring innovative products to the market”, he added.
Patel brings over 16 years’ experience within the ETF industry in managing the primary and secondary ETF markets and also an ETF trader. He joins from DWS Xtrackers where he was Director, ETF Capital Markets for six years. Prior to that, he was part of the iShares ETF Capital Markets team and also worked for the ETF and delta one trading teams at Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley.
In 2020, HSBC AM set out its strategy to re-position the business as a core solutions and specialist emerging markets, Asia and alternatives focused asset manager, with client centricity, investment excellence and sustainable investing as key enablers. Growing its ETF range, particularly in areas such as ESG, Asia and fixed income, is one of the firms’ strategic growth initiatives. HSBC AM currently manages USD93.9 billion in passive and systematic strategies and USD 15.5 billion in ETF strategies.
Allfunds, the leading independent wealthtech and fund distribution platform, has developed Allsolutions, a new platform that aims to provide fund of fund and discretionary portfolio managers with a different set of building blocks to optimize their portfolios. It will open its operations during the course of May.
The firm revealed in a press release that Allsolutions will give banks and wealth managers “a solution for running their open architecture programs through mandates”. They also pointed out that, true to their business model, this is a B2B solution not available to a final investor offering.
Allfunds will onboard the first iteration of strategies for its B2B sub-advisory platform following approval from the Luxembourg regulator (CSSF). The offer will initially consist of twelve mandates covering the primary asset classes and managed by some of the largest fund houses. Seven of these strategies will have an ESG focus, which is consistent with the firm’s commitment to sustainability which includes adhering the Principles for Responsibility Investing, a United Nations initiative to foster the development of a more sustainable global financial system.
Following the initial launch, Allfunds will introduce 18 complementary strategies to the platform in the third quarter of 2021. Of these strategies, a further 14 will also focus strongly on sustainability. Their introduction will bring the total number of available strategies to 30.
“We are pleased to extend our services, offering clients access to a selection of exclusive mandates expertly managed by some of the world’s largest fund houses. Through Allsolutions, our aim is to continue to evolve the Allfunds infrastructure allowing for efficient access to open architecture whilst sticking to our B2B business model and never selling to end clients”, Juan Alcaraz, CEO, said.
