Photo: Sagitario. DeAWM Hires Dessy Arteaga From J.P. Morgan to Strengthen its UHNW Mexico Team
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) announced that Dessy Arteaga will join the Bank in January 2015 as a Managing Director and Senior Private Banker. She will be responsible for developing and strengthening the Bank’s relationships with ultra-high-net-worth clients in Mexico. Based in New York, Arteaga will report to Felipe Godard, Head of Wealth Management in Latin America.
“As we expand our wealth management offering in Latin America, we are committed to attracting the most talented professionals in the industry to serve our clients,” said Godard. “We are thrilled that Dessy has joined the Bank, as she will play a critical role in further expanding our platform and deepening our local relationships in Mexico.”
With over 35 years of industry experience, Arteaga will join from J.P. Morgan Private Bank, where she was most recently a Managing Director and a Senior Private Banker based in New York, specializing in ultra-high-net-worth individuals and families in Mexico. Prior to J.P. Morgan in New York, Arteaga spent nearly 20 years in Caracas, Venezuela at various firms including J.P. Morgan, Banco Union S.A.C.A. and Citigroup.
In addition to Arteaga, DeAWM has made several senior hires this year, as it expands it private bank in key wealth markets. The Bank recently announced that it hired Lee Hutter to head its Wealth Management division in the Western Region of the U.S. In addition, Deutsche AWM recently announced the opening of its Private Bank in Dallas.
Nicolas Descoqs. Courtesy photo.. Alken Adds Two Specialists to Investment Team
European equity specialist Alken Asset Management has added two experienced analysts to its highly regarded investment team.
Alken founder Nicolas Walewski says the addition of Michael Aubourg and Nicolas Descoqs further reinforces Alken’s long standing commitment to client service and delivering outsized alpha for investors.
Aubourg – an analyst in the food, beverages, tobacco and household & personal care industries – joins from Credit Suisse in Paris, where he was an associate in the group’s French investment banking division.
Before Credit Suisse, Aubourg spent three years at Lazard in the M&A and restructuring teams. He started his career in the research department of the IMF in Washington DC, assisting economists with quantitative models and econometric analysis. Aubourg holds a Master of Science in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University, as well as an engineering degree from Ecole Centrale Paris.
Descoqs – an analyst in the oil & gas, metals & mining, and aerospace & defence industries – joins from exploration and production giant ConocoPhillips, where he started his career in 2005.
At ConocoPhillips, Descoqs worked on a number of high level assets across the world. He began as a drilling and completions engineer in Norwegian and Chinese offshore oilfields, before becoming a project engineer in Houston. Descoqs holds a Master of Science in Engineering from Ecole Polytechnique in France, as well as Master of Science in Petroleum Engineering from Norway’s NTNU University.
“It has been always been our plan to continue investing in and reinforcing our research capability,” Walewski says.
“The insights of our trusted analysts have played a pivotal part of the outperformance Alken has delivered for investors. The addition of Michael and Nicolas further strengthens our investment proposition.”
Nicolas Walewski, fundador de Alken. Los mercados y la ampliación de equipo llevan a Alken a reabrir sus fondos a nuevos inversores
Alken AM, the fund management company founded by Nicolas Walewski, has informed to its clients an important decision taken by the Board of Directors with regards to the Sub-Funds “ALKEN FUND – Absolute Return Europe” and “ALKEN FUND – European Opportunities”.
After careful analysis and consideration of the Sub-Funds’ current situation and their relevant markets evolution, as presented to the Board by the Sub-Funds’ Investment Manager, the Board, making use of the powers conferred upon it in the Company’s prospectus, has resolved to re-open the Sub-Funds to subscriptions from new investors, and to no longer limit the possibility of further subscriptions from the Sub-Fund’s existing shareholders.
These resolutions will be effective as of 3rd of November 2014.
Bill Gates lidera la lista. Wealth X vuelve a revelar el Top 50 de los estadounidenses más ricos por estado
Wealth-X has released a list showing the richest person in each of the US states, and 35 of the 50 individuals on the list are entrepreneurs who made their own fortunes, demonstrating the importance of hard work and entrepreneurship in attaining the “American Dream”.
One such self-made entrepreneur is Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist Bill Gates who leads the list, maintaining his status as the wealthiest person in America with a fortune of US$81.5 billion, up from US$70.8 billion last year.
Other self-made entrepreneurs on the list include legendary investor Warren Buffett of Nebraska, the country’s second richest person; and media tycoon Michael Bloomberg from New York.
Others have inherited their wealth and subsequently grown it themselves, such as Forest Mars Jr. of Virginia, whose grandfather founded food processing company Mars Incorporated, and Micky Arison of Florida, who is the son of Ted Arison, co-founder of the world’s largest cruise operator, Carnival Corporation.
Only six women made it on the list. With a net worth of US$37.9 billion, Christy Walton of Arkansas has the distinction of being the richest woman in America – and the world. She is the widow of John T. Walton, one of the sons of Sam Walton, founder of Walmart. Anita Zucker, of South Carolina, has a net worth of US$2.7 billion. She is chairwoman and chief executive of the InterTech Group, assuming both positions in 2008 after the death of her husband, Jerry Zucker, the Group’s founder.
Below are the top 5 richest individuals on the list:
Name
State
Estimated Net Worth
(US $ billion)
Bill Gates
Washington
81.5
Warren Buffett
Nebraska
66.9
Lawrence Ellison
California
47.3
David Koch
Kansas
42.0
Christy Walton
Arkansas
37.9
Of the 50 individuals, 41 are billionaires and their combined wealth of US$594.1 billion accounts for 26% of the total billionaire wealth in America.
Utah, New Mexico, Mississippi, Maine, Delaware, Hawaii, South Dakota, Alaska and Wyoming are the only states whose wealthiest residents are not billionaires.
Foto: Lucky Cavey, Flickr, Creative Commons. Richard Pease dejará Henderson GI para sumarse a Crux AM, una nueva gestora
Richard Pease will be leaving Henderson Global Investors to join Crux Asset Management, a new fund management company.
The Henderson European Special Situations Fund, currently managed by Richard, will be transferred by a scheme of arrangement from Henderson to Crux’s nominated third-party authorised corporate director, subject to obtaining regulatory and client approval. Post transfer, the Fund will continue to be managed by Richard and his team at Crux Asset Management.
Henderson and Crux will work closely together over the next few months to facilitate a seamless transition. Clients will be kept updated on timings and progress.
With immediate effect, responsibility for the management of both the Henderson European Growth Fund and Henderson Horizon European Growth Fund will be given to the current co-manager Simon Rowe. Simon will be supported by the wider European equities team led by John Bennett.
Richard Pease will remain an employee of Henderson until the transfer of the Henderson European Special Situations Fundis given effect and throughout that period will continue to manage the Henderson European Special Situations Fund during the transfer of the fund to Crux.
Simon Rowe has worked alongside Richard Pease since 2001, and has been instrumental in developing and managing the European Growth strategy. Simon has 20 years of investment experience and has worked at Henderson for five and a half years. Prior to that he worked with Richard at New Star and moved to Henderson as part of the acquisition in 2009.
Simon began his career as a financial journalist joining the Investors Chronicle, part of the Financial Times Group, in 1986. In 1989 Simon moved to Germany as economics editor of a Munich-based radio station. He then worked as a German equity analyst at Kleinwort Benson and subsequently at Smith New Court. From 1993 until 2001 Simon worked as a freelance management consultant and private equity advisor. He joined New Star in 2001 as a European equities fund manager. Simon graduated from Cambridge University where he attained a BA in History.
Simon is part of Henderson’s highly regarded European equities team, which is responsible for £15.4bn in assets under management and includes 21 investment specialists at 30 June 2014.
Concerns over the imminent end of quantitative easing in the U.S. have left investors much less confident in the outlook for the global economy and corporate profitability, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey for October. An overall total of 220 panelists with US$640 billion of assets under management participated in the survey from 3 October to 9 October 2014.
After a sharp fall of more than 20 percentage points from September, only a net 32 percent of respondents expect the global economy to strengthen over the next 12 months. This is the lowest reading in two years. Inflation and earnings expectations have slumped: recent consensus over the world experiencing both below-trend inflation and below-trend growth is even stronger this month at 77 percent.
Monetary policy underlies this shift in sentiment. Only a net 18 percent of fund managers now view policy as too stimulative, down 14 percentage points to the lowest level since August 2012 – just before the last QE initiative in the U.S. Perceptions of monetary risk have also risen, along with Emerging Market risk.
Investors’ response has been to reduce riskier exposures. Cash balances have risen to 4.9 percent, while investment horizons have shortened and equity overweights have fallen rapidly (down a net 13 percentage points month-on-month). Underweights in commodities have also risen, while sectors sensitive to the asset class like energy and materials have seen large moves to net underweight positions.
Respondents have lost their appetite for Emerging Markets and European equities. Both current positioning and intentions for the next 12 months have turned negative or neutral. Instead, they have regained faith in the U.S. market and increased their preference for Japan.
“Cash balances are high, but investors are retreating to benchmark positions rather than staging an exodus from markets,” said Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research. “With the European Central Bank ‘hope trade’ gone, performance in European equities is reverting to fundamentals. As our view remains downbeat, we continue to favor defensive dividend yield stocks and expect any rallies in cyclical stocks to be short lived,” added Manish Kabra, European equity and quantitative strategist.
European enthusiasm fades
Following the European Central Bank’s press conference at the start of the month, respondents are uncertain over policy in Europe. Twenty-six percent of the global panel now does not expect the ECB to initiate a program of QE, up from last month’s 19 percent.
Expectations over Europe’s growth have declined markedly. Only a net 16 percent of regional fund managers now expect the continent’s economy to strengthen over the next year. This compares to a net 45 percent last month.
The outlook for corporate profitability is heavily affected by this. After a month-on-month decline of nearly 30 percentage points, a net 52 percent now does not expect double-digit earnings growth in the region, while an even high proportion of fund managers judge earnings-per-share estimates for European companies as too high.
Against this background, positioning in European equities has declined. Only a net 4 percent of global investors report overweighting the region now, down 14 percentage points from last month.
Moreover, the market has lost its appeal as investors’ top pick for overweighting in the next 12 months. Only a net 3 percent still view it so positively.
Japanese appetite grows
In contrast, appetite for exposure to Japan has increased further. A net 14 percent of asset allocators would most like to overweight the country’s equities over the next year – a reading that is some 10 percentage points more bullish than that for any other major market.
In contrast to other regions, Japanese fund managers’ inflation expectations are on the rise. A net 46 percent expect consumer price to climb in the next year, up from a net 18 percent last month.
Investors’ increasingly negative outlook for the yen contributes to these assessments. Global fund managers are now equally bearish on the Japanese currency and the euro. This marks a striking shift from last month, when the differential between the two was more than 20 percentage points.
Fiscal and monetary concerns climb
Besides their less upbeat stance on monetary policy, panelists are also concerned over fiscal policy. A net 19 percent of global fund managers now regard fiscal policy as too restrictive.
After a 12-percentage point rise in the space of two months, this represents the highest reading on this measure in more than a year.
La Fed está entre la espada y la pared, según SYZ AM. Foto: AndyCastro, Flickr, Creative Commons. Pekín y la Fed: "Yo te tengo, tú me tienes"
In a landmark research collaboration, Julius Baer and Bank of China Limited have jointly launched the 2014 annual report on wealth trends in Asia. The report finds domestic investors, High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) in China have a positive stance on risky assets and are turning increasingly to private banks to meet their financial service needs.
This year’s Julius Baer – Bank of China Wealth Report: Asia provides a focused China Lifestyle Index of 12 mainland China cities. The report also examines pivotal shifts in the world’s second largest economy and how HNWI in China see private banking as well as the education for their next generation.
Shumin Zhu, Executive Vice President of Bank of China Limited commented: “Internationalization of the renminbi is a key element in China’s wider economic reform process and Bank of China is at the forefront of this development. As a bank, we are committed to contributing to supporting China’s businesses and entrepreneurs, who strive to further develop the country’s economy and contribute to the China Dream. We are very pleased to cooperate with Julius Baer in producing this landmark report. The findings confirmed that our clients, many of whom are entrepreneurs, are confident about the future of the Chinese economy and investment environment. As the leading wealth manager in China, sharing expertise with Julius Baer as new opportunities emerge in global private banking, is an exciting proposition for Bank of China.”
Boris F.J. Collardi, Chief Executive Officer of Julius Baer Group Ltd, said: “Our strategic partnership with Bank of China comes as the economies in the region are becoming increasingly synchronised and financially integrated. It is clear to us that the combination of these factors, together with the internationalisation of the renminbi, Asia’s growth drivers are evolving rapidly. These are important issues, and our partnership with Bank of China places Julius Baer in a prime, unique and privileged position to engage with our international clients on these matters.”
The Julius Baer – Bank of China Wealth Report: Asia features a unique survey of a representative sample of Bank of China’s onshore private banking clients across the nation. On the forefront of China’s economic transition, Bank of China’s private banking client base represents mostly entrepreneurs who cherish the services that Bank of China offers.
Internationalization is a key theme that echoes throughout the report. Be it from the perspective of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWI) as parents or investors, respondents to the surveys on private banking service and education planning for their next generation expressed clear interests in broadening horizons. This parallels with the joint Julius Baer and Bank of China stance on what is happening in China’s economy and broader policy making arena today.
Macro landscape
Among the key highlights of the 2014 Julius Baer – Bank of China Wealth Report: Asia, worries over ‘hard landings’ in China are unfounded, as these ignore the important progress already made in the context of evolving the economic model. Also, the Bank of China proprietary Cross-Border RMB Index (CRI) points to the continual internationalisation of the currency, echoing the shared view that reserve currency status is attainable in the medium term.
Private banking clients in China
In a landmark research enterprise, Bank of China has surveyed over 200 of its private banking clients in 30 branches across the country. The face-to-face interviews took place in mid-June 2014, gauging client preferences with regard to private banking products and services and their outlook on financial markets.
Structured products that offer capital protection remain the preferred investment vehicle, but foreign exchange-linked products, bonds and overseas equities were listed as being of interest over the coming 12 months.
In terms of cross-border investing, the top two interests over the next 12 months are to invest overseas financially (44%) and buy properties (40%). In terms of investment destination, the United States and Canada (61%) took the top spot, followed by Hong Kong (34%), Australia (21%), continental Europe (15%) and the United Kingdom (11%) tying with Singapore (11%) in fifth place.
The preferred long-term investment is real estate (53%). In terms of gold, survey respondents see the longer term value of holding gold (35%) in their portfolios, but have limited return expectations in the shorter term. Equities (14%) ranked last as a ‘long-term investment’.
The Julius Baer – Bank of China Lifestyle Index
2014 marks the launch of the Julius Baer – Bank of China Lifestyle Index, covering the cost of luxury goods and services as relevant to HNWI entrepreneurs across China. The data will be collected on an annual basis, in tandem with the enhanced Julius Baer Lifestyle Index.
There are twelve cities grouped into four regions. Bohai Economic Rim (Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian), Yangtze River Delta Zone (Nanjing, Shanghai, Wuxi), Pearl River Delta Zone (Guangzhou, Jiangmen, Huizhou) and the Western China Emerging Zone (Chongqing, Chengdu, Xian).
The items covered are: business registration fees, dental implants, first class domestic air travel, golf club memberships, hospital, hotel suites, luxury property and wedding banquets.
The highest average costs are found in the Bohai Economic Rim, with a significant gap between Beijing and the other two member cities (Tainjin and Dalian). The lowest costs can be found in the Western China Emerging Zone – as well as the gaps between the three cities (Chongqing, Chengdu and Xian) are the smallest. Investing in future generations
Within the Julius Baer Lifestyle Index, the education-related components (university tuition and boarding school fees) have shown the most consistent increases, double-digit increases since 2011. Taking this as a starting point, Julius Baer commissioned a survey of over affluent 800 parents across Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mumbai and Singapore, to ascertain their attitudes, preferences and expectations in terms of investing for their children’s futures.
Parents in Beijing and Shanghai (98%) have the highest expectations that their children will achieve advanced degrees (Bachelor degree or above).
Singapore (64%) stands out for the strongest preference for local universities. Parents in China (66%) have the clearest preference for overseas education, in particular the United States and United Kingdom. Interestingly, this echoes the results of the Bank of China private banking survey in terms of desired overseas investment destinations.
Parents in Mumbai (91%), Beijing and Shanghai (88%) have the strongest expectation that their children will enjoy higher incomes than themselves.
In terms of generational transfers, parents in Beijing and Shanghai (62%) feel that passing on personal values to their children is simultaneously the most important and challenging aspect of being an affluent household. By contrast, for parents in Mumbai (39%), the most important qualitative aspect of generational transfer cited was ‘skill’. Thomas R. Meier, Region Head Asia Pacific of Julius Baer said: “Julius Baer and Bank of China have been working together to promote the exchange of wealth management experience and knowledge, as well as to enhance the understanding and confidence in the strong fundamentals of the Chinese economy and investment space for our international clientele.”
Morningstar has reported estimated U.S. mutual fund and exchange-traded fund (ETF) asset flows for September 2014. Long-term mutual funds and ETFs attracted $9.0 billion of new investor cash during the month.
Active taxable-bond funds registered their most significant monthly outflow since June 2013, $18.7 billion, spurred by the Sept. 26, 2014 announcement of Bill Gross’ departure from PIMCO. Outflows from PIMCO Total Return aside, taxable-bond funds have otherwise seen relatively consistent inflows year to date.
Active and passive U.S. equity fund flows continued to move in opposite directions—active U.S. equity funds saw outflows for the seventh consecutive month, and passive U.S. equity funds collected inflows for the eighth consecutive month.
Among passive funds, all categories except commodities funds saw inflows in September, most notably U.S. and international-equity offerings. Total passive flows were larger than total active flows for the seventh straight month.
The three active funds with the heaviest outflows during the month were PIMCO funds formerly managed by Bill Gross, which lost a little more than $23.3 billion. Two intermediate-term bond funds that appeared to be reaping the benefits of investors seeking alternatives to PIMCO include Metropolitan West Total Return Bond, which has a Morningstar Analyst Rating™ of Gold, and unrated Fidelity® Series Investment Grade Bond. On the passive side, Vanguard Total Bond Market Index also collected large sums of fixed-income-oriented money.
Changes for several U.S. funds
Morningstar has also announced Morningstar Analyst Rating changes for several U.S. funds. In the six weeks since the end of August, Morningstar analysts upgraded one U.S. fund rating and downgraded three fund ratings, including PIMCO Total Return. On Sept. 26, Morningstar placed all 39 analyst-rated PIMCO funds Under Review following the departure from the firm of Bill Gross, founder, managing director, and chief investment officer. As of Oct. 10, Morningstar analysts had reaffirmed, upgraded, or downgraded Analyst Ratings for 10 PIMCO funds. Morningstar will continue to review Analyst Ratings for PIMCO funds as part of an ongoing assessment of Gross’ departure based on the Morningstar Analyst Rating methodology.
Morningstar reaffirmed Analyst Ratings for the following PIMCO funds as of Oct. 10:
PIMCO All Asset, reaffirmed Analyst Rating of Gold
PIMCO All Asset All Authority, reaffirmed Analyst Rating of Silver
PIMCO EqS® Long/Short, reaffirmed Analyst Rating of Neutral
PIMCO Income A, reaffirmed Analyst Rating of Silver
PIMCO Municipal Income II, reaffirmed Analyst Rating of Neutral
Morningstar upgraded the following PIMCO fund as of Oct. 10:
PIMCO Municipal Bond, upgraded to Bronze from Neutral
Morningstar downgraded the following PIMCO funds as of Oct. 10:
PIMCO Corporate & Income Opportunities, downgraded to Neutral from Bronze
PIMCO Emerging Local Bond, downgraded to Silver from Gold
PIMCO Emerging Markets Bond A, downgraded to Silver from Gold
PIMCO Total Return, downgraded to Bronze from Gold
As of Sept. 30, 2014, 138 U.S. funds had a Morningstar Analyst Rating of Gold, 285 funds had a Silver rating, 325 funds were rated Bronze, 330 funds had a Neutral rating, and 40 funds were rated Negative. Approximately 10 percent of mutual funds available for sale in the United States are currently Morningstar Medalists. Morningstar’s manager research team covers about $8 trillion of U.S. investor assets, which is equivalent to approximately 70 percent of total investor assets in the United States.
Aside from Analyst Rating changes for PIMCO funds, Morningstar changed Analyst Ratings for the following U.S. mutual funds in September:
Franklin Flex Cap Growth, downgraded to Neutral from Bronze
Invesco International Growth, upgraded to Silver from Bronze
TFS Market Neutral, downgraded to Silver from Gold
Fidelity Investments named Abigail Johnson chief executive of the financial services company, the third CEO of the company founded by her grandfather.
Johnson, 52, is replacing her father, 84-year-old Edward Johnson, who has been CEO of Fidelity since 1977. He will stay on as chairman of the company’s board.
The changes were announced Monday in a memo to Fidelity shareholders.
Fidelity in one of the world’s biggest investors, managing 401(k)s and other retirement and investment accounts for 23 million people, according to the company’s website. Its 401(k) plans are used by 193 of Fortune 500 companies. At the end of last year, it was managing 566 mutual funds. The company has $2 trillion assets under management.
Abigail Johnson has worked at the Boston company since 1988, starting out as a stock analyst. Most recently she was president of Fidelity’s retail, workplace and institutional businesses. She is among the nation’s wealthiest women, worth an estimated $12.3 billion, according to Forbes.
Johnson takes over Fidelity at a challenging time for the fund giant. Investors are increasingly turning to low-cost index funds, a specialty of rival Vanguard Group. And Fidelity has been playing catch-up in another low-cost option popular with investors, exchange-traded funds, which can be bought and sold during the day.
Following the group’s initiative to organise its activities around four core business lines, La Française appoints Pierre Schoeffler as “Senior Global Asset Allocation Advisor”, a role that will cover all asset classes managed by the group. The Group’s strength and originality lies in its wide-range of expertise, as well as its coherent approach to asset allocation.
Xavier Lépine, Chairman of the Board of La Française said, “Pierre’s experience, advice and quantitative tools will help reinforce our strategic overview in terms of allocation through a quantitative approach to the various asset classes. Our strength lies in the diversity and originality of our solutions and approaches, and our ambition is to optimise their combination by drawing on Pierre’s vision as a portfolio strategist. In the current low rate environment, our aim is to help our clients manage this challenge by providing them with a comprehensive service and a 360 degree view of Asset Allocation by including all asset classes from real estate to bonds, and equities to hedge funds”.
Pierre Schoeffler is Chairman of S&Partners and a Senior Advisor at IEIF.
Pierre Schoeffler is an engineer with degrees from Ecole Polytechnique and the Ecole Nationale de la Météorologie. He began his career as a fluid mechanics researcher before being appointed as a portfolio strategist at Crédit Commercial de France. He was then appointed head of Asset-Liability Management at the bank, and became head of the Economic and Equity Research Department. In 1990, he left the CCF to open the Paris branch of the Swedish bank Svenska Handelsbanken and launch its investment banking business in France. In 2004, he left Svenska Handelsbanken to found S&Partners, a financial and alternative (including real estate) asset allocation strategy consulting company.
