Foto: hans-jürgen2013
. Las 100 ciudades con más millonarios
More multi-millionaires live in London than any other city in the world according to Spear’s magazine, in association with wealth consultancy company WealthInsight. The research shows that despite annual falls in the number of multi-millionaires living in London’s closest rivals Tokyo (2nd) and Singapore (3rd), London’s multi-millionaire population continued to grow by 0.8% from 2014 to 2015. The city’s multi-millionaire population now stands at 25% more than second placed Tokyo with 4,400 millionaires now residing in the city.
New York is America’s highest ranking city (4th) followed by Los Angeles (20th), and Houston (24th).
The eighteen cities that saw the biggest increases in multi-millionaire population year on year were all in Asia with the Chinese city of Dalian toping the overall rankings with a yearly increase of 5.4% multi-millionaires. On the opposite side, Kiev (-10.2%), St Petersburg (-7.9%) and Moscow (-6.8%) saw the biggest decreases followed by Sao Paulo (-5.7%), Abuja (-4.3%) and Rio de Janerio (-3.7%).
Commenting on the findings, Oliver Williams, Head of WealthInsight said: “For the three years that we have run this survey, London has maintained the lead with the largest population of multimillionaires. Though the growth in London’s wealthy residents has slowed from 3.3% last year to 0.8% this year, the capital looks set to maintain its edge over rivals such as Tokyo and Paris, whose economies have made them less attractive to multimillionaires. For the next two to three years at least we should expect London to retain its lead as the global capital of multimillionaires.”
On the larger ranking, Williams comments: “The biggest changes in this year’s ranking have been caused by political and economic turmoil. Ukraine and Russia have witnessed contractions as their wealthy residents flock overseas. The real success story of this year’s list has been the rise in multi-millionaires residing in Chinese and Indian cities.“
Foto: Raffi Asdourian
. Preqin: El 5% de los inversores en hedge funds supone una cuarta parte de los activos de la industria
The $1bn Club, that group of institutional investors which have committed more than $1bn to hedge funds, has seen a net growth of 11 participants since 2015, and now includes 238 members. Forty institutions have joined this group of the largest hedge fund investors, while 29 have fallen out of the $1bn Club after reducing their exposure to the industry, according to Preqin.
Although investors in the $1bn Club account for just 5% of all active hedge fund investors, they represent just under a quarter (24%) of the total $3.13tn AUM held by the industry, shows the report. The combined sum of capital invested by the $1bn Club has risen by 4%, from $735bn as of May 2015 to $763bn a year later.
Public pension funds account for over a quarter (27%) of total $1bn Club capital committed to hedge funds, the largest proportion of any investor type. As of May 2016, these investors have $208bn allocated to the industry, up from the $190bn they had committed twelve months ago. Despite this increase in capital investment, almost half (49%) of public pension funds have decreased their allocation to hedge funds in the past twelve months, while 47% have increased their exposure. This indicates a division in public pensions’ attitudes to the industry: some high-profile investors like NYCERS have cut their allocation to hedge funds, but other large pension funds have been committing increasing levels of capital to the industry.
On average, $1bn Club investors allocate 16.8% of their AUM to hedge funds, compared to the average of 14.8% allocated by all other investors. $1bn Club investors invest in 33 vehicles on average, compared to eight vehicles for smaller investors.
Private sector pension funds and sovereign wealth funds each account for 16% of $1bn Club capital. Private sector pension funds increased their invested capital from $107bn in 2015 to $122bn in 2016, while accounting for a net growth of five members of the $1bn Club, the most of any type.
North America-based investors account for 62% of capital committed to hedge funds by the $1bn Club. Europe-based investors account for 23% of the capital committed to the hedge fund industry by the largest investors, a slight increase from 12 months ago (21%).
“Despite the small number of participants in the hedge fund investor $1bn Club, they are mighty in influence and represent nearly a quarter of all capital at work in the industry. As such, it is understandable why the redemptions of high-profile institutions such as NYCERS in 2016 and CalPERS in 2014 may attract headlines; these investors are the cornerstone of the asset class and a potential mass exit could herald worrying times for hedge funds. However, the signs in 2016 remain positive, with a further net increase of participants in the $1bn Club over the past 12 months, and the exposure of these investors to hedge funds has increased by nearly $30bn. With large resources and the continued support of the hedge fund industry, the $1bn Club is likely to remain influential and active.” Commented Amy Benste, Head of Hedge Fund Products, Preqin.
The Federal Reserve Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcement marked the first of four significant central bank meetings that take place over the next several days, and perhaps not surprisingly the theme of global policy divergence is again on the table, says Rick Rieder, BlackRock ‘s Chief Investment Officer of Global Fixed Income. “That’s not because the Fed’s statement was excessively hawkish, although it was mildly so, but rather because the Fed both continues to recognize that U.S. economic data remains stronger than that seen in much of the rest of the world and as stated that “near-term risks to the economic outlook have diminished.” Further, extraordinarily easy financial conditions across the globe are stabilizing regions (Europe and emerging markets, for instance) that had experienced some significant stresses in the year’s first half, which in turn reduces the left-tail risks for U.S. growth prospects. That has allowed the Fed to continue its “wait-and-see” approach, which also seems calibrated to leave the door open to some small degree of interest rate policy normalization this year, including possibly in September. Of course, the pace of that change has been profoundly altered since the December 2015 meeting rate hike.”
Still, in his view, the utility of extraordinarily low interest rate levels has long since passed much effectiveness in stimulating real economic growth and for some time now has solely been influencing the financial economy as a price-supporting mechanism. “Thus, as we have long argued, the baton must now be transferred from monetary authorities to the fiscal channel, if we are to see any meaningful re-rating of economic growth in the U.S., and further stabilization of global growth as well. Of course, the possibility of future fiscal policy support, and even the continuation of extraordinary monetary policy, both have political elements to them, and the degree to which the asset inflation of recent years has left the middle classes behind, relatively speaking, could influence the policy path forward via the ballot box.”
He goes on saying that fascinatingly, they think the seeds of further political volatility will continue to be with us, as labor and income dynamics get more difficult at the margin in many parts of the globe. In fact, according to some market analysts, it is historically speaking not unusual to see a delayed political reaction that results from major financial crises, such as that seen in 2008, “so the rise in populist sentiment (for example, with the Brexit vote in the U.K., and political campaigns in the U.S.) should not be a surprise,” he states, adding that this very real discontent is largely the result of an uneven recovery. “So, almost regardless of where an investor is located around the world, political event risk is vital to keep a close eye on, even if estimating that risk has become very difficult of late.” Of course, in addition to the U.S. elections on November 8, we would particularly take note of the Italian constitutional reform referendum that is scheduled to also take place later this year, as well as the next German federal elections in late-summer 2017.
“We think much more interest rate policy normalization this year may be difficult for the Fed to accomplish, particularly should jobs growth continue on its slowing trend, inflation expectations and realized inflation remain fairly moderate, and both domestic and international political risks continue to unsettle financial markets. Thus, unless we see a significant improvement in economic data, further stability in global financial markets, and a meaningful pickup in inflation measures, we are likely to see only one more rate hike this year, with the year’s last third as the most likely time for it.” He concludes.
José Viñals, - Photo Youtube. José Viñals Leaves the IMF
José Viñals, the Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has notified IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde of his intention to return to Europe for family reasons after more than seven years at the Fund. He will take up the position as Chairman of the Board of Standard Chartered Bank later this fall.
“I believe José’s selection for such an important position is testimony to the very high regard in which he is held—for his experience, capabilities, and insights on financial issues. I have personally come to rely on his sharp intellect, analytical rigor, and ability to get to the heart of complex matters.” Lagarde said.
“As Financial Counsellor and Director of the Monetary and Capital Markets Department, José has worked tirelessly towards making the IMF a truly macro-financial institution. He has enhanced the Fund’s analytical breadth and depth on a wide range of issues—including monetary policy, macroprudential policy, international banking, and the financial sector. He has also been instrumental in promoting cutting-edge research and raising the profile of the Fund as a thought leader on financial stability,” she added.
Prior to joining the IMF in 2009, José had a distinguished career at the Central Bank of Spain, where he served as the Deputy Governor after holding a number of senior positions and serving on a range of advisory and policy committees at the central bank and within the European Union. A former faculty member in the Economics Department at Stanford University, he holds a Doctoral (Ph.D.) degree in Economics from Harvard University and a Master’s degree in Economics from the London School of Economics.
Viñals has relinquished his responsibilities as Department Director and Financial Counsellor. Ratna Sahay has been named Acting Director for an interim period. The search process to identify a successor to Viñals will begin right away.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrFoto: Kecko. Midcaps suizas y tecnología disruptiva marcan la diferencia en renta variable
MFS has announced the appointment of Anton Commissaris as managing director and head of Sales for Switzerland and Austria.
Based in Zürich, he will report to Matthew Weisser, managing director and head of European Wholesale Distribution at MFS.
He joins from Credit Suisse Asset Management, where he was in charge of fund distribution to the EMEA region, distributing to banks, insurances, external asset management firms and family offices.
Matthew Weisser comments on his appointment: “Anton’s appointment reinforces our commitment to expanding our distribution footprint in the Swiss and Austrian markets. He is a highly experienced sales director with over 24 years of expertise covering the Swiss wholesale market. I am confident that his in-depth knowledge — not just of the global banks, but also of the local markets will prove invaluable as we move forward.”
Foto: Jakob Montrasio
. Los compradores chinos lideran las adquisiciones internacionales de real estate en Estados Unidos
Waning economic growth in many countries and higher home prices further enhanced by a strengthening U.S. dollar resulted in a slight decline in international sales dollar volume of U.S. property over the past year and a significant retreat in buying from non-resident foreigners.
This is according to an annual survey of residential purchases from international buyers released recently by the National Association of Realtors. The survey also amazingly revealed that the dollar volume of sales from Chinese buyers exceeded the total dollar sales figure of the next top four ranked countries combined.
NAR’s 2016 Profile of International Activity in U.S. Residential Real Estate, covering U.S. residential real estate sales to international clients between April 2015 and March 2016, found that foreign buyers purchased $102.6 billion of residential property, a 1.3 percent decline from the $103.9 billion of property purchased in last year’s survey. Overall, a total of 214,885 U.S. residential properties were bought by foreign buyers (up 2.8 percent), and properties were typically valued higher ($277,380) compared to the median price of all U.S. existing home sales ($223,058).
Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says this year’s findings highlight the tremendous appeal U.S. real estate still has on many foreign nationals despite the price of property becoming less affordable. “Weaker economic growth throughout the world, devalued foreign currencies and financial market turbulence combined to present significant challenges for foreign buyers over the past year,” he said. “While these obstacles led to a cool down in sales from non-resident foreign buyers, the purchases by recent immigrant foreigners rose, resulting in the overall sales dollar volume still being the second highest since 2009.”2
Adds Yun, “Foreigners – especially those from China – continue to see the U.S. as a solid investment opportunity and an attractive place to visit and live.”
According to the survey, sales to non-resident foreign buyers pulled back by approximately $10 billion to the lowest dollar volume since 2013 ($35 billion). The decline was largely caused by the decrease in the share of non-resident foreign buyers to foreign residential buyers to 41 percent – down from the almost even split between the two in previous years (48 percent in 2015).
“Both the increase in U.S. home prices – up 6 percent in March 2016 compared to one year ago – and the depreciating value of foreign currencies against the U.S. dollar made buying property a lot pricier last year,” says Yun. “Led by Venezuela (45 percent) and Brazil (24 percent), at least eight countries, including China and Canada, saw double-digit percent increases in the median sales price of a U.S. existing-home when measured in their country’s currency.”
For the fourth year in a row, buyers from China exceeded all countries by dollar volume of salesat $27.3 billion, which was a slight decrease from last year’s survey ($28.6 billion) but over triple the total dollar volume of sales from Canadian buyers (ranked second at $8.9 billion). Chinese buyers purchased the most housing units for the second consecutive year (29,195; down from 34,327 in 2015), and also typically bought the most expensive homes at a median price of $542,084.
“Although China’s currency modestly weakened versus the U.S. dollar in the past year, it’s much stronger than it was 5 to 10 years ago, thereby making U.S. properties still appear reasonably affordable over a longer time span,” notes Yun.
In addition to the slightly diminished sales activity from Chinese buyers, the total number of sales and the sales dollar volume from buyers from Canada, India ($6.1 billion) and Mexico ($4.8 billion) also retracted from their levels one year ago. Only buyers from the United Kingdom – after a decrease in the 2015 survey – saw an uptick in total sales and dollar volume ($5.5 billion).
“Sales activity from U.K. buyers could very well subside over the next year depending on how severe the economic fallout is from Britain’s decision to leave the European Union,” adds Yun. “However, with economic instability and political turmoil outside of the U.S. likely to persist, the world view of American real estate as a safe investment should keep demand firm even as pressures from a stronger dollar continue to weigh down on affordability.”
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrArriba, de izda. a dcha.: Kevin S. Kosmak, Scott Sandee, Kelly Demers, Daniel D. Abbatacola y Joseph R. Schwall, de la oficina de Chicago - Abajo de izda. a dcha.: Thomas Dicker y Marleny Cheshier - Fotos cedidas. BNY Mellon Wealth Management nombra director para U.S. Markets, e incorpora a 6 profesionales en California y Chicago
BNY Mellon Wealth Management has named Thomas Dicker to be Head of U.S. Markets, based in Boston. In his new role Dicker will oversee the 38 wealth offices throughout the US reporting into Don Heberle, CEO of BNY Mellon Wealth Management.
Dicker, who most recently served as the firm’s Chief Operating Officer, is responsible for driving growth and delivering a superior client experience across the firm’s regional markets and has held several other key leadership positions and client-facing roles during his 29 years with BNY Mellon including overseeing the acquisition of the firm’s offices in Toronto, Chicago, and Menlo Park.
California
The firm has also hired Marleny Cheshier as a senior wealth manager in its Newport Beach wealth management office. Cheshier reports to Michael Silane, senior director of portfolio management. The Newport Beach office has experienced strong growth serving high net worth clients in Orange County and the broader Southern California market. Prior to joining BNY Mellon, Cheshier was at Northern Trust for 18 years, where she most recently served as a vice president and senior portfolio manager.
Five additional staff in Chicago
BNY Mellon has also hired Kevin S. Kosmak for a newly created team leader and senior wealth manager role and named Scott Sandee as senior wealth director. The firm also appointed Kelly Demers as vice president and residential mortgage banker. It named Daniel D. Abbatacola as underwriter in life insurance premium lending, and Joseph R. Schwall as senior private banker.
The additions to the Chicago office are part of the firm’s strategic hiring initiative in important wealth markets and bring the total size of the Chicago office to 35 professionals, an increase of 350% since BNY Mellon opened its doors there in 2010.
“BNY Mellon Wealth Management’s growth strategy here in Chicago and across the country is to continue to recruit and develop the best talent in the industry. We’re delighted to welcome Kevin, Scott, Kelly, Dan and Joe to our expanding Chicago office,” said Michael DiMedio, Chicago regional president. “They join a team that offers BNY Mellon’s exceptional wealth management services to our ever-expanding client base.”
Kosmak and Sandee report to DiMedio, while Demers reports to Managing Director Erin Gorman. Schwall reports to Regional Director William McKinley and Abbatacola reports to Rebecca Ryan, head of private bank life insurance lending.
Kosmak comes to BNY Mellon from Northern Trust, where he served for more than 13 years and was a senior portfolio manager and team leader. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business with a concentration in finance and a bachelor’s in accounting from the University of North Texas. He has a master’s in business administration with a concentration in financial analysis from DePaul University. He is a member of the board of the St. Edward School in Chicago, and is active with the Skokie Amateur Hockey Association.
Sandee was previously employed as a private wealth advisor for BMO Private Bank and, before that, as a wealth strategist with Northern Trust. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., and is a resident of Wilmette, Ill.
Demers joins BNY Mellon from JP Morgan Chase where she was a private client mortgage banker. She has nine years of financial services experience and a bachelor’s degree with a concentration in mathematics from the United States Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. She is a member of the board for the West Point Society of Chicago, the National Louis University Veteran’s committee and IL State Treasurer’s Veteran’s Advisory Committee.
Prior to joining BNY Mellon, Abbatacola was employed as a senior underwriter with Northern Trust. Earlier he was with Cornerstone National Bank and Trust Company. He holds a bachelor’s degree with a concentration in finance from Northern Illinois University, and resides in Plainfield, Ill.
Schwall joins BNY Mellon from Northern Trust, where he held several key positions over his 27 years there. He earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is an active member of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Have Dreams autism awareness organization.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Nicolas Vollmer
. UBS AM Names New Asian Fixed Income Head
UBS Asset Management has appointed Hayden Briscoe as head of Fixed Income Asia Pacific.
Briscoe will be based in Hong Kong and will report to John Dugenske, global head of Fixed Income.
He will oversee all fixed income portfolio management and business activities in the region.
Briscoe joins from Alliance Bernstein where he worked eight years and held the role of director of Asia Pacific fixed income. He also worked at Schroders, Colonial First State and Bankers Trust.
Rene Buehlmann, head of Asset Management, UBS Asia Pacific, commented : “His experience in China complements our aim to be a global leader for China related investments, in both RMB fixed income and equity offerings.”
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrFoto: Thomas Leuthardc. ¿Cómo evolucionan los mercados de bonos tras el Brexit?
At the half-way point of 2016, Investec‘s Multi-Asset team revisit their key investment themes for the year to see how they have fared over the past six months. Most played out as they expected, but in some cases the markets have moved in unexpected ways…
The need for portfolio resilience At the end of 2015, investors were confronted by a world that appeared to be full of potential pitfalls. To preserve and grow the value of their assets, they needed robust portfolios that could outperform the market in challenging environments and deliver resilient returns in the face of unforeseen events.
The investment environment in 2016 has been no easier. A slowing Chinese economy, the Bank of Japan’s surprise move to introduce negative interest rates, political and economic uncertainty in the US and the UK’s momentous decision to leave the European Union have all played their part in increasing global financial instability and volatility.
Investec’s approach to building portfolios that are resilient in the face of such tumultuous events requires a strong understanding of investment risks, beyond estimates of volatility. Portfolio construction should balance the trade-offs between potential returns and individual assets’ contribution to overall risk exposure. But they also believe that portfolios need to be diversified and to avoid those parts of the market that could be vulnerable to sudden liquidity squeezes. Investors should also have strategies to cope with periods of market stress.
Diverging monetary policies Six months ago, Investec believed the US dollar would reach new cyclical highs, as US monetary policy slowly normalised. Then, Europe had only just started to run down private-sector debt and seemed at least three years behind the US. Asia, and China in particular, were further behind Europe. These markets’ debt to gross domestic product ratio were still high, suggesting that monetary easing would need to continue for several years.
Since then, global economic headwinds and a weaker domestic backdrop has prompted a more dovish tone from the US Federal Reserve in the first quarter of 2016, which has slowed the pace of monetary policy normalisation. This means that the phenomenon of diverging monetary policy is less pronounced than it was at the beginning of the year.
Selectivity needed in emerging markets Their belief that the emerging market universe is disparate, and offers a wide range of investment opportunities still holds true. They continue to favour economies that are natural extensions of developed markets, such as Hungary or Romania are for the European Union. Nevertheless, Investec believes they need to continue to be selective in emerging markets, partly due to different sensitivities to demand for Chinese commodities and the US dollar.
Finding bottom-up opportunities Investec continues to believe that a bottom-up approach to choosing investments can help penetrate the short-term macroeconomic noise. Emerging market equities and resource stocks led global stock markets higher from mid-January, at a time when Chinese data remained negative and many analysts were forecasting a US recession. However, they still acknowledge that the environment has, even if temporarily, become marginally less supportive for stock picking.
ESG going mainstream As they predicted, 2016 is the year that many investors focused on taking account of environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Integrating ESG assessment into investment processes is increasingly being seen as a way of driving long-term value creation. German auto manufacturer Volkswagen could be seen as a game changer triggering increased attention on corporate behaviour and practices. The Paris Agreement on Climate Change in December 2015 has also focused investors’ minds on the environmental challenges surrounding global warming.
Photo: NicolaCorboy, Flickr, Creative Commons. Pioneer Investments and Santander Asset Management Will Not Merge
After 20 months in negotiations, UniCredit announced on Wednesday that it has agreed with Banco Santander and Sherbrooke Acquisition to terminate the agreements entered into on 11 November 2015 to combine Pioneer Investments and Santander Asset Management. The merger would have created one Europe’s leading asset managers with around 370 billion euros (almost $400 billion) in assets under management.
According to a press release by Unicredit, “The parties held detailed discussions to identify viable solutions to meet all regulatory requirements to complete the transaction, but in the absence of any workable solution within a reasonable time horizon, the parties have concluded that ending the talks was the most appropriate course of action.”
Further to UniCredit’s announcement on 11 July 2016 of a Group-wide strategic review, the results of which will be communicated to the market before the end of 2016, Pioneer will now be included in the scope of the strategic review to explore the best alternatives for all Pioneer stakeholders including a potential IPO. “This is to ensure the company has the adequate resources to accelerate growth and continue to further develop best-in-class solutions and products to offer its clients and partners.”
Meanwhile in Spain, and during Santander’s earnings release presentation, José Antonio Álvarez, Santander’s CEO commented that “we will cancel the transaction. We will develop Santander AM along with our partners and strive to build an asset management business that excels in serving our clients.”
Pioneer has presence in 28 countries and an experienced team of over 2,000 employees, including more than 350 investment professionals. It manages €225 billion in assets and is known internationally as one of the leading fixed income managers across all strategies. It also offers strong capabilities in European, US and global equities, as well as multi-asset and outcome-oriented, non-traditional products.. Meanwhile, Santander Asset Management has presence in 11 countries, and assets of €172 billion across all types of investment vehicles. Santander Asset Management has over 755 employees worldwide, of which around 220 are investment professionals.
