Foto: Juergen Trautmann. Eaton Vance Management lanza un nuevo fondo alternativo que cumple con AIFMD
Eaton Vance Management International, a subsidiary of Eaton Vance Management, has launched a new floating rate exchange fund for non-US qualified investors.
The Eaton Vance Floating-Rate Income Fund is an Irish-domiciled qualifying investor alternative investment fund and complies with the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive.
The fund invests in a portfolio primarily of senior floating rate loans of US and non-US corporate borrowers, Eaton Vance said in a statement.
It will be managed by Scott Page and Craig Russ, co-directors, Eaton Vance Floating Rate Loan team and John Redding, vice president.
The firm said the fund is currently seeking the necessary marketing passport registration to enable it to be marketed across various jurisdictions in the European Union under the requirements of AIFMD, as well as separate approvals to be permitted to market in Switzerland and certain Asian jurisdictions.
“Particular interest today is coming from large institutions grappling with near-zero bond returns and undercompensated risk elsewhere. Seven years into a global economic recovery, we see appetites for unencumbered risk ultimately creating an opportunity to fill the void in risk-managed approaches to the asset class. As investors shift their view of risk, the fund we are launching today will be uniquely positioned to complement or replace existing strategies,” said Niall Quinn, president of EVMI.
Foto: Marcbela (Marc N. Belanger). S&P Dow Jones y MSCI anuncian la creación de un sector inmobiliario en GICS Structure
S&P Dow Jones Indices, announced last week that as a result of their annual review of the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®) structure, a new Real Estate Sector is being created, elevating its position from under the Financials Sector and bringing the number of GICS Sectors to 11. Additionally, a new Sub-Industry for Copper is being created. The changes are being considered for implementation after the market close (ET) on August 31, 2016.
“Feedback from the annual GICS structural review confirmed that Real Estate is now viewed as a distinct asset class and is increasingly being incorporated separately into the strategic asset allocation of asset owners,” said Remy Briand, Managing Director and Global Head Equity Research at MSCI. “Investors told us that there are significant differences between public Real Estate and Financial companies and therefore Real Estate deserves a dedicated GICS Sector. Today’s announcement ensures that GICS continues to be the most accurate, complete and standard industry analysis framework for investment research, portfolio management and asset allocation.”
According to David Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices, “Real estate is an important and growing part of major economies throughout the world. To reflect this and support good financial analysis, GICS is introducing an eleventh sector for Real Estate and redefining financials to exclude Real Estate. This is an example of our ongoing effort to ensure that GICS is reflective of today’s markets.”
The annual review is intended to ensure that the GICS structure continues to appropriately represent the global equity markets and, thereby, enables asset owners, asset managers and investment research specialists to make consistent global comparisons by industry. The GICS revision is the result of a consultation with members of the global investment community.
S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI are proposing to implement the changes to the GICS structure after the market close (ET) on Wednesday, August 31, 2016, but are requesting feedback from market participants on this proposed implementation date by February 13, 2015. The final decision on the date of implementation will be announced by March 13, 2015. The list of securities affected by these changes will be announced at a later date closer to the implementation, but with plenty of advance notice.
The changes to the GICS structure in 2016 are summarized below.
Real Estate Sector
Real Estate is being moved out from under the Financials Sector and being promoted to its own Sector under the code 60. The Real Estate Investment Trusts Industry is being renamed to Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), and excludes Mortgage REITs. Mortgage REITs remain in the Financials Sector under a newly created Industry and Sub-Industry called Mortgage REITs.
Copper
A Copper Sub-Industry is being created in the Metals & Mining Industry. This change will be implemented along with the creation of the Real Estate Sector in 2016.
The proposals relating to the Telecommunication Services Sector and the Luxury Goods Sub-Industry are not resulting in any changes to the GICS structure at this time.
The new GICS structure, when implemented, will consist of 11 Sectors, 24 Industry Groups, 68 Industries and 157 Sub-Industries.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Bev Hendry, co-Head of Aberdeen AM Americas. Aberdeen Asset Management, Focused on Growing its US Offshore Business
Bev Hendry, current co-Head of Aberdeen Asset Management in the Americas, came to Fort Lauderdale 19 years ago to plant the seed of the Scottish asset management firm in the Americas. “In 1995, it was decided that America would be the next area of growth for Aberdeen Asset Management, at a time when the company was present only in its home town, Aberdeen, and in London and Singapore,” Hendry said during an interview with Funds Society.
The strategy proved successful as the region of the Americas “has grown so much that we thought it made sense to give it two co-Heads,” Bev Hendry deals with the financial side, as well as the US offshore business, Latin America, and Canada, while Andrew Smith is more focused on the operational side of the business as well as the US domestic leg. Both have come to replace Gary Marshall, who last summer returned to Scotland to participate in the integration of the recently acquired business of Scottish Widows. Both Bev Hendry and Andrew Smith have their offices in Philadelphia, the American city that serves as Aberdeen’s headquarters in the United States.
“Andrew and I have known each other since 2000, when he was working in our offices in Fort Lauderdale,” Hendry said. “The first thing we developed was the offshore business in the US, even before the institutional one in Chile, which was followed by those of Peru and Colombia,” he added. Now, Linda Cartusciello, who is based in Miami, is in charge of all the institutional business in Latin America. Also in Miami is Maria Eugenia Cordova, who deals purely with the US offshore business that has its epicenter in this city. Maria Eugenia reports to Mennode Vreeze, Head of Business Development of the US offshore business, whose team is completed by Damian Zamudio and AndreaAjila; all three are based in New York.
In New York, Aberdeen also has fixed-income and alternative investment teams. As confirmed by Hendry, one of Aberdeen’s main goals in the Americas region, is to boost the offshore business in the United States. “Each month, the offshore team meets in Miami. This coming year we want to participate in more events and conferences for this market segment and provide our customers, particularly broker dealers, the support and the specific products they demand.” With this, Hendry refers to specific share classes for the funds demanded by offshore investors in the US, which often differ to those, which are registered in European platforms.
Aberdeen is commonly recognized as one of the strongest asset management companies for emerging markets global equity, although Hendry emphasizes that they also offer interesting management capabilities in other asset classes such as fixed income, real estate, and alternative investments. “We are a much more diversified asset management company than we were 10 years ago, but we have to convey this message to investors, as US offshore investors have known us for almost 20 years as an asset management company specializing in emerging markets’ equity.”
Emerging market debt would be one of the asset classes to emphasize. “The process is very similar to our equities business. We follow a very fundamental bottom-up process, with careful attention in selecting corporate credit securities.” These strategies, notes Hendry, “offer higher yield while diversifying a fixed income portfolio.” In emerging market debt Aberdeen has, amongst others, a Global Select Emerging Markets Bond strategy and a Frontier Markets Bond strategy, launched a year ago, “even though Aberdeen has been investing for a long time in frontier markets’ fixed income through our Flexible Bond strategy”, Hendry stressed.
In the Latin American market, Aberdeen Asset Management is also widely recognized for its emerging market equities franchise. It is, in fact, the asset management company with the most assets in emerging market equities in Chile and Peru, and the second in Colombia. “These are the regions in which we have focused the most and for which we are best known.”
Now they are also focusing on Brazil, where the firm has a business development team of two people in Sao Paulo, because “the market is beginning to open up through their pension funds business.” Aberdeen opened the office in Sao Paulo in 2009 as an investment center and “we now have two local funds that invest in Brazilian equity and fixed income.” Hendry points out that they are finally seeing a clear appetite by Brazilian pension funds for diversifying internationally. The creation of a feeder fund that invests in one of its flagship funds, or the creation of custom institutional vehicles, are amongst Aberdeen’s plans for Brazil.
Mexico is another market that Aberdeen is following closely. “It is quite possible that in the future Mexico will be an important Latin American business focus for Aberdeen, and that eventually it might consider opening an office there,” said Hendry. Should that be the case, it would add to the five Aberdeen offices already in the region in Philadelphia, New York, Miami, Toronto, and Sao Paulo. Overall, Aberdeen Asset Management has AUMs of US$80bn in the Americas, of which US$7bn are Latin American and US offshore assets. According to information available at the end of July 2014, the Latin American institutional business comprises US$5.4bn, while the remaining US$1.6bn relate to assets of US offshore business. Hendry concludes by noting that “we have a great and very enthusiastic team, who devotes all its efforts and expertise to develop Aberdeen’s business in the Americas.”
Pension funds globally say they intend to adopt a more proactive approach to managing their assets, according to a new report by State Street Corporation. “Pensions Funds DIY: A Hands-On Future for Asset Owners,” highlights the key trends that are reshaping how pension funds manage their investments operating models and deliver long-term value to members. The report is based on a research survey of more than 100 pension fund executives conducted in conjunction with the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
Driving this change is the challenge of building a holistic view of risk across a multi-asset portfolio while aggregating risk data from multiple managers, aligning interests and managing costs. “Pension funds’ desire to deliver strong investment returns to their participants coupled with improved oversight and governance and is leading to a need for more in-house accountability for asset and risk management,” said Martin J. Sullivan, head of Asset Owner sector solutions for North America, State Street. “However, this undertaking requires pension funds to carefully evaluate how to achieve a balance of in-house and external talent, tools and technologies.”
Some key trends that emerged from the research include:
A majority of pension fund respondents (81 percent) indicate they are exploring bringing more asset management responsibilities in-house over the next three years. This is due in part to cost concerns, with 29 percent indicating it is a challenge for them to justify the fees of their asset managers.
As part of this shift, a majority of pension funds (53 percent) are expecting to use more lower-cost strategies to achieve desired investment outcomes, as well as expanding the number of technology platforms and software solutions they employ (43 percent).
More than half (51 percent) of funds place a high priority on strengthening their governance over the next three years.
“While the largest and most sophisticated funds can handle most aspects of multi-asset class portfolios in-house, the majority of pension funds will need to make a choice about where to be a specialist and when a sub-contractor is needed,” continued Sullivan. “This shift underscores pension funds’ need for new, more collaborative partnerships with asset managers who can offer them transparency and effectively tailor investment ideas and solutions to their unique needs.”
On behalf of State Street, the EIU conducted a global survey of institutional asset owners during July and August of 2014. The survey garnered 134 responses from pension fund executives, spanning both defined contribution and defined benefit assets. Forty-two percent of respondents were from the Americas, 36 percent from Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and 22 percent from Asia Pacific. Just over half (52 percent) of respondents came from public sector pension funds, 31 percent from private sector pension systems and 16 percent from superannuation funds.
MUFG Union Bank, N.A., has announced that Mike Feldman has been named Head of Branch and Private Banking. In his expanded role, he will manage Private Banking, through which the bank offers a variety of services for affluent individuals, families, businesses and organizations. Based in Orange County, he continues to report to Pierre P. Habis, who heads MUFG Union Bank’s Consumer and Business Banking groups.
“Mike is a proven leader, and his extensive experience and success leading investment services and licensed banker programs made him the obvious choice to lead Private Banking,” says Habis. “Mike will work with me and other senior leaders to help manage the bank’s affluent strategy and ensure that we offer best-in-class products and services to this valued segment.”
Feldman will continue to oversee the bank’s network of more than 400 retail branches in California, Oregon and Washington, including the licensed banker program and other sales leadership and service initiatives.
Feldman joined Union Bank in 2009 and has more than 20 years of banking experience. He previously served as head of California Branch Banking and as national sales manager for the Retail Banking division. Prior to joining Union Bank, Feldman was a managing director of Retail Banking at Countrywide Bank and president and chief executive officer of Countrywide Investment Services Inc. He also served as a senior vice president and Community Banking president at Wells Fargo, where he managed several diverse market areas and developed the licensed banker program.
Feldman received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University, Fresno. He also earned a Personal Financial Planning certification from the University of California, Irvine. Active in the community, Feldman serves on the board of directors for the American Heart Association in Orange County and is a board member of the California Chamber. He has also served on several boards throughout Southern California, including: the Personal Financial Planning Advisory Committee at the University of California, Irvine; United Way; and Junior Achievement, an organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy.
Van Eck Global has launched the Market Vectors ChinaAMC China Bond ETF, a U.S.-listed ETF designed to provide investors with direct access to China’s onshore bond market.
The launch continues Van Eck’s leadership in China and emerging markets funds. The company launched the first ETF providing exposure to A-shares in the U.S. (Market Vectors ChinaAMC A-Share ETF) on October 13, 2010, and this summer it launched a Chinese equity ETF (Market Vectors ChinaAMC SME-ChiNext ETF), primarily focused on innovative, non government-owned companies.
CBON seeks to invest in all major segments of the Chinese fixed income markets, including sovereigns, policy banks, and high rated corporate bonds. “China’s domestic bond market is expanding and evolving at the same time. While the full liberalization of the markets is likely to take a long time, movement towards greater access for borrowers and lenders, and a higher degree of market oriented financings such as bond issuance have already greatly broadened the opportunity set for local investors,” said Fran Rodilosso, Senior Investment Officer for Market Vectors ETFs.
CBON is the newest addition to Van Eck’s family of emerging markets bond ETFs which include the largest local-currency bond ETF in the U.S., Market Vectors Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond ETF, and the largest emerging markets corporate bond ETF in the U.S, Market Vectors Emerging Markets High Yield Bond ETF, by assets under management as of October 31, 2014.
“China is currently the largest emerging markets bond market, yet to this point investors outside of mainland China have been mostly excluded from direct ownership of locally issued bonds,” said Mr. Rodilosso. He added “China’s onshore bond market has had historically low correlation to core asset classes and has delivered attractive yields in comparison to developed bond markets in recent years.”
CBON seeks to replicate as closely as possible, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the ChinaBond China High Quality Bond Index. The Index is comprised of fixed-rate, Renminbi (RMB)-denominated bonds issued in the People’s Republic of China by Chinese credit, governmental and quasi-governmental (e.g., policy banks) issuers. As of November 10, 2014, the yield to maturity for the Index was 4.1%.
ChinaAMC will serve as sub-adviser to CBON using a Renminbi-Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor (RQFII) quota that it has received in order to gain access to this market on behalf of foreign investors. This marks the third ETF for which Market Vectors and ChinaAMC have partnered, joining the China A-share focused Market VectorsChinaAMC A-Share ETF and the Market Vectors ChinaAMC SME-ChiNext ETF.
“China continues to be a focus for Van Eck Global, particularly through our Market Vectors ETF family,” said Ed Lopez, Marketing Director at Market Vectors. “Its economy has had significant impact on global markets in recent years and continues to evolve, yet may be under allocated in investors’ portfolios. This CBON launch is another example of how Market Vectors is delivering access to relevant investment ideas we believe will help shape tomorrow’s markets.”
CBON has a gross expense ratio of 0.57 percent and a net expense ratio of 0.50 percent, which is capped contractually until September 1, 2016. The cap excludes certain expenses, such as interest.
The recent spasm of U.S. dollar (USD) strength is more likely a symptom, less likely a cause, of several political and economic dislocations in today’s markets. But what does the dollar rally mean to investors of Asian equities and fixed income? Gerald Hwang, Portfolio Manager at Matthews Asia, discusses this issue in a recent article:
The Asian Financial Crisis of 1997–98 looms like a ghost over any consideration of Asian currency risk. Given the robust performance of Asian currencies since 1999, however, it may be time to reconsider Asian currencies in a modern context that takes into account the diverse monetary systems, business cycles and development stages of Asia’s economies.
Over the third quarter, the worst-performing Asian currency was the Korean won, which depreciated 4.1% against the U.S. dollar. Interestingly, this was better than the best-performing G-10 currency—the Norwegian krone, which lost 4.6% vs. the USD. Performance in other Asian currencies ranged from a 1% gain in the Chinese renminbi to a 2.9% loss in the Philippine peso.
With the trade-weighted basket of Asian currencies losing 1% vs. the dollar in the third quarter, it’s fair to say that Asian currencies were relatively stable over the quarter compared to other currencies. Latin American currencies lost 6% over the same period. Even traditional safe haven currencies—the Euro, Swiss franc and Japan’s yen—lost ground against the USD, losing in the neighborhood of 7% to 8% each.
This is not the first time that Asian currencies have shown resilience in the face of stress emanating from more developed markets. They performed better than expected during the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, losing 9% vs. the USD from the end of July 2008 until the end of the following March. This compared favorably to the 27% loss in Latin American currencies and 14% loss in all trade-weighted currencies over that period.
Equity investors usually pay little heed to currency risk due to its small contribution, over the long run, to total returns. Foreign exchange (FX) volatility is also not a meaningful contributor to overall returns volatility.
For investors in Asian bonds, currencies matter more. Over the long run, currency returns have contributed about one-fifth toward total return and about two-thirds toward volatility. When you buy a bond denominated in a foreign currency, you receive the following basket of returns: local currency coupon income, local currency price return (primarily due to yield changes that can arise from either interest rate or credit spread changes), and FX return on the coupon income you have received as well as on the bond principal. Currency movements can either add to or detract from bond coupon and price returns.
The tension between FX return and coupon plus price return is starkest when markets become risk averse. For investors whose home currency is a “safety currency” (the USD preeminent among them), negative returns from local currency depreciation can negate positive returns from coupon cash flows.
Since the Asian Financial Crisis, have Asian currencies been net positive or negative contributors to Asian bond returns? On a trade-weighted basis, they have appreciated about 1% each year on average. A valid objection is that 1999 is an unfair starting point because that marked the end of the Asian Financial Crisis. Use any point after that, and Asian currencies still look relatively stable compared to currencies of other developing markets. Compared to Latin American currencies, to which they are often compared, Asian currencies have performed decently, with less than half the volatility and less severe drawdowns.
Opinion column by Gerald Hwang, CFA, Portfolio Manager, Matthews Asia
The views and information discussed represent opinion and an assessment of market conditions at a specific point in time that are subject to change. It should not be relied upon as a recommendation to buy and sell particular securities or markets in general. The subject matter contained herein has been derived from several sources believed to be reliable and accurate at the time of compilation. Matthews International Capital Management, LLC does not accept any liability for losses either direct or consequential caused by the use of this information. Investing in international and emerging markets may involve additional risks, such as social and political instability, market illiquidity, exchange-rate fluctuations, a high level of volatility and limited regulation. In addition, single-country funds may be subject to a higher degree of market risk than diversified funds because of concentration in a specific geographic location. Investing in small- and mid-size companies is more risky than investing in large companies, as they may be more volatile and less liquid than large companies. This document has not been reviewed or approved by any regulatory body.
Foto: ChristianFraustoBernal. First Trust Advisors entra al mercado mexicano de pensiones
First Trust Advisors has announced that Mexican pension funds investment regulator, La Comisión Nacional del Sistema de Ahorro para el Retiro (CONSAR), has approved two First Trust ETFs for sale to Mexican funded pensions, known as AFORES.
According to Mexico’s pension plan investment guidelines, before an ETF can be purchased in a pension fund, it must be approved by CONSAR. “We are pleased that our first two AlphaDEX ETFs are officially approved for sale to Mexican pension funds,” said Dan Lindquist, Managing Director of First Trust. “This opportunity helps to further expand the footprint of our merit-based AlphaDEX ETFs into a new institutional market for First Trust.”
The two funds that have been approved are:
First Trust Large Cap Value AlphaDEX® Fund (NYSE Arca: FTA)
First Trust Large Cap Core AlphaDEX® Fund (NYSE Arca: FEX)
In addition, both funds are cross-listed on the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores under the same ticker symbols.
Currently, over 51 million Mexican workers save for their retirement in AFORES, according to CONSAR. There are approximately $164 billion (USD) in assets under management in Mexican pension funds and CONSAR projects Mexico’s retirement savings will grow to $225 billion (USD) by 2018. “As Mexico’s retirement savings grows, we are delighted to provide local pension managers an option for investing in index-based ETFs that seek risk-adjusted excess returns over time by selecting and weighting stocks based on fundamental merit-based factors,” Lindquist said.
. EFG International cuenta con nuevo CEO en Luxemburgo tras la salida de Regis Montazel
EFG Bank (Luxembourg), EFG International’s business in Luxembourg, has appointed Konstantinos Karoumpis as its new Chief Executive Officer, with effect from mid-January. The appointment is subject to regulatory approval, announced the firm.
He will replace François-Régis Montazel, who is leaving at the end of the year to establish his own business. In this capacity, François-Régis Montazel will continue to work with EFG Bank (Luxembourg) S.A. and will remain on its board.
Konstantinos Karoumpis was formerly at Credit Suisse in Luxembourg, which he joined in 2007. Latterly he was Head of Private Banking & Wealth Management, having previously been responsible for business development and support. Prior to this, he undertook corporate banking roles for BNP Paribas and Bank of Cyprus in Athens and Cyprus respectively.
In addition to his responsibilities at EFG Bank (Luxembourg), Konstantinos Karoumpis will help to oversee the development of EFG International’s planned new offices in Athens and Cyprus, which were announced at the time of the half year results.
“This is an exciting challenge for me. EFG International is a specialist private bank and a dynamic one, and this has been much in evidence in the development of its Luxembourg business. François-Régis Montazel deserves every credit, and I look forward to building on the strong foundation that he has put in place. I also look forward to helping EFG develop its new offices in Athens and Cyprus.”, said Konstantinos Karoumpis.
Harvard. Foto: NKCPhoto, Flickr, Creative Commons.. ¿Qué escuela de negocios produce más número de multimillonarios?
Harvard University claimed the number one spot on a Wealth-X ranking of business schools in terms of number of billionaire alumni. Harvard’s MBA program has produced nearly three times more billionaire graduates than that of Stanford University, which emerged in second place on the list.
Wealth-X also found that 21% of world’s billionaires who have pursued tertiary-level education have an MBA. Nearly 50% of these individuals obtained their MBAs from the 10 institutions on the list.
There are 2,325 billionaires globally in 2014, according to the recently released Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census, and 65% of them have tertiary education.
American business schools dominate the list, taking seven of the top 10 spots. Only three institutions are based outside the United States: INSEAD in France, International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland, and London Business School in the United Kingdom.
Below is a list of the 10 business schools with the most billionaire alumni:
Some notable billionaires who have graduated with an MBA include Philip Knight, founder and chairman of sports footwear and apparel company Nike, Inc. Knight obtained his MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1962.
David Gilbert Booth graduated from Chicago University’s MBA program in 1971 and went on to establish Dimensional Fund Advisors 10 years later. An avid philanthropist, he donated $300 million to the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business in 2008, which was subsequently renamed University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
