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William Finnegan, Senior Managing Director of Global Retail Marketing at MFS highlights the findings from the MFS Investing Sentiment survey. This survey captures how investors are feeling about the current market environment.
Click on the image to watch the video.
| For Alicia Miguel | 0 Comentarios
The Miami Finance Forum (MFF), South Florida’s financial services networking organization, has announced the selection of its executive officers for 2014. Carlos Deupi has been reelected as Chairman, and Jean-Pierre (JP) Trouillot has been reelected as CFO/Treasurer. In addition, Jim Varnadoe was elected Vice-Chairman, Raul G. Valdes-Fauli was elected President and Gregory M. Santín as Secretary. Nicholas (Nick) Ferber was named as Chief Development.
“We are very pleased to have Carlos, Raul, Jim, Jean-Pierre, Gregory and Nicholas continue to participate as part of our leadership team for the coming year,” said Elena Djakonova, the Forums’ Executive Director. Together, the elected leadership team brings experience from various key sectors that will contribute toward the MFF’s mission of establishing South Florida as a global financial hub.
Carlos Deupi is General Counsel, Executive Vice President and Corporate Secretary at Brilla Group where he has focused on the transactions in real estate/hospitality, banking and financial services sectors in the US and LATAM. Prior to Brilla Group, he practiced corporate law for 25 years.
Raul G. Valdes-Fauli is President and CEO of Professional Bank where he oversees the South Florida market. He brings over 17 years of experience in the financial services industry.
Jim Varnadoe is Managing Director of KVR Trade Finance Fund where he is responsible for the overall development, business management, operations and growth of the Fund. He is a veteran in the private equity and venture capital industries through is experience as an investor and financial advisor.
Jean-Pierre Trouillot, Partner in the Miami office of KPMG’s Transaction Services practice. He specializes in mergers and acquisitions, due diligence and financial strategic consulting assignments.
Gregory M. Santín is Senior Vice President and Commercial Real Estate Relationship Manager for The Florida Community Bank, N.A. He brings over 21 years experienced combined in commercial real estate and banking collectively.
Nicholas Ferber is Managing Partner of Sanford Barrows Group where he has been a preeminent executive recruiter focused on high-level positions in banking, brokerage, finance and private equity.
“I am honored to have been elected Chairman of the Miami Finance Forum for the third year running,” said Carlos Deupi, Chairman of the Miami Finance Forum. He added, “MFF keeps expanding and has made significant improvements, poising itself for growth in 2014.”
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RBC Global Asset Management has announced the addition of 10 global equity specialists to its investment management team at RBC Global Asset Management (UK) Limited in London. The team of specialists, led by Habib Subjally, join from First State Investments (UK) Limited where they previously managed US$2.5 billion in a variety of global equity strategies for institutions and private clients over the past eight years.
Mr. Subjally will assume the position of senior portfolio manager and head of Global Equities. Neil Abbott, Luis Benoliel, Marcus Lun, Jeremy Richardson, Julie Thomas, Dag Wetterwald, Perry Winfield and Ben Yeoh are joining as senior portfolio managers, and Romain Scampini will join as portfolio manager.
“These expanded capabilities complement our existing breadth and depth of expertise across a wide range of global mandates,” said John Montalbano, chief executive officer, RBC GAM. “The addition of this team brings considerable new strength to RBC Global Asset Management’s expertise in global equity management.”
Over the past eight years, Mr. Subjally was head of Global Equities and led the global equity team at First State Investments. He holds a Bachelors degree from the London School of Economics and the Chartered Accountant and ASIP designations. The core of his team has worked together for the last seven years, with an average tenure of 16 years in the industry.
“RBC GAM’s investment approach is characterized by fundamental research and rigorous discipline, along with a focus on risk management and portfolio construction, all within a team-oriented structure,” said Dan Chornous, chief investment officer, RBC Global Asset Management Inc.
The new global equity team joins investment professionals at RBC GAM-UK specializing in emerging markets and European equities, as well as global and emerging markets fixed income. In total, the London office currently comprises 34 investment professionals and staff (including five from the new global equity group). That number will grow to 39 when Mr. Subjally and the remaining members join in early March.
“As a global organization with over C$300 billion in assets under management, RBC GAM is committed to continually growing our capabilities,” said Mr. Montalbano. “Our growth trajectory – including organic growth as well as acquisitions such as BlueBay Asset Management in 2010 – reflects our commitment to bringing world-class expertise to our investment solutions and, ultimately, to our clients.”
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Guggenheim Partners, the privately held global financial services firm, has announced the appointment of Jonathan Goldstein as its inaugural Head of Real Estate and Direct Investment for Europe. Mr. Goldstein’s appointment signifies a major milestone in the global expansion of Guggenheim’s real estate and infrastructure investment activities. His focus will be on identifying opportunities for long-term investments and partnerships in real estate in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe.
Mr. Goldstein, who will be based at Guggenheim’s London office, joins from Heron International, where he had worked since 2008 and was Deputy Chief Executive; his appointment was effective January 1, 2014.
“Jonathan joins us to expand the scale of our European investing, in keeping with our mandate to source and originate above-market real-estate and infrastructure investment opportunities for our clients,” said Henry R. Silverman, Guggenheim Partners’ Global Head of Real Estate and Infrastructure. “Jonathan’s knowledge of direct investing in real assets in the UK and on the Continent, together with his background in finance, management and law, make him the ideal person to lead our expansion in Europe.”
Mr. Goldstein added: “A real opportunity exists to build a substantial presence in the UK and Continental European real estate markets.”
As Deputy Chief Executive of Heron International from 2008 to 2013, Mr. Goldstein had primary responsibility for all of the group’s corporate and financial affairs involving assets in the UK, Spain, France and Sweden. Prior to joining Heron in 2007, Mr. Goldstein spent 15 years at Olswang, the London-based international law firm, including the last nine as Chief Executive and was the youngest senior partner of a City law firm.
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New research from global analytics firm Cerulli Associates finds high-net-worth investors in the U.S. maintain an average of 4 investment provider relationships.
“Wealth provides many investors with the privilege of benefiting from institutional products and prices across asset managers, and it also grants them the ability to leverage their status among providers and advisors,” states Donnie Ethier, associate director at Cerulli. “High-net-worth investors continue to steadily diversify their advice providers.”
Cerulli’s latest report, High-Net-Worth and Ultra-High-Net-Worth Markets 2013: Understanding the Contradictory Demands of Multigenerational Wealth Management, analyzes the U.S. high-net-worth (HNW), with investable assets greater than $5 million, and ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW), with investable assets greater than $20 million, marketplaces.
“Overall, high-net-worth investors appear reluctant to terminate existing relationships,” Ethier explains. “In fact, nearly one-quarter of high-net-worth households report their primary provider controls at least 90% of their investable assets.”
A financial services provider that has a longstanding relationship with a high-net-worth investor must recognize that the client is already working with other providers, or, at least, the odds of their willingness to do so. Providers need not panic, because it may be that investors simply value skillsets at different firms, says the report.
“Many high-net-worth investors have moved on from the financial crisis, including recovered assets, optimistic economic outlooks, risk tolerances, and product mix,” Ethier continues. “The damaged trust of many financial institutions post-crisis seems to be a non-factor in the recent increase in provider relationships.”
Cerulli believes the modern trend of investors electing channels that offer greater autonomy, flexibility, and a wide variety of services will continue, and that we may not see a contraction of advice providers until the next generation of beneficiaries elects their own preferred wealth management channels.
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Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) announced that Philip Poole has joined the firm as Head of Research. In this newly created role, Poole will lead research activity across DeAWM’s investment platform globally.
With responsibility for macro research, he will make a key contribution to the house view generated by DeAWM’s Chief Investment Office. He will also run micro research, providing portfolio managers with investable ideas across all asset classes. In addition, Poole will play a prominent role in presenting DeAWM’s investment views to clients and the media.
Based in London, Poole is a Managing Director and reports to DeAWM’s Co-Chief Investment Officers, Randy Brown and Asoka Wöhrmann.
Randy Brown, DeAWM’s Co-Chief Investment Officer, said: “I am delighted to welcome an investment professional of Philip’s calibre to the firm. Having a powerful global research function gives our investment teams a crucial edge as they strive to deliver superior performance to our clients. Philip will help us to make optimal use of our global research resources as well as the best external research.”
Poole was most recently Global Head of Macro & Investment Strategy at HSBC Global Asset Management. From 2004 to 2010 he served as Global Head of Research and Chief Economist for Emerging Markets for the HSBC Group across asset classes. In earlier roles at ING Barings and Barclays, he was closely involved in sovereign debt restructurings in Ukraine and Poland, respectively.
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management had USD 1.26 trillion of assets under management as of Sep 30, 2013.
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ING Investment Management International (ING IM) has launched a new European Sustainable Equity strategy. The new fund is based on an institutional product that has a track record dating back to 2005. ING IM sees growth in demand for sustainable investments. In the last two years, the sustainable equity strategy has quadrupled in size.
The ING (L) Invest Europe Sustainable Equity strategy, which was launched on the 19th of December, invests in a diversified portfolio of sustainable stocks. The strategy combines risks and opportunities linked to environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors with a thorough financial analysis of companies.
Hendrik-Jan Boer, Head of Sustainable Investments at ING IM: “We believe that now is a good time to invest in European equities and we feel that sustainability is an important value driver. It is the key factor in identifying corporate quality. Academic and market research increasingly demonstrate that attention to the quality of environmental, social and governance factors can boost corporate profitability and competitiveness and thus the return of equity portfolios as well”.
The strategy’s portfolio consists of 50 to 90 names. The team targets the best stocks per sector and allocates most of the risk budget to stock selection. The fund aims to outperform the mainstream MSCI Europe Net Index by 2% per year.
Hendrik-Jan Boer concludes: “The launch of this new fund is in response to the increasing demand from clients for sustainable products. Recent research published by ING IM demonstrates that three quarters of investors believe that being environmentally and socially responsible – as well as encouraging good governance – is important to the future of the investment industry”.
The ING Europe Sustainable Equity strategy has launched with EUR 40 million in assets under management. It is a Luxembourg domiciled UCITS fund.
With the introduction of its first sustainable strategy in April 2000, ING IM was a pioneer in the European market. The asset manager’s sustainable strategies currently have a total of EUR 1,150 bln in assets under management.
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JPMorgan Chase has announced that Kristin Lemkau will become Chief Marketing Officer for JPMorgan Chase. She will continue to report to Gordon Smith, CEO of Consumer & Community Banking. She will continue with her current responsibilities as Chief Communications Officer for Chase.
In this role, Ms. Lemkau will oversee brand strategy and advertising, sponsorships, market research and event marketing across the firm. She will work closely with each of the businesses on their product strategies and marketing approaches, and work to build core brands and overall relationship with customers.
“Kristin has had leadership roles in both the J.P. Morgan and Chase businesses,” said Mr. Smith. “She has a deep understanding of our brands and products, and strong relationships with the business CEOs and marketers across the firm.”
Ms. Lemkau has been with JPMorgan Chase and its predecessor firms since 1998. Since 2010, she has been Chief Communications Officer for Chase and last year, added responsibility for Corporate Brand and Employer Brand firmwide. She served as Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Communications for the Investment Bank from 2005 – 2010, and previously held senior roles in Media Relations and Internal Communications for J.P. Morgan. Ms. Lemkau graduated from Vanderbilt University. She is on the Board of the non-profit organization, the Sandy Hook Promise.
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Pimco and Source have launched the PIMCO Covered Bond Source UCITS ETF. The product offers a way to invest in the covered bond market, combining the advantages of an ETF with Pimco’s approach to active management. PIMCO Covered Bond Source UCITS ETF is managed by Kristion Mierau, senior vice president and head of Pimco’s European covered bond portfolio management team. Pimco has existing assets under management of over EUR 130 billion in the asset class.
The PIMCO Covered Bond Source UCITS ETF is traded on Deutsche Börse and has a first year annual management fee of 0,38%. Distributions are paid monthly. In addition, Pimco has entered into a cooperation with Clearstream, giving investors the possibility to order shares of an ETF through Clearstream’s Vestima platform as a mutual fund with daily fixing. This is a ‘first’ for Vestima and PIMCO.
HowardChan, vice president and product manager for PIMCO’s European ETF products, says: “We have designed this product as a unique solution for a wide range of investors who seek access to the covered bond market, combining Pimco’s active approach to covered bonds with the intra-day pricing and daily portfolio holdings transparency of the ETF vehicle.” Source CEO Ted Hood says: “We are delighted to grow our product offering in partnership with PIMCO, adding to our fixed income ETF suite”.
Why covered bonds?
Covered bonds have traditionally been unique to Europe, first issued in Germany and then followed by other European countries but increasingly they are being issued outside Europe. “This expanding investment universe creates new opportunities for investors and fulfils their increasing demand for ‘safe assets’,” said Mr. Mierau. “In the current low interest rate environment, covered bonds offer attractive risk-adjusted yields and are potentially a compelling alternative to broad European government bonds, as the asset class has historically provided higher returns with lower volatility and lower sensitivity to changes in market yield levels.” At current spread levels, covered bonds also offer investors a more attractive and secure way to gain credit exposure than unsecured senior bank debt, according to him.
For certain institutional investors, covered bonds offer additional advantages from a regulatory perspective. Banks benefit from the treatment of covered bonds as lower risk-weighted assets (RWA) under Basel III. Covered bonds are also considered “liquid assets” under the new Basel III liquidity regulation (LCR). Insurance companies can benefit from the privileged treatment of covered bonds under Solvency II.
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Raimundo Martín commences the new year 2014 aiming to increase recognition for Mirabaud Asset Management, the firm which he manages in Iberia and Latin America, beyond the private banking business for which the Swiss group Mirabaud is mainly known. This recognition will open the doors of the Spanish and American markets, which he defines as “very competitive” and in which he has been working to position his company for about a year and a half. Although ambitious, Martín faces this challenge with the same blueprint which identifies Mirabaud, a long-term vision which allows him to proceed patiently but firmly. “It is important to define our company clearly and position ourselves accordingly,” he explained during an interview with Funds Society.
Therefore, he defines his firm’s current status within the Spanish market as “in the process of positioning” and is aware that it needs time to assert its funds’ track record in order to reach a “decent market share” in about three years, which he places at EUR1 billion in terms of assets. And all in a scenario in which the fund industry “will continue to grow but it will take years to return to pre-crisis levels.”
Meanwhile, he is looking for a niche for the opening of the company in Latin America. “The Latin American market is very large and offers excellent and varied opportunities. We are exploring them, and when we find them, we will work on them and employ all the necessary resources,” he said. Although this development is still in its infancy, and Martín does not as yet have an asset target in figures or any offices instituted, he can already speak of a twofold strategy.
On the one hand, Mirabaud AM steers towards established markets such as Chile, Peru and Colombia, working with insurance companies and fund managers already investing their pension fund portfolios abroad. The management firm is about to sign a contract with a local representative for these three countries. On the other hand, to markets where their boutique nature and their flexibility allow growth, such as Panama or Uruguay, where they work directly with agencies which place customized orders and for which Mirabaud AM creates private label products. Overall, it has much to do with family offices and private banks, because it fits in with the business of their own group.
And finally, he is analyzing the Brazilian market and potential partnerships with local management firms, after ruling out Mexico, where he thinks there is no place for his company yet. In these markets, in addition to asset management, he is also offering consulting services.
Investors’ Appetite
“Investors in the region have an increasing need to invest abroad, and wealth creation has outgrown the narrow local markets. Therefore, they need better tools to invest externally,” he explains; this provides an opportunity for institutions that offer both interesting products and knowledge on how to invest or manage the risks. According to Martín, the appetite in the region is mainly directed towards high yield debt funds and emerging markets, while in markets like Panama, private banks prioritize the preservation of capital.
In Spain the demand is slightly different, with investors seeking exposure to the Spanish stock market or convertible bonds, but also to high yield, while the interest for emerging markets is gradually returning. In fact, Martín believes that 2014 will be a good year for stocks (including Spanish) and more complex for bonds, although the high yield offers are attractive thanks to coupons. He also believes that it is the right time to enter emerging markets after the sharp correction suffered, with active management looking for quality companies. The directional alternative management (the option of the management company) is also interesting at the moment, since historically, own products have captured 80% of the market rises to 30% of market falls.
The Advantages of Being Boutique
In recent years the company focused on its product range in order to concentrate on those which add value: Spanish, Swiss and British equities (with local managers) and also emerging and global equities. In fixed income it opted for high yield and convertibles and has recently launched a strategic asset allocation in fixed income fund, which had a very good reception; having hired renown managers from large institutions such as BlackRock, Aviva or Crédit Agricole to manage those products, “automate everything, but for the rest you need talent,” he argues, hence the company’s continued recruitment policy. Mirabaud AM thus fulfilled its wish to combine the advantages of a boutique, in terms of flexibility, customer proximity and independence, with management teams which in the past belonged to large fund managers.
Martín believes that the firm’s presence in Luxembourg as well as its boutique nature with the support of a private bank with 200 years of history will help to achieve their objectives both in Spain and Latin America. The acceptance of that boutique nature has been very positive in markets such as the Spanish. “Following the financial crisis, independence, transparency and a customer-minded approach are highly valued,” he said, adding that in Spain there is room for these institutions.
Martín envisions a market in which there is room for both the large management companies and the boutiques, while there will be consolidation moves in the medium-sized institutions. As for international management companies in Spain, he firmly believes that some of these companies, regardless of size will no longer establish offices, but many will register their products and will have local distributors (as is the case in Chile for example). “The institutions which are distributors of third party funds, will not only represent small and medium sized institutions, but large companies also,” he predicts.