Foto: 526663. Raymond James presenta su plataforma tecnológica "Connected Advisor"
Raymond James is revealing a strategy that bridges its advisor-centric technology infrastructure with collaborative and client-facing digital tools that together comprise its “Connected Advisor” digital advice platform.
The platform fully reflects the firm’s advisor-centric business model, and includes already-released client-facing tools that support digital communications and online collaboration, as well as new capabilities to meet a range of client needs. The new initiatives center around robo-advisor-like technologies, as well as data-driven insights that will help advisors address the more complex needs of higher-net-worth clients.
“This significant, multi-year ongoing investment ensures we continue to be an industry leader in advisor-oriented technology,” said CEO Paul Reilly. “While many industry alternatives seek to disintermediate advisors, Connected Advisor will support advisors and their commitment to serving clients.”
Connected Advisor is focused on three key areas: Greater automation to help advisors more efficiently manage their businesses and their clients’ basic investment management requirements so they can spend more time on building relationships and more fully understanding client needs; Increased collaboration through tools that support online communication and information sharing between advisors and their clients; And enhanced sophistication of proactive financial solutions through the use of big data to provide advisors with insights into their practices and their clients’ needs.
“We are advancing a strategy that has become clear as we’ve spoken with advisors and clients, observed evolving preferences, and watched new technology advances unfold at a rapid pace,” said Executive Vice President of Technology and Operations Bella Allaire. “Our advisors and clients require – and deserve – an even higher level of service and support as they confront new multi-generational challenges, changing regulatory standards and increasingly complex financial needs.”
Among the tools available or rolling out over the coming months are digitally driven data collection, discovery and proposal systems; secure cloud storage and consolidated access to important documents; enhanced mobile capabilities; sophisticated goal planning and monitoring tools; advanced analytics capabilities; and investment options for multigenerational households and varying financial situations.
“We’re focused on providing a platform that reinforces the value of advisors’ affiliation with Raymond James by providing easy-to-use, customizable tools that help them better serve their clients and grow their businesses,” said Chief Information Officer Vin Campagnoli. “These resources will help our advisors increase engagement with clients, improve their understanding of client needs as life, market and economic conditions change, and support the long-term financial planning that is at the core of our offerings.”
Many of the efficiency and collaboration tools at the foundation of the Connected Advisor platform are in place, with the robo-advisor-like technology and data insight features expected to be rolled out in 2017, and other planned enhancements scheduled into next year.
“We’re approaching this as we always do,” said Campagnoli. “We are thoughtfully and deliberately moving forward with a focus on ensuring advisors and clients understand and are leveraging these new offerings, and that we’re listening to their feedback and adjusting to ensure we’re fully meeting their needs.
“I like to say we build our technology tools ‘from the mind of the advisor’ and this platform does that, helping support their already strong client relationships by creating stronger connections and, in turn, better meeting clients’ increasingly complex financial needs.”
Photo: Philippedelavie. Deutsche Bank pagará 629 millones de dólares para cerrar procesos judiciales por negociaciones de valores rusos
Deutsche Bank this week has reached settlements with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS). The settlements conclude the FCA and the DFS’s investigations into the bank’s anti-money laundering (AML) control function in its investment banking division, including in relation to certain securities trades that occurred between 2011 and 2015 involving its Moscow, London and New York offices.
“The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today fined Deutsche Bank AG (Deutsche Bank) £163,076,224 for failing to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering (AML) control framework during the period between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2015. This is the largest financial penalty for AML controls failings ever imposed by the FCA, or its predecessor the Financial Services Authority (FSA),” said the FCA in its statement. “Deutsche Bank was used by unidentified customers to transfer approximately $10 billion, of unknown origin, from Russia to offshore bank accounts in a manner that is highly suggestive of financial crime.”
“Under the terms of the settlement agreement with the FCA, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay civil monetary penalties of approximately 163 million pounds (USD 204 million). The bank qualified for a 30 percent discount for agreeing to settle at an early stage of the FCA’s investigation. The FCA noted in its findings that the bank has committed significant resources to improving its AML controls and recognises the work already undertaken in this area. The FCA also noted that the bank has been exceptionally cooperative in bringing the matter to its attention and throughout its investigation,” Deutsche Bank explained in its statement.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement with the DFS, Deutsche Bank entered into a Consent Order, and agreed to pay civil monetary penalties of 425 million dollars and to engage an independent monitor for a term of up to two years.
The settlement amounts are already materially reflected in existing litigation reserves, said the bank.
Foto: ASSY. Pan American Finance contrata a Peter Wallin como asesor senior
Pan American Finance has announced that Peter R. Wallin has joined the firm as Senior Advisor.
Peter comes to Pan American Finance with nearly 40 years of investment banking experience in the Latin American region, having held senior positions with, among others, INTL FCStone, Standard Bank, and Midland Bank.
In his new role, Peter will advise clients on merger and acquisition, project finance, and capital raising transactions across various industries and sectors, including Infrastructure, Oil & Gas, Power, and Real Estate.
Pan American Finance is an independent advisory firm providing investment banking services, including M&A advisory, project finance, and debt & equity capital raising, to business owners and asset managers primarily in the Latin American and U.S. markets.
Canadian asset manager British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC) has reached an agreement with Britain-based credit investment firm Hayfin Capital Management to fully acquire the majority shareholding of Hayfin from the existing consortium of institutional shareholders.
Financial details of the transaction, subject to regulatory approval, remain undisclosed.
The deal aims to support Hayfin’s long-term growth plans and simplify its ownership structure. Hayfin’s management and employees remain shareholders alongside bcIMC. Also the new majority shareholder will pour capital into Hayfin’s funds.
“Hayfin’s principal focus will remain managing assets for third parties; the day-to-day independence of the Hayfin team over operations, investments, and personnel will be unaffected by the change in ownership,” stated Hayfin, which has €8.2bn of assets under management.
Tim Flynn, CEO of Hayfin Capital Management, commented: “This long-term investment from bcIMC will provide the access to capital and streamlined ownership structure to realise our ambition of becoming Europe’s leading credit platform. What won’t change under the new ownership arrangements is the independence of Hayfin’s experienced team of credit investment professionals, or our commitment to delivering high-quality returns for the third-party investors whose capital we manage.”
Jim Pittman, senior vice president of private equity at bcIMC added: “We see this as a strategic long-term investment in a leading company that has the potential to generate value-added returns for our clients. Having known the Hayfin team since inception, I’m confident in their strategy and ability to further expand their business and raise additional capital through their funds.”
British Columbia Investment Management Corporation has C$122bn (€86.4bn) in assets under management.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: El equipo de EXAN Capital Realty en Miami. EXAN Capital Realty, in Charge of Selling PAYCO
One hundred percent of the shares of a Luxembourg-based company known as Paraguay Agricultural Corporation S.A. (PAYCO) are being offered for sale.
Through its Paraguayan subsidiary, PAYCO manages over 144,000 hectares (355,832 acres) of land throughout that country, where it conducts agricultural, cattle, and forestry activities.
EXAN Capital Realty, a Miami-based real estate investment advisory firm, was engaged to carry out the sale process.
The portfolio includes 6 full-ownership properties amounting to more than 128,000 hectares (316,295 acres), representing 88.9% of the portfolio, and 8 leased properties adding another 16.000 hectares (39,537 acres), or 11.1% of the portfolio. PAYCO currently holds 38,500 head of cattle, 15,800 hectares (39,043 acres) of agricultural production (chiefly soybean, rice, corn, and wheat), over 5,000 hectares (12,355 acres) of forestry plantations, and 25,000 hectares (61,776 acres) of natural forest.
Paraguay is one of South America’s most attractive agro-business markets, both because of its favorable climate and the quality of its lands. Other significant factors are its political stability, fiscal regime, and its open-arms attitude toward foreign investment.
The presumably highly competitive sale process is scheduled to start during the first half of February.
Given the magnitude of the asset, its sale should fetch the attention of global investors, including sovereign funds and any other group that recognizes in PAYCO a magnificent upside and sustainability opportunity.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Tadson Bussey. PIMCO Launches an Absolute-Return UCITS Fund
PIMCO, a leading global investment management firm, has launched the PIMCO GIS Mortgage Opportunities Fund, which aims to generate consistent, absolute returns across full market cycles by investing in a broad range of mortgage-related securities. The fund is managed by Daniel Hyman, Alfred Murata and Josh Anderson, a global team of Portfolio Managers.
The fund provides investors with a dedicated exposure to the global mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market. Untethered by a traditional benchmark, the fund has the flexibility to tactically allocate across various subsectors of the global MBS market, and actively manage exposure to a variety of risk factors, including interest-rate risk and credit risk.
The $11 trillion securitized market represents a meaningful portion of the global fixed income market and has historically provided attractive risk-adjusted returns with limited correlations to equity and credit.
Daniel Hyman said: “Given the historically low yields on core bonds, and the correlation of corporate credit to equities, a dedicated allocation to securitized assets can help investors improve the overall diversification of their portfolios while also potentially enhancing returns.”
PIMCO is one of the largest investors in securitized assets with more than 30 years of investment experience in the asset class. The team covers the entire spectrum of mortgage related assets from around the world, seeking out the best value investment for clients.
The PIMCO GIS Mortgage Opportunities Fund is available in a variety of share classes in different currencies. As of January 30, it is registered in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
Key wealth markets are set to experience a surge of new business models and further industry consolidation akin to that of broker consolidators in the UK insurance market, as the independent financial advisor (IFA) workforce ages and new technology and capital is introduced, according to financial services research and insight firm Verdict Financial.
The company’s latest report states that one of the more optimistic predictions for the future involves the aging, predominantly baby boomer advisor base in places such as Australia, Canada, the UK and the US, and posits a novel exit strategy based on robo-advisors looking for new clients. This prediction is modeled on the broker consolidation trend in the UK, but substitutes cashed-up robo-advisors for the traditional broker-consolidator.
Robo-advisors are online wealth management services that provide automated, algorithm-based portfolio management without the need for human financial planners. With many offering largely exchange-traded fund (ETF)-based portfolios, their hallmark is very low fees. Robo-advisors were arguably the hottest fintech trend in wealth management in 2016, with dozens launched around the world.
Andrew Haslip, Verdict Financial’s Head of Content for Asia-Pacific, says that with their rock-bottom fee structures, independent robo-advisors only break even with pools of client assets well above industry averages, something even the most successful companies, such as Bettermint and Wealthfront, will struggle to achieve this year even in the US, the world’s largest wealth market.
Haslip explains: “Inflows to robo-advisors, while positive, have slowed and smaller robo-advisors or those in smaller markets such as Australia will remain well below the necessary volume based on current trends. For robo-advisors looking to scale up their client assets quickly, the wave of retiring advisors, along with the current low cost of capital, offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, provided they pay for it.”
Verdict Financial believes high profile robo-advisors in 2017 could tap the market for the capital necessary to buy the client books of retiring financial advisors, whose generally affluent older customers tend not to have considered a robo-advisor.
Haslip adds: “The clients will benefit from cheaper ETF-based portfolios, while robo-advisors boost their client assets. So keep your eye out for the wealth industry’s newest trend, the robo-consolidator.”
Wikimedia CommonsFoto: Garrett A. Wollman. Allianz Global Investors aumenta su mandato con State Street
State Street Corporation has been appointed by Allianz Global Investors to provide a wide range of investment services. The agreement expands an existing relationship into a strategic global partnership with State Street delivering a broad spectrum of investment servicing solutions for more than EUR 450 billion in assets under management.
State Street will provide middle and back office solutions including fund administration, depository and trustee services, global custody, transfer agency, share class hedging, and data consolidation services. The mandate remains subject to approvals of applicable funds’ boards as well as customary regulatory approvals.
Jeff Conway, chief executive officer for EMEA at State Street said, “We are delighted to expand our relationship with Allianz Global Investors and are looking forward to the next phase of this strategic partnership, which defines a new service model for leading asset managers. State Street’s data consolidation and analytics capabilities are a cornerstone for creating a joint end to end operating model that will service AllianzGI across all asset classes and jurisdictions and support their future growth. This mandate demonstrates the value of a true partnership with our client.”
Photo: Glenn Koach and Tom Krasner, co-founders at Concise Capital Management / Courtesy photo. Concise Capital Launches its Niche High Yield Corporate Bond Strategy
Concise Capital Management, an independent fund management company affiliated with Canepa Management, that has over US$ 250 million in assets under management, and that specializes in short-term, underfollowed high yield bonds, launched its first UCITS fund in November 2016.
The new UCITS fund, which invests in high yield corporate debt, focuses on Concise Capital’s investment philosophy and looks for value in the inefficient part of the high yield bond market. The result is a portfolio that generates a high level of income, while minimizing credit risk, reducing volatility, and adding diversification.
Glenn Koach and Tom Krasner founded Concise Capital in 2004. Concise Capital already runs a Cayman Islands domiciled hedge fund, sub-advises a 1940 Act mutual fund, and manages separate accounts. Mr. Koach and Mr. Krasner expects that the UCITS fund will fill a need for high current income while avoiding interest rate risk for European and other offshore investors who are seeking daily liquidity. “We have gauged strong interest in alternative assets, such as short-term, under-followed high yield debt” said Tom Krasner, co-founder of the firm. “At the moment, we are targeting institutional investors and retail investors in Europe, particularly in the UK and Switzerland. In the longer term, we expect to market the UCITS to LATAM investors and the US offshore market,” he added.
The fund’s management team is led by Tom Krasner, who has a track record of more than 25 years in evaluating fixed income, distressed debt, and high-yield bonds, and by Glenn Koach, who has over 30 years in experience managing short-term high yield bonds.
Prior to founding Concise Capital with Koach, Krasner was Executive Vice President at Harch Capital Management, responsible for restructuring high yield debt and bank loans. Prior to that, Krasner was a Principal and Portfolio Manager at Riverside Capital Advisers, where he co-managed a short-term high-yield bond strategy with Koach. In 1984, Koach co-founded Riverside Capital Advisers a boutique institutional investment management company that grew to US$ 400 million in assets under management.
Foto: Santi Villamarín
. Aumenta el interés entre los inversores institucionales estadounidenses por el liability-driven investment
“Institutional investors have faced a variety of pressures during the past year that have made achieving their investment goals very challenging,” states Chris Mason, senior analyst at Cerulli with regards to the January edition of The Cerulli Edge – U.S. Institutional Edition. “Unfavorable forward-looking returns across several asset classes and recent shifts in the interest rate environment have created additional uncertainty.”
“The difficult market environment, including historically low interest rate levels, has wreaked havoc on corporate defined benefit planned sponsors,” continues Mason. “However, the recent increase in interest rates following the election has sparked renewed interest in pension derisking and liability-driven investing (LDI) among these institutional investors.”
Cerulli believes that in order for managers to serve their clients most effectively, it is imperative they understand how these specific challenges affect institutions as a whole. As rates continue to rise, managers should focus on highlighting their LDI solutions. Proactive managers that educate plan sponsors about the benefits of derisking will be the best positioned in the marketplace.
