CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Jennie O. How Lyxor’s Enhanced Architecture Program Can Boost European Pension Funds’ Performance
Europe’s pension funds face significant challenges as a result of low interest rates, volatile markets and regulatory constraints. Lyxor’s Enhanced Architecture Program (LEAP) helps institutional investors address these challenges.
The program offers its participants significant cost reduction, reporting, risk management, governance and return benefits. Amber Kizilbash, Global Head of Sales and Client Strategy at Lyxor Asset Management, explains how LEAP works and why operational effectiveness is such a hot topic.
“Pension funds face increasingly urgent demands to improve their overall performance. Lyxor’s Enhanced Architecture Program (LEAP) empowers them to achieve a step change in their infrastructure and investment effectiveness, via a collaborative, top- down approach. It is a modular, open architecture program from which investors can choose either a comprehensive duciary management solution or individual modules”, explains Kizilbash.
Lyxor experts offer clients a range of specialist skills, such as the design of the legal and infrastructure framework, the negotiation of service provider agreements, risk management, fund selection and management.
A successful LEAP implementation can result in significant eficiency gains, offering better value for money for the pension funds’ ultimate clients saving for retirement.
LEAP benefits pension funds in two ways.
The first is by enhancing funds’ infrastructure, thereby increasing operational effectiveness. Many pension funds suffer from a duplication of roles amongst service providers, both across schemes and across countries. This duplication of efforts leads to a sub-optimal cost structure and a challenge in ensuring effective governance.
The second way in which LEAP helps investors is by providing access to state-of-the-art investment solutions. Many large pension funds have access to sophisticated in-house investment resources as a matter of course. LEAP puts these capabilities at the disposal of small and medium-sized pension funds, which may lack the scale to run such investment programs on their own. Via LEAP, Lyxor accompanies clients in implementing advanced tailored solutions along the full investment value chain, from liability-driven investment (LDI) and strategic asset allocation up to fund selection and management.
According to the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) the European investment fund industry during the first quarter of 2016 saw net sales of UCITS and AIF which reached EUR 37 billion, compared to EUR 171 billion in Q4 2015. The sharp drop in net sales was mostly due to lower net sales of UCITS.
EFAMA points out that UCITS net sales registered net outflows of EUR 6 billion, compared to net inflows of EUR 122 billion in Q4 2015. Long-term UCITS, i.e. UCITS excluding money market funds, recorded net outflows of 4 billion, compared to net inflows of EUR 83 billion in Q4 2015.
Equity funds recorded a turnaround in net sales, from net inflows of EUR 57 billion in Q4 2015 to net outflows of EUR 3 billion in Q1 2016. Net sales of multi-asset funds slowed down from EUR 31 billion in Q4 2015 to EUR 6 billion in Q1 2016. While Bond funds continued to record net outflows, i.e. EUR 9 billion, the same level as in Q4 2015.
UCITS money market funds also saw a turnaround in net sales, from net inflows of EUR 39 billion in Q1 2015 to net outflows of EUR 2 billion in Q1 2016. AIF net sales amounted to EUR 43 billion in Q1 2016, compared to EUR 48 billion in Q4 2015. The solid net sales performance of AIF reflected the good net sales level of equity funds (EUR 7 billion, compared to net outflows of EUR 5 billion in Q4 2015), and of multi-assets funds (EUR 20 billion, compared to EUR 15 billion in Q4 2015).
Given this, total European investment fund net assets decreased by 2.1% in Q1 2016 to EUR 13,039 billion. Net assets of UCITS fell by 3.4% in Q1 2016 to EUR 7,907 billion, and total net assets of AIFs only decreased by 0.1% to EUR.
Bernard Delbecque, Director of Economics and Research at EFAMA commented on these results: “The stock market sell-off in early 2016 and uncertainties about the future direction of interest rates had a negative impact on the net sales of UCITS during the first quarter of 2016. On a positive note, the net outflows remained very limited (0.07% of UCITS assets), and AIFs continued to show solid net sales level. This confirms that UCITS and AIF investors are resilient to market volatility”.
Foto: Michael Pardo
. El número de inversores institucionales activos en CTAs alcanza su record en 2015
The latest report from Preqin finds that increasing numbers of active investors and a positive general view of performance among existing investors have driven inflows into CTAs over recent quarters. The number of institutional investors actively investing in CTAs reached a record 1,067 in 2015, up from 1,017 in 2014. The total assets under management for CTAs is at $241bn as of the end of Q1, up from $204bn at the beginning of 2015.
Furthermore, 69% of investors interviewed at the end of 2015 reported that their CTA portfolios had met their performance expectations for the year, the second highest proportion of any leading hedge fund strategy. In the same survey, 29% of all hedge fund investors said they planned on increasing their exposure to CTAs in 2016, while only 5% intended to decrease it.
CTAs have seen four quarters of net inflows of capital since the start of 2015, with net asset flows of $38bn in new investor capital committed to the strategy. Although CTAs returned only -0.08% in 2015, 2016 began strongly with funds making gains of 1.52% in the first quarter. CTAs as a whole saw net inflows of $13.7bn in Q1 2016, the highest of any leading strategy.
New CTA launches peaked in 2013, with 153 funds launched in the year. Since then, the rate of launches has declined; there were just 73 new fund launches in 2015 and 12 so far in 2016, just 6% of all hedge fund inceptions.
“CTAs play an important role in a number of institutional investors’ portfolios. These vehicles, operating trading strategies across a wide range of commodity and financial markets, offer the possibility of returns with low correlation to other financial markets and can smooth returns in investor portfolios. With recent widespread turbulence, it is perhaps unsurprising that increasing numbers of investors have been attracted to CTAs’ potential for low correlation to other investments.
Partly as a result of this, so far in 2016 CTAs have seen the highest level of inflows across all leading hedge strategies. Despite a difficult performance year in 2015, CTAs have seen solid returns in the opening months of 2016, and if these gains persist we may yet see further inflows from investors,” said Amy Bensted, Head of Hedge Fund Products, Preqin.
Joël Reuland, manager of the BL-Global wealth management mixed funds, answers nine questions as he presents its fund BL-Global 50.
Joël, what type of assets does the fund invest in? Joël Reuland (JR): BL-Global 50 is invested between 35% and 65% in equities, the balance being in bonds, cash or precious metals. The fund’s equity portfolio is invested worldwide in high-quality companies with a sustainable competitive advantage. The bond portfolio only invests in government bonds. Exposure to precious metals is mainly an insurance against systemic risk.
What is the management strategy? JR: Pour In our view, the fund manager’s role is largely to avoid errors: an investment that loses 50% has to double before it can get back to square one. The asymmetrical pattern of losses and gains explains our aversion to risk, to which end we are prepared to sacrifice exceptional gains. We aim to achieve asset growth over the long term by avoiding losses. Accordingly, we only invest in things we understand and we steer clear of areas outside our expertise. We don’t invest in financial stocks because they are not transparent or in mining companies as their results are too dependent on commodity price trends which we can’t predict. We are reluctant to invest in highly cyclical companies given the difficulty of accurately anticipating periods of recession. We limit potential errors by not investing in products we don’t understand.
How else can you reduce the portfolio’s risk? JR: For each proposed investment, we calculate an intrinsic value. For equities, this is based on our forecast for the company’s recurrent cash flow. To reduce the probability of losses, we invest when the share price offers a discount to the company’s intrinsic value. Losses will be mitigated as long as our investment thesis is not mistaken.
Given such a prudent approach, at what point are you prepared to take more risk? JR: We take more risks when valuation discounts are favourable. Psychologically this is not always easy as the discounts can become significant during very stressful periods on the market. This is when opportunities open up, as they did at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009. And since we select high quality stocks, their share price tends to recover after the crisis period. Once the stress has subsided, we become more cautious again. This may mean that we don’t extract every ounce from episodes of stock market euphoria but it’s the price we pay for avoiding substantial losses. And it’s a strategy that proves its worth over a full economic cycle. What we don’t lose in the downturn more than outweighs what we miss out on during the euphoric phases. Losses and gains are so very asymmetrical…
Do you put more into bonds when you have less investment in equities? JR: To some extent, yes. However, the fund is limited to government bonds. We don’t take any corporate risk in the bond portfolio, which should stabilise the portfolio during stock market stress periods. With high debt levels around the world, our credit risk is currently confined to Germany and the United States.
This is despite the fact that yields to maturity on German government bonds are negative, even for long maturities… JR: Obviously bonds aren’t as attractive now as they have been over the last 25 years. But having said that, even with negative yields to maturity, bonds could continue to appreciate if yields go deeper into negative territory. It may seem absurd, but that is a consequence of Mario Draghi‘s negative interest rate policy. And if the ECB cuts interest rates even further, to -2% or -3% to “force” consumers to spend their savings, government bond prices will continue to rise. Eventually, this type of monetary policy is likely to be inflationary, but bonds will go up in the meantime. This is why, despite negative YTMs, we are still invested in German government bonds. However, we have confined ourselves to maturities of 2017 to 2020 due to the longer-term inflation risks of such a policy.
In the United States, YTMs are still positive JR: In relative terms, US Treasury bonds continue to be attractive. This is why the US bonds in our portfolio have longer maturities than the German bonds. But we are keeping a close watch on the situation. With such high debt, it is increasingly likely that the central banks will deploy a deliberately inflationary monetary policy. We haven’t got to that point yet but it’s getting closer. This is why bonds with longer maturities are much more risky.
Given the low attraction of bonds, is there an alternative for diversification? JR: Gold is a definite option. The more disconnected the central banks’ monetary policies become, the greater the rationale for having gold in a portfolio. The main reason why gold has not gone up more so far despite the central banks’ quantitative easing policies is that these policies have not created inflation. But weak inflation is not surprising if the technique of quantitative easing is fully understood. On the other hand, if the central banks change tack and decide to deliberately create inflation, that is certainly achievable. And at that point, the gold price will pick up. But then you never can tell. If investors lose confidence in the central banks’ disconnected strategies, it could be useful to have exposure to the ultimate currency as, unlike paper currencies, it cannot be printed at will.
What performance can investors in BL-Global 50 expect? JR: Since the fund’s launch in October 1993, BL-Global 50 has generated a return of 4.5% per annum. However, this historic return cannot be considered representative for the future now that market conditions have totally changed. Due to the central banks’ unconventional monetary policies, money market and bond investments offer almost zero yield. So everything hangs on equities which, given the scale of the economic imbalances, are likely to trade at lower valuations. Protecting purchasing power without suffering excessive volatility has become the watchword for the future. This might seem like an ambitious target, but given the virtually zero or even negative yields on offer for bond and money market investments, protecting purchasing power takes on a totally new meaning.
Last month, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) announced the outcome of its first EU-wide stress testing exercise that covered 17 of the EU’s largest clearinghouses (central counterparties; CCPs). In a report titled ESMA Stress Tests Underscore The Likely Resilience Of EU Clearinghouses But Do Not Offer A Clean Bill Of Health that was published on the second half of May, S&P Global Ratings comments on the usefulness of this exercise, the assumptions used, and the implications of ESMA’s findings.
They mention that the test focused narrowly on each CCP’s ability to withstand the counterparty credit risk that it could face as a result of multiple clearing member defaults and simultaneous severe market price shocks. The publicly communicated results cited broad findings, on a no-names basis. Nevertheless, S&P Global Ratings recognizes that this is the first such multi-CCP exercise that, to their knowledge, any CCP regulator has conducted.
“We regard it as a thoughtful and useful exercise that aids transparency in the sector, in an area where external parties can sometimes struggle to make a comparative assessment,” said S&P Global Ratings analyst Giles Edwards. “It could also serve as a catalyst to further enhance risk management standards at some EU CCPs, and ensure better consistency and comparability of CCPs’ individual stress testing methodologies.”
For S&P Global Ratings, the results of these exercises add further information, on top of their other surveillance, on the likely adequacy of a CCP’s financial resources within the waterfall. Their views of CCP creditworthiness continue to take into account other inputs, such as a CCP’s ownership structure, liquidity in a member default scenario, profitability and leverage, and sustainability as a business.
“While it was a narrowly focused exercise and identified some weaknesses, overall the results confirm our view that EU CCP regulation and supervision generally ensure a satisfactory baseline standard of CCP risk management,” said Edwards. “Looking forward, we anticipate that these stress testing exercises will become a regular fixture of regulatory oversight of CCPs in the EU and, potentially, beyond.”
Foto: Sander van der Wel
. Franklin Templeton lanza su primera suite de ETFs de beta estratégico
Franklin Templeton Investments announced on Monday the launch of its first suite of strategic beta exchange traded funds (ETFs), within LibertyShares, a new line of business. The funds track the LibertyQ indices developed with the asset management company´s team of quantitative experts who have a broad experience developing quantitative active equity strategies. “We approached the creation of the LibertyQ indices in the same way we have approached quantitative stock selection, and we believe that, just as with discretionary stock picking, all factors are not created equal—some are more correlated to certain outcomes,” said Patrick O’Connor, head of Global Exchange Traded Funds for the company.
The suite includes three multi-factor core portfolio funds and one fund that focuses on stocks with high and persistent dividend income. The firm´s strategic beta ETFs use proprietary LibertyQ indices1, which have employed a research-driven approach in customizing their factor weightings – The indices are constructed with four factors.
“Many of our clients have embraced the ETF wrapper for its benefits, including liquidity, tax efficiency and transparency, and now they are looking for more than what a traditional market cap-weighted index can offer,” added O’Connor.
The three core multi-factor funds use indices that apply an approach of using custom factor weightings—quality (50%), value (30%), momentum (10%) and low volatility (10%)—in seeking to capture desirable, long-term performance attributes.
The new funds are:
Franklin LibertyQ Global Equity ETF offers global equity exposure.
Franklin LibertyQ Emerging Markets ETF offers broad emerging markets exposure.
Franklin LibertyQ International Equity Hedged ETF offers international developed markets exposure.
Franklin LibertyQ Global Dividend ETF offers global exposure to high-quality, dividend-oriented stocks to help meet investors’ needs for income and total return.
“The launch of LibertyShares, taking an active approach to ETFs, is a strong complement to our commitment to active management,” added Greg Johnson, chairman and CEO of Franklin Resources.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Hernán Piñera. Investec Asset Management’s Top Performing Global Equity Income Strategy Launches in the UK
Investec Asset Management launches the Investec Global Quality Equity Income Fund for UK based clients. A replica of the existing SICAV, which has outperformed the market and delivered top decile performance since inception, the Fund is the latest addition to the UK fund range managed by Investec’s Quality Investment Team.
Aiming to generate sustainable dividend growth and attractive total returns over the long term, the Investec Global Quality Equity Income Fund is designed to provide UK investors with a dividend yield in excess of the MSCI All Country World Index. Since launching to global investors in March 2007, the existing fund has a top decile performance track-record and delivered 5.9 percent annually to global investors for the nine years since inception, versus 2.7 percent the index. Additionally, existing investors have benefited from 8.9 percent annual dividend growth since
The Investec Global Quality Equity Income strategy is managed by an experienced and global team, led by co- managers Blake Hutchins, Clyde Rossouw and Abrie Pretorius. A high conviction portfolio of 30-50 stocks, and cautiously positioned compared to the market, the co-managers take a differentiated approach by selecting world-leading Quality companies which are highly cash-generative, invest for future growth and have a proven track-record of paying growing dividends to investors, whilst avoiding more capital intensive sectors, often favoured by a number of competitor funds.
David Aird, Managing Director, UK Client Group, commented: “Given the challenges facing investors in the current climate of low rates and stagnant economic growth, coupled with the financial realities that face an aging population, investors are increasingly focused on sourcing attractive income streams from their assets whilst minimising risk to the underlying capital. We are excited to bring to the UK market the Investec Global Quality Equity Income Fund. A global fund with a proven nine year track record, it aims to deliver a smooth and steady investment journey over the long term, irrespective of market conditions.
“By investing in Quality companies with an ability to grow cash flows, whilst avoiding capital intensive sectors such as utilities and natural resources, which are often favoured by other equity income products, the Fund looks to provide lower volatility returns over the long term – something close to the hearts of our clients in today’s uncertain world.”
Foto: Angel Torres
. La inversión responsable, esa gran desconocida
Over three quarters (77 percent) of affluent US investors say that they want their assets to have a positive impact on society. Many may see investing as an extension of their focus on social issues, with 86 percent of respondents tending to recycle every day, 71 percent preferring reusable bags, and 61 percent shopping for brands that adhere to sustainable business practices.
Yet with interest in social impact growing, and the availability of more responsible investment options than ever before, greater than one in three investment advisors (36 percent) concede that they are not able to adequately evaluate performance of responsible investments, and two in five affluent investors (40 percent) report they are unsure if they currently own responsible investments within their portfolios. These findings, revealed in a new TIAA Global Asset Management survey of investors and advisors across the country, expose a fundamental challenge to the investing category: the lack of understanding among investors and advisors of what responsible investing really is.
“While interest in responsible investing continues to grow, a significant portion of individual investors and their advisors are still unsure about what it means to implement these strategies in today’s investment portfolio,” said Amy O’Brien, managing director and head of the firm´s Responsible Investment team. “Too many investors still question how to define responsible investing and whether they can produce competitive returns.”
“The fact is that responsible investing strategies vary widely in their intent and approach. As an industry, we need to do a better job of helping investors understand how these strategies work and what role they can play in a diversified portfolio.”
“Many people want their investments to reflect their values,” said Jill Popovich, managing director, Individual Advisory Services at the company. “We find that talking to clients about their personal values as well as their financial goals helps build deeper and lasting relationships. Often clients are pleased to learn that they can have a well-diversified portfolio with responsible investments.”
This knowledge gap also creates a missed opportunity for advisors to build client loyalty over time. According to the survey, almost three-quarters of investors (74 percent) would be more likely to work with an advisor who could give them competitive investment returns from investments that also made a positive impact on society and 65 percent of investors would be more likely to stay with an advisor who could discuss responsible investing with them.
Meanwhile, just 45 percent of advisors believe this would be the case, and often choose not to address responsible investing options with their clients – over three in five investors (61 percent) indicated that their advisor had not brought up the topic of responsible investing in the past twelve months. This disconnect suggests that too many advisors forgo a chance to develop stronger relationships with their clients as a result of not communicating about these strategies.
The results of the survey suggest a need to develop a better understanding of responsible investing overall. Seventy-four percent of advisors reported an interest in learning more about responsible investing options to better serve their clients. Developing a shared understanding of responsible investing terminology and benchmarks may be particularly helpful for non-millennial investors who hold significantly less of their assets in ESG options than those between the ages of 18-34 (22 percent vs. 65 percent, respectively).
The survey also suggests that misperceptions about the role and benefits of responsible investing may be limiting adoption rates. While interest in responsible investments is strong, investors are doubtful of the availability of best-in-class products. In fact, more than one in four affluent investors and advisors responded that responsible investment options are very limited or that the category lacks quality choices. More notably, over half (51 percent) of financial advisors believe responsible investing does not provide the same rate of return as other investment strategies, while 57 percent of investors believe responsible investing offers a lower rate of return than other strategies.
“More investors are considering the balance between leveraging their assets to have a social or environmental outcome while seeking competitive performance. According to our recent socially responsible investing performance analysis, indexes that follow SRI guidelines delivered long-term performance returns comparable to the broad market benchmarks,” said O’Brien. “Incorporating environmental, social and governance criteria in individual security selection can in fact deliver market competitive returns.”
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Richard Wilson, new CEO-CIO at BMO Global Asset Management. BMO Names Richard Wilson as New CEO-CIO
Richard Wilson has been appointed Chief Executive Officer & Chief Investment Officer, BMO Global Asset Management, effective immediately.
Richard was previously CEO of BMO Global Asset Management (EMEA). He was appointed as CEO of F&C on January 1, 2013, prior to its acquisition by BMO Financial Group. Before becoming CEO, Richard held several senior positions at F&C including Head of Equities and Head of Investment & Institutional.
He began his asset management career in 1988 as a UK equity manager with HSBC Asset Management (formerly Midland Montagu). In 1993 he moved to Deutsche Asset Management (formerly Morgan Grenfell) where he was latterly Managing Director, Global Equities. From Deutsche, Richard joined Gartmore Investment Management in 2003 as head of international equity investments, prior to joining the Group in 2004. He holds a BA (Hons) in Economics and Statistics from the University of Exeter.
BMO Global Asset Management is a critical part of our overall Wealth Management business. It is well positioned to accelerate global growth. Over the past seven years, BMO Global Asset Management has transformed into a truly global asset manager with presence in 16 countries and AUM of more than £160-€200 billion (31 March 2016).
This change in our structure and leadership will help our business as we work toward achieving our global aspirations.We are confident we will deliver strong growth, outstanding client solutions, and market leading performance.
Gilles Ouellette, Group Head – Wealth Management, BMO Financial Group: “We’re pleased to appoint Richard Wilson as CEO & CIO of BMO Global Asset Management. His 30 years of experience in asset management and track record of developing innovative products, building high performance teams and delivering outstanding client service has been a tremendous asset for BMO. BMO Global Asset Management continues to be a critical part of our overall Wealth Management business and by leveraging our strong investment capabilities and broad distributionnetwork, we’re confident in our growth strategy.”
CC-BY-SA-2.0, Flickr. Investors Expect to Double the Weight of Liquid Alternative Strategies in the Future
During the week of May 9 to 13, Pioneer Investments organized an event in Boston that was attended by 85 of its best customers from the United States and various countries in Latin America. Delegates from Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo Advisors, Citi, Vector Global and Monex, among other firms, learned firsthand about the most successful funds of the firm, but also had time to participate in a discussion of asset classes and risk involved in asset management in the current market context.
The discussions focused on the multidimensional aspects of risk and risk management, opportunities available and how to build a robust portfolio given the current economic environment. Attendees were very interested in learning about the strategies that that allow Pioneer to minimize downshifts. For the firm, the answer to this can be summarized in one idea: we must change our mentality for the market to work out.
While it is true that thinking about investments as a way to beat a specific market index has served in the past, that does not mean it will be an appropriate approach for the future. For Pioneer Investments’ portfolios managers, there is a need to go beyond traditional ideas and start testing other strategies in order to get better returns.
Most investors are aware of the dangers facing the market nowadays, although risk appears to be among the main concerns of all of them. At a conference Pioneer Investments held in April, over 100 professionals of the mutual fund industry were asked to define what risk means to them. 34%, the highest percentage in the results, said risk meant losses, a drawdown. Second, with 26% of the responses, it was said that risk was to not be likely to achieve profitability goals.
Similarly, when asked what major gaps they faced in their investment strategy, 39% of the conference attendees said it was managing drawdown effectively while for 34% it was generating sufficient returns.
‘Risk is not one dimensional,’ summarised Hugh Prendergast, Head of Strategic Product and Marketing at Pioneer. It certainly goes beyond its traditional definition in the investment world: volatility. For him,volatility is not risk; it is simply movement. True risk management for investors should factor in volatility, drawdown, and shortfall against targets.
One option Pioneer identifies to help in all these regards are liquid-alternative strategies, given “how effective they have been in mitigating risk since the financial crisis”. This performance record has not passed unnoticed by investors. The survey of the conference participants revealed that a majority of them, 54%, currently allocated 10% of their portfolios to liquid-alternative funds. Asked how they expected that to change over the next two years, the largest single category, 42%, responded that they expected to move to apportioning 20% of their portfolios to liquid-alternative funds.
Pioneer Investments believes that incorporating liquid-alternative solutions into portfolios will be essential in helping investors meet the functional challenges of the future.
