The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) is seeking candidates to represent the interests of financial markets stakeholders of all types as members of its Securities Markets Stakeholders Group (SMSG).
The SMSG helps to facilitate consultation between ESMA, its Board of Supervisors and stakeholders on ESMA’s areas of responsibility and provides technical advice on its policy development. This helps to ensure that stakeholders can contribute to the formulation of policy from the beginning of the process.
The successful candidates will take up their roles in July 2016. Steven Maijoor, ESMA Chair, said: “The SMSG plays a key role in providing advice from the perspective of a broad range of financial market stakeholders to ESMA and its Board on its activities, and makes a vital contribution to the development of financial markets policy. We are seeking the broadest possible stakeholder representation, in terms of stakeholder segment, gender, and geography, and encourage all interested parties to put themselves forward for consideration.”
The SMSG was established under Article 37 of the ESMA Regulation and is composed of 30 members, representing consumers, users of financial services, financial market participants, academics, employees in the financial sector and SMEs.
It meets on at least four occasions per year and twice with ESMA’s Board of Supervisors.
Each Member of the SMSG serves for a period of two and a half year and can serve two consecutive terms.
Application process
The call for expression of interest for membership in the SMSG is open to stakeholder representatives from the European Union and the EEA. The deadline for applications is 29 January 2016.
Amherst Capital Management, a real estate credit investment specialist and BNY Mellon Investment Management boutique, announced on Monday the addition of two seasoned real estate finance executives to lead the development of its Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Lending business. Christopher T. Kelly was appointed Head of Commercial Real Estate Lending, and Abbe Franchot was named Head of Originations.
“We are thrilled to announce the launch of our CRE Lending platform and expanded offerings on the alternative side of our business,” said Sean Dobson, CEO of Amherst Capital. “Chris and Abbe are exceptional real estate finance professionals and terrific additions to the Amherst Capital team.”
As Head of Commercial Real Estate Lending for Amherst Capital, Chris is responsible for leading all facets of the CRE middle-market Lending business, and targeting mortgage investments in all types of commercial and for-rent residential real estate assets. In this role, Chris will oversee the origination and qualification of potential investment opportunities and drive the underwriting process of CRE transactions, including cash flow modeling, asset valuation and debt structuring, additionally, he will provide oversight for Amherst Capital’s overall CRE loan portfolio performance and asset quality.
“The ability to participate in the initial growth and development of a new private debt origination business for Amherst Capital with the support of BNY Mellon and Texas Treasury Safekeeping Trust Company presents a unique and compelling opportunity,” said Chris Kelly, Head of Commercial Real Estate Lending at Amherst Capital. “We believe that the combination of Amherst Holdings’ deep mortgage expertise, proprietary data and analytics with the strength of BNY Mellon’s infrastructure, places Amherst Capital in a sector-leading position out of the gate.”
Chris has 28 years of experience in real estate debt, mezzanine and equity markets. Prior to joining Amherst Capital, he led the national real estate lending business at CapitalSource, a division of Pacific Western Bank, as a Managing Director and Head of Real Estate.
As Head of Originations, Abbe will lead a team of originators that will source investment opportunities. Abbe previously worked alongside Chris at CapitalSource, where she was responsible for providing debt solutions to CRE owners and investors nationwide as a senior member of the originations team.
Amherst Capital’s CRE Lending team will initially focus on strategies providing interim floating rate debt for property acquisitions or recapitalizations with a value-add or opportunistic investment plan.
Pictet Asset Management added a new fund to its offering. With the launch of PTR Phoenix, a market neutral fund, they offer investors access to Asian stock markets.
Led by James Kim, Tai Panich and Jing Wang in Singapore, the sixth total return fund at Pictet follows a top-down investment strategy, combining long and short positions in search of alpha.
The Ucits IV-compliant fund, offers weekly liquidity as well as daily pricing. It is registered for sale in Great Britain, Luxembourg, Singapore, Spain, France, Belgium, Italy, Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, and Germany.
Emerging markets have experienced several years of relative underperformance. In 2016, they will face considerable external headwinds such as China’s slowdown and rebalancing, weak commodity prices, higher short-term US interest rates, and possibly further US dollar appreciation. Countries will react in different ways to these pressures depending on the extent of any imbalances and their own economic and institutional characteristics.
In the latest update of the Standard Life Investments emerging markets heat map, chief Economist Jeremy Lawson and Emerging Market Economist Nicolas Jaquier highlight important differences in their risk ratings of individual countries:
Jeremy Lawson said: “In May our heat map proved to be a useful indicator of subsequent asset price movements. Countries like Hungary, Korea and Russia showed relatively low risk and generally fared better than those at the higher end of the spectrum such as Brazil, Turkey and Peru. Looking forward, widespread currency depreciation has helped to reduce external imbalances in many countries, although domestic imbalances remain widespread and will take much longer to be addressed.
“Venezuela and Egypt, with pegged or inflexible exchange rate regimes, remain the countries where our heat mapshows risks are highest. Brazil and Malaysia have lowered their risk score after seeing their basic balances improve during the year, though risk is still high. Turkey’s external vulnerabilities are unchanged broadly, despite the benefits of the drop in oil prices.
“Whilst Colombia’s external variables improved marginally, this was offset by rising domestic imbalances. The outlook for fiscal balances has deteriorated notably in Latin America and Russia, and a marginal worsening of domestic balances led to a slight increase in risk for India, Indonesia, Mexico and The Philippines.”
As part of the Montréal Carbon Pledge which it signed as first asset management company in Austria in September 2015, Erste Asset Management has for the first time published the cumulative CO2 footprint of its equity funds. At 70.6%, the footprint falls nearly 30% short of the benchmark index, the MSC World (as of 30 October 2015). “Erste Asset Management sees itself as pioneer in sustainable investments”, says Gerold Permoser, CIO of the company in Vienna. “The climate conference in Paris reminds us how important the curtailing of the emission of greenhouse gases and a sustainable economy are in general. By publishing this key figure, we show to what extent our investments contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases.”
As Austrian market leader in the area of sustainability, Erste Asset Management offers three sustainable flagship equity funds, the CO2 footprint of each of which is even lower than that of the overall portfolio, as compared to the MSCI World index: Erste Responsible Stock America (45.4%), Erste Responsible Stock Global (40.7%), and Erste Responsible Stock Europe (39.9%). This way Erste Asset Management clearly demonstrates that a sustainable and ecological investment approach and yield are not mutually exclusive, but instead, complement each other. “We apply stringent criteria in the share selection and orientate ourselves on the basis of the environmental friendliness and sustainability of the respective companies,” as Permoser points out. This is also reflected by the impressive numbers of Erste Asset Management’s CO2 footprint.
After the assessment of the status quo, the next goals are expansion and optimization
By measuring and especially publishing the footprint, Erste Asset Management is taking another step towards strengthening its position as market leader in the field of sustainability. “To us at Erste Asset Management, sustainability also always means transparency. Therefore, there was no long discussion about whether or not to sign the Montréal Carbon Pledge.” At the moment, the company is preparing its next step. In the future, as soon as a sufficient reservoir of reliable data can be guaranteed, additional asset classes may be taken under the umbrella of the Montréal Carbon Pledge, such as corporate bonds or government bonds”.
Establishment of the CO2 footprint
Erste Asset Management establishes the CO2 footprint of its portfolios in a multi-step process: external rating agencies calculate the greenhouse emissions for all securities in the respective fund. Then the weighted average of the emissions of the securities held are calculated for each fund portfolio. The experts establish the total footprint of the measured equities held by Erste Asset Management by assigning weights across all funds, with the weights resulting from the share of the respective fund in terms of total assets under Erste AM’s management. The CO2 footprint accounts for the emission of all six greenhouse gases as defined by the Kyoto Protocol. The emission of the various gases is translated into a carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e: tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) to ensure the different gases are comparable in terms of their harmful effects on the climate at one glance. In order to facilitate comparability between companies of different sizes the emission of the carbon dioxide equivalent is related to sales in millions of USDs. This standardization is defined as CO2 intensity.
Montréal Carbon Pledge
The Montréal Carbon Pledge was launched on 25 September 2014 at the “PRI in Person” meeting in Montréal. This initiative is supported by PRI (Principles for Responsible Investment) and UNEP FI (United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative). The goal of the Montréal Pledge is to compile a list of signatories that manage assets worth in excess of USD 3,000 billion by the time of the world climate conference in Paris in December 2015. The Montréal Pledge tries to facilitate a higher degree of transparency in connection with the carbon footprint of equity portfolios and wants to contribute to its reduction in the long run.
The global law firm Dentons announced that it will be establishing its first physical presence in Latin America and the Caribbean, with the news that it is considering combining with Colombia’sCárdenas & Cárdenas, and Mexico’sLópez Velarde, Heftye y Soria (LVHS). The announcement follows Dentons’ recent high-profile pivot to the Pacific Rim, in which the firm announced a combination with both Australia’s Gadens and Singapore’s Rodyk, and the formalization of its historic combination in China, which made Dentons the largest law firm in the world.
“Comprised of vibrant, opportunity-filled economies, the Latin American and Caribbean region is of significant import to our clients,” said Joe Andrew, global chairman at Dentons. “Entering the region with a presence in two of its top four economies, and with firms that are aligned with the high level of service and quality that our clients expect, is key to delivering on our strategy to have seasoned, local talent, wherever our clients need it.”
“In addition to the leading position that each of these elite firms hold in their respective markets, they add substantial experience across our practices and sectors,” said Elliott Portnoy, global chief executive officer at Dentons. “Many of our clients are already doing business in Mexico, Colombia and throughout the region, and a combination with Cárdenas & Cárdenas and LVHS will bring more than a century of experience in the community along with valuable knowledge in key areas.”
Bernardo Cárdenas, managing partner of Cárdenas & Cárdenas, said, “Having been a leading law firm in Colombia for the past 100 years, and as one of the first firms to work with foreign investors in the country, we are ready to take the next step. We firmly believe that the globalization of legal services is a reality and that joining such a prominent and large firm as Dentons is the right decision. This combination will provide us with a global reach and expertise that will benefit all of our current and future clients, while maintaining our tradition of high quality service.”
Rogelio Lopez-Velarde, chairman and founding partner of LVHS, said, “After almost 20 years of being the leaders in legal services in Mexico in the energy, infrastructure, telecommunications and other industries, we are convinced that joining with the world’s largest law firm, which so quickly has taken such a prominent position in the legal market worldwide, will significantly enhance our capabilities and allow us to continue providing excellent service in Mexico for international clients, and for Mexican companies wherever the Dentons global footprint reaches.”
Dentons first signaled its serious commitment to the region last year, when the firm appointed Jorge Alers as its chief executive officer for Latin America and the Caribbean. Alers, who came to Dentons after serving as the general counsel and general manager of the legal department of the Inter-American Development Bank, has been focused on helping the firm meet its goal for whole firm combinations in Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
Schroders has launch the UK’s first volatility controlled equity fund with downside protection, designed specifically for UK institutional investors. The Schroder Volatility Controlled Equity Fund has been structured to offer investors equity exposure with downside protection, enabling clients to keep on track with their long-term goals.
The fund aims to give Schroders’ clients and investors exposure to global equities while maintaining a protected approach to volatility. This is achieved through exposure to a volatility targeted global equity index, with downside protection gained through a rolling program of monthly put options.
Initial funding has been received from a UK final salary pension scheme under the advice of their investment consultant Redington. The Schroder Volatility Controlled Equity Fund will be managed by the Multi-asset Investments and Portfolio Solutions (MAPS) team.
Andy Connell, Head of Portfolio Solutions at Schroders, commented: “We have seen a lot of interest from clients wishing to invest in the Schroder Volatility Controlled Equity Fund and we welcome the increasing recognition of the techniques we are using. The recent market volatility further supports the importance of having the control capabilities in the fund to manage the downside risks.”
Dan Mikulskis, Managing Director & Co-head of Asset Liability Modelling (ALM) at Redington commented: “Achieving clients’ investment objectives drives our investment strategy work and recommendations. We believe risk control and downside protection are two powerful tools for keeping clients’ portfolios on track for those long-term goals. We wanted a cost effective equity pooled fund that was easy to access and had these characteristics.”
Consulting company, EisnerAmper received all the shareholders, principals and professional staff of certified public accounting firm Mallah Furman & Company in their firm last November 15, 2015.
Members of the Mallah Furman shareholder group, Gary Dix, Barry Gould, Joe Berkovits, Curt Rosner, Arthur Unger and David Sloan, together with a team of more than 60 outstanding professionals and staff, will become part of EisnerAmper and maintain their present offices in Miami and Fort Lauderdale.
Christopher Loiacono, EisnerAmper Partner and Executive Committee member said, “Mallah Furman’s reputation for client service is well known throughout Florida where they are recognized as one of the premier accounting firms. We look forward to adding their strengths in audit and assurance, tax, private business, and family office services to EisnerAmper.”
Mallah Furman, with its decades-long reputation for excellence, has deep industry expertise, serving clients in insurance, hospitality, professional services, construction and real estate, retail and telecom, among other industries. Gary Dix, Managing Director of Mallah Furman, said, “When our clients make business decisions, they count on us to be their trusted advisor. We listen to and understand their needs. Now, as part of EisnerAmper, we will be able to bring an amazing array of new resources to them to help them meet their goals.”
Barry Gould, the Mallah Furman Chief Operating Officer, has been named Partner-in-Charge of EisnerAmper’s Florida locations.
In speaking about the addition of Mallah Furman, Charles Weinstein, CEO of EisnerAmper, said, “This next step affirms our growth strategy of striving to add the best people and finest resources to the firm in exciting and vibrant marketplaces. In Mallah Furman we see limitless potential, and we are extraordinarily pleased to welcome their team into the EisnerAmper family.”
From left to right: Bruce Zagaris, a partner at Berliner Corcoran & Rowe; Jon Grouf, partner at Duane Morris; David Schwartz, president of FIBA, and Ernesto Mairhofer, Regional Manager for Latin America at Citco Corporate Services - Photo Funds Society. Where Is Increasingly Complex Regulation Leading Us?
The pressure on Wealth Management is increasing at such a rate- due to the dynamism of national and international authorities, and the various agreements between countries which are incessantly enforced- that David Schwartz, President of FIBA (Florida International Bankers Association) states that “the industry is at a crossroads.”
The regulatory scenario is by no means easy for Wealth Management companies, be they large or small. The rising costs of expanding compliance teams are challenging business profitability, and customer privacy seems to have disappeared from the playing field.”Has privacy been lost forever? It could have. We are in a new world,” says Jon Grouf, partner at the New York based company, Duane Morris, which boasts over 700 legal professionals.
Schwartz and Grouf, together with Bruce Zagaris, a partner at law boutique Berliner Corcoran & Rowe of Washington, took part at a round table on the regulation of the industry, which was organized by Citco Corporate Services and in which their Regional Manager for Latin America, Ernesto Mairhofer, acted as moderator.
The situation has become extremely complicated in recent years. On the one hand, the United States introduced FATCA and its “IGA” (intergovernmental agreements), which depending on the model signed, means either a unilateral or a bilateral exchange. Subsequently, GATCA– its equivalent, albeit with some differences- was introduced in the UK. And now, the CRS (Common Reporting Standard) of the OECD will in practice begin to operate in some countries from January 1 st, 2016, although the initial exchange will not take place until 2017.
Since the aforementioned OECD agreement for the automatic exchange of information must be transferred by the different jurisdictions into their local regulations, we’ll no doubt still see the birth of new legislation in many of the participating countries, between which, there are remarkable differences in the level of its enforcement.
But what, in addition to the costs and proper compliance of these rules, is worrying the institutions, according to the Berliner Corcoran & Rowe partner, are reductions in the privacy rights of the asset holders, which in regions such as Latin America, are key -for reasons of the clients’ security and even physical safety-. In addition to the new regulations, these reductions are also the result of the increased activity of whistleblowers (accusers who are not always within the framework of the law), the growing importance of investigation journalism, which has given rise to a consortium of over 190 journalists from 65 countries, or leaks (as the famous case of Wikileaks, which made some people leave their country for security reasons). “We should lobby more for taxpayers´ rights. We should not be afraid to demand more rights,” he says.
“Previously, hardly anyone wondered about ownership of assets under a corporate name, but currently we are seeking out the final owner” says Jon Grouf. The multi jurisdictional structures used so far could change their attributes depending on the countries involved and the agreements between them. “This new regulation will have a big impact in many countries, though perhaps not so in the United States.” Everything will depend on whether the country is considered as “a participant or not,” because regulators are reluctant to join CRS wielding the existence of FATCA as reason.
Large fortunes, and especially their advisors, will have to, like it or not, invest in lawyers and experts to help them comply with international law as well as with their clients’ wishes, and all players within the Wealth Management sector who wish to continue operating, will have to do so in order to avoid legal implications and reputational damage.
All these changes in international rules and regulations are prompting many countries to offer taxpayers who did not meet their tax obligations on time the opportunity to do so now, through regulations or amnesties. In this regard, Grouf reminds us that Chile has a voluntary disclosure program at 8%, United States at 27.5%, Brazil is currently discussing something similar in parliament but with a higher rate of around 30%, and this year Colombia announced 16 % until 2017. We also have Mexico with a voluntary disclosure program, and Argentina, whose program has had little success, is expecting a more attractive one.
Where is this leading us? “There may be entities which are increasingly unwilling to accept foreign funds,” said the Duane Morris partner. The president of the International Bankers Association of Florida does not hesitate to describe the current situation as “over-regulation“, does not harbor hopes of relaxation by the authorities, and encourages the industry to state their opinion, while he points out that “the risk has already influenced the industry. We are already seeing banks which reduce their risk by leaving whole jurisdictions,” and he recognizes that at any given moment, “we did expect the death of Miami as a financial center, but the overall escalation of regulation has eliminated the disadvantage of our place, and money is returning to Miami. Until when? We do not know, but we must seize the moment.”
To which Ernesto Mairhofer of Citco, adds “There is life after FATCA and CRS, it will undoubtedly be different, but high income families will continue to have the same needs which they do today: orderly estate planning, cross border issues (for e.g. children living in different countries), insecurity in their countries of residence, avoiding fictitious profits from the devaluation of their currencies, etc.”
Oddo & Cie is launching a voluntary and conditional counterbid for BHF Kleinwort Benson Group, a Brussels-listed company, subject to approval from the banking regulatory authorities.
BHF Kleinwort Benson is a European financial Holding, which is primarily active in private banking and asset management, as well as on the financial markets and financing of businesses. The Holding, formerly RHJ International, is listed on the Euronext Brussels regulated market, and is mainly active in Germany, the United Kingdom and Ireland, via its three subsidiaries, BHF-Bank AG, the Kleinwort Benson Wealth Management Group and Kleinwort Benson Investors. As at 30 June 2015, the group had 58.5 billion euros in assets under management and its shareholders’ equity amounted to 793 million euros as at 30 September 2015.
Key points of the transaction
Oddo & Cie has filed a draft prospectus with the Belgian Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) for all the shares of the company, at a price of €5.75 per share, which represents a premium of 15,2% compared to the opening market price on 26 November 2015 and of 40% compared to the average stock price between 24 July 2014 and 24 July 2015, the date on which Fosun Group launched a takeover bid at a price of €5.10 per share.
As a shareholder holding a 21,572% stake, the Oddo Group has signed a firm commitment with respect to the sale or the tender, respectively, with the Franklin Templeton Group, which holds 17.549% of the capital and with the company Aqton, a holding controlled by Stefan Quandt, which holds a 11.283% stake. Oddo & Cie is therefore satisfied that it will be in a position to acquire 50,404% of the capital.
The Oddo Group has reiterated its intention to expand in the eurozone and has thus decided not to maintain the private banking activities in the United Kingdom and in the Channel Islands. To this end and with a view to the transfer of these activities, the Oddo Group has negotiated a firm commitment from Société Générale, the price and main terms of which are fixed, to acquire Kleinwort Benson Bank Limited (United Kingdom) and Kleinwort Benson (Channel Islands) Holdings Limited (Guernsey), subject to a successful public takeover bid and standard conditions precedent, including the negotiation of a sale purchase agreement relating to the shares with BHF Kleinwort Benson.
