Mathieu Ferragut, new head of Crédit Agricole Private Banking Américas. Mathieu Ferragut, New Head of Crédit Agricole Private Banking for the Americas
Mathieu Ferragut has been appointed as the new head ofCrédit Agricole Private Banking Américas, a position which he will carry out from the offices of the French bank in Miami, as he himself explained in an interview with Funds Society.
The Crédit Agricole private bank, present in Latin America for over 30 years, is a boutique business, as Ferragut himself describes it; he goes on to add that they have a great advantage because they have the backup of Crédit Agricole, which is the world’s fourth largest bank in terms of assets, but of medium-size within the private banking business, giving them a lot of flexibility, which doesn’t mean that it is not an aggressive bank with the same nerve as the big market players. “We have the best of both worlds”.
Ferragut assumes this position after the management of the French company decided to go for further regionalization of business. Crédit Agricole has a strong network of international private banks They have a bank in Brazil, they have a presence in Uruguay, in Switzerland they are the third largest foreign bank, they stand as the leading bank in Monaco and the second largest foreign bank in Luxembourg, plus they are present in Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Spain and Italy.
The management in Paris has chosen Ferragut, a man from within company ranks, to manage the private banking business in the Americas.
To date, Ferragut worked as general manager of Crédit Agricole in Miami, a position he held since 2008. Previously, and also within the bank, he was second regional deputy general manager and chief operating officer for private banking in Asia from Singapore, where he lived for five years.
Ferragut, with over 15 years of industry experience, through his time spent in both Singapore and Miami has acquired great knowledge of Asian and Latin American markets, which are actually, “the bank’s two priorities”.
The manager has a Commerce MBA from France and a postgraduate degree in Finance and Markets, which was also completed in France.
As for his vision of the private banking industry, Ferragut believes that it’s currently a good moment for the sector, which is developing strongly and with many opportunities. “There are many players, but there is room for everyone”.
In the case of Latin America, he believes that private banking is covered by U.S. and European banks, so there is plenty of room for local banks, in a region undoubtedly considered to be the best emerging market at the moment.
Finally and regarding how he is facing his new stage, the executive said he expects the business to grow in a strong way, with at least 15% increase in annual turnover. The growth will come primarily from the organic side, with the possibility of external growth if the opportunities come along.
“We don’t want to become a giant, we would like very selected, and controlled, quality growth”. The business will primarily focus on Brazil, Mexico and the Andean Group.
Wikimedia CommonsBy Dong L. Zou . Román Blanco to Head Santander in the United States
Román Blanco has been appointed as Santander’s new Country Head in the United States, replacing Jorge Morán, who has decided to leave the group to pursue other professional interests.
Román Blanco was born in Sendelle, Pontevedra (Spain) in 1964 and joined Santander in 2004. He was an executive in Brazil before being appointed Country Head for Colombia in 2007. In 2012 he took charge of Santander’s operations in Puerto Rico, which, in June this year, became part of the group’s organizational structure in the U.S.
“He will now take over from Jorge Morán, who has completed the reorganization of the group’s business units in the United States and Sovereign Bank’s implementation of the Santander group technical and operating platform”, said the bank in a press release.
By Nangua . Investors Still Confident In Global Growth Despite China Doubts
Global investors remain confident in the outlook for economic growth despite their sharply decreased growth expectations for China, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey for July. A net 52 percent of respondents now expect the global economy to strengthen over the next year, close to last month’s reading and up four percentage points from May’s.
Sentiment towards China has continued to worsen, however. A net 65 percent of regional panelists now see the country’s economy weakening in the next year, compared to a similar majority anticipating stronger GDP as recently as December 2012. A “hard landing” in China stands out as a major tail risk that fund managers identify, with over half (56 percent) ranking it first on this measure – compared to one-third of respondents a month ago.
Investors’ conviction that developed economies – the U.S. and Japan in particular – will still achieve growth is reflected in their growing appetite for equities. A majority of asset allocators are now overweight equities, up nine points in two months to a net 52 percent. Confidence in the U.S. is also apparent in a net 83 percent favoring the dollar over other currencies, the highest reading yet recorded by the survey.
Stances towards bonds are increasingly negative. A net 55 percent of fund managers are now underweight fixed-income instruments. They have also lifted their cash holdings to 4.6 percent. This is the highest level in a year and represents a contrarian buy signal for equities.
“With the support of a host of buy signals in recent weeks, the ‘Great Rotation’ is in full force. Our positive view of equities would be further reinforced if the loss of faith in China’s growth story turns out to be overdone,” said Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research. “Global investors are trailing the eurozone’s economic momentum. They should prefer cheap domestic exposures to its rich EM exposures,” added John Bilton, European investment strategist.
GEM sentiment souring
The shift in sentiment towards China shows through in investors’ broader stance on global emerging markets (GEM). A net 44 percent now view GEM countries as offering the worst outlook for corporate earnings of any region – the most negative level yet recorded in the survey, following an 18 percentage point decline from last month. They are similarly unimpressed by the region’s quality of earnings.
GEM valuations do not appear to have yet declined sufficiently to reflect these views. Indeed, investors see eurozone equities as cheaper. A net 18 percent of fund managers are now underweight GEM equities, down from a net overweight just two months ago and the lowest level recorded in the survey since 2001. An unprecedented net 26 percent expects to underweight GEM equities on a 12-month basis.
However, Russia is attracting increased interest. A net 50 percent of specialist GEM fund managers are now overweight the country’s equities, up 12 points from last month.
Positive on Japan
Japan stands out as one of the survey’s most positive themes. Investors’ assessment of the risk of the reflationary “Abenomics” policy failing has receded sharply this month. Their view that the country offers the best outlook for corporate profits of any region has strengthened further. All regional fund managers surveyed expect companies to achieve double-digit earnings growth over the next year.
Against this background, appetite for Japanese equities has risen sharply. July’s net 27 percent overweight is up 10 points from last month, the biggest rise of any major market. Investors’ stance on the market is now almost as positive as that towards U.S. equities (up four points this month to a net 29 percent overweight).
Inflation in focus
With growth in prospect, inflation is increasingly on investors’ minds. A net 38 percent of panelists now expect global core inflation to be higher in a year’s time, a rise of seven percentage points from last month.
This is reflected in some “short-covering” in commodities, an asset class especially sensitive to inflation (though also very exposed to demand from China). A net 26 percent of panelists are now underweight commodities, up six percentage points since June to the most positive level in three months – though this is an improvement from notable weakness since June marked a record low for positioning in commodities.
Wikimedia CommonsYerlan Syzdykiv, Head of Emerging Markets - Bond & High Yield, Pioneer Investments. Pioneer Investments Strengthens Fixed Income Capability in Its London Investment Hub
Pioneer Investments has announced several developments to its Emerging Market and High Yield Fixed Income capability in its London investment hub. Yerlan Syzdykov, Senior Portfolio Manager Emerging Markets and High Yield Fixed Income, and Lead manager of Emerging Markets Bond strategy has been appointed Head of Emerging Markets – Bond & High Yield.
Yerlan, who will remain lead portfolio manager for Pioneer Investments’ Emerging Market Debt strategies, will take on overall performance responsibility for all Emerging Markets & Euro High Yield investment strategies managed by a team of 6 portfolio managers. He takes over from Greg Saichin, who has resigned his position as Head of Emerging Markets and High Yield to pursue another opportunity outside the firm.
Yerlan has been involved in the managing of Pioneer Investments’ Emerging Market Debt strategies since 2000 and “has had a key role in evolving our investment capability in this area over the last 13 years”, highlights Pioneer Investments through a release. He will report into Mauro Ratto, Head of Emerging Markets.
Over the last few months, Pioneer Investments has been expanding its investment footprint in its Emerging Markets & High Yield team in London.
In order to help exploit attractive opportunities available in local currency emerging market debt and credits, notably loans, 2 new portfolio managers with local currency and loan expertise, will join the firm in August. Desmond English joins from Commerzbank as Portfolio Manager with a specific focus on loans. He has 16 years of experience in this area. Esther Law joins as co-manager on EM Debt Local Currency strategy with focus on local currency debt and relative value strategies. Esther has 15 years of experience in emerging markets, joining Pioneer Investments from Societe Generale.
Further, as part of the continued efforts to enhance Pioneer Investments’ research capacity, 3 dedicated research analysts have recently joined, bringing total headcount of the EM & High Yield team to 10 analysts, averaging 12 years of experience. Marina Vlasenko brings 13 years of experience to the firm and has taken responsibility for Emerging Market financials. Paul Cheung, an analyst of 6 years’ experience, and Ray Jian, 6 years, deepen our capacity to form views on real estate and industrials respectively.
“These additional hires will allow for a greater degree of specialisation among the investment team”, follows the firm adding that the specialist portfolio managers and analysts concentrating on specific segments of the fixed income market are dedicated to delivering the best in-house ideas. “Each specialist alpha strategy is deployed across a wide range of different Emerging Markets and High Yield Debt portfolios, with the aim of ensuring consistency and scalability in delivering performance”.
To strengthen the investment process, Pioneer Investments has been enhancing the use of Risk Budgeting across the Emerging Market & High Yield Fixed Income portfolios. By embedding propriety risk management systems fully into the heart of the investment process, “the objective is to increase the ability to deliver the goal of stable alpha generation to clients”.
Pioneer Investments conlcludes by saying that these enhancements and appointments “underline a high degree of continuity in the investment process. Further, we believe it will ensure the strengthening of a team based investment approach to portfolio construction across the Emerging Market & High Yield asset class and support the goal of investment excellence.”
Investors seem to need some time to get used to the new reality that monetary policy in the US and China has shifted to a less easy stance. Central banks try to support investors in this process by sending clear messages on their future policy intentions.
In our psychological market diagnosis it remains important to understand that more pessimistic moods often lead to underestimation of the possible good news to come. Therefore, it might be wise to start with the little discussed good news in the analysis of the balance of risks ahead of us.
European equities trade at a high discount vs. US stocks
Favourable economic indicators in developed economies In sharp contrast to recent market dynamics economic data in the developed markets have surprised on the upside. To put it more strongly, economic indicators have been on a solid upward trend since the middle of May. This was driven by broad based strength in Europe (including the UK), the US and Japan. Unless the reappearance of market shocks (for example, full-blow crisis in emerging markets, renewed intensification of Eurozone crisis), it is likely that cyclical strength in developed markets will lead the global economy to higher growth grounds and thereby support risky assets across the board.
Markets have misunderstood the Fed Various members in the Federal Open Market Committee (FMOC) made speeches last week in which they made it clear that markets had misunderstood the Fed. In particular, the pricing of the first rate hike in 2014 and a somewhat steeper profile of tightening after that was certainly not the message the Fed had wanted to send. On the contrary, quantitative easing and forward guidance should be seen as two completely separate policy instruments where the latter is the most clear and important expression of the Fed’s strategic game plan. As far as the latter is concerned, absolutely nothing has changed and the Fed itself still does not expect the first rate hike to occur before somewhere in 2015.
Guidance of level official interest rates by ECB In the Eurozone the biggest concern for the central bank is to safeguard the fragile recovery in the region. On 4 July Mario Draghi tried to reassure investors by dropping a longstanding policy of never ‘pre-committing’ to future interest rate decisions. Actually, he now rules out any increase for an extended period.
To view the complete story, click the document attached.
Wikimedia CommonsFoto: Pavel/ Sean Vivek Crasto. Brasil y México: comparativa de los gigantes de Latinoamérica
One year ahead of the Football World Cup, the focus is on Latin America. While Brazil might be the hottest bet on the football field, how does it compare with Mexico in economic terms? In this video, Credit Suisse Research Institute members take a closer look at Latin America’s heavy-weights.
Click the following link to read the article/transcript.
Foto cedidaJuan Narváez. Acheron Partners Strengthens its Presence in Mexico
Acheron Partners, an executive recruitment firm, is still committed to the Mexican market, and proof of this is the incorporation of Juan Narvaez to the Aztec nation’s office. Narvaez has been transferred from the office in Spain, where he was a consultant for legal and financial processes and banking.
In his role, he will be responsible for managing and providing customer service to new and existing clients, as well as finding new projects, counseling, and the study of client’s needs and further branches of the business within the recruitment industry.
Before joining Acheron Partners, Juan was Corporate Banking Manager with Banesto, being in permanent contact with the general management of the companies assigned to his portfolio.
Photo: MarcusObal . Commodity Market Decreased in June Amid Continued Slowing Growth Signals from China
Commodities were lower in June as uncertainty surrounding the future of the global economic recovery remained high.
Nelson Louie, Global Head of Commodities inCredit Suisse’s Asset Management business, said, “Macroeconomic news out of China weighed on commodities in June. With China now shifting to a more moderate rate of growth and modestly improving conditions elsewhere, it is likely that supply divergences are playing an increasing role at a time when the higher correlation observed between other asset classes and commodities since 2008 has begun to normalize. This may signal a return to a more fundamentally-driven market. Within the current trend, the pace of supply growth is likely to remain the key factor in driving commodity returns.”
Christopher Burton, Senior Portfolio Manager for the Credit Suisse Total Commodity Return Strategy, added, “Markets continue to be caught between good economic news being positive, indicating that the recovery is gaining traction, or good economic news being negative as it may mean monetary policy will tighten. While the pace of these programs may eventually soften, we believe that most major central banks will continue to err on the side of providing more stimulus until the economy improves rather than risk tightening too much. In the meantime, while inflation continues to be muted, the risk of unexpected inflation remains elevated.”
The Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Total Return decreased 4.71% in June. Overall, 15 out of 22 index constituents posted negative returns. Precious Metals was the worst performing sector, down 12.27%, on persistent worries over the US Federal Reserve’s plan to wind down its monetary stimulus program and the rally of the US dollar in the second half of the month. Industrial Metals declined 7.11% as a preliminary survey showed that China’s factory activity weakened to a nine-month low in June as demand faltered. This may heighten risks that a second quarter slowdown could be sharper than expected and increase pressure on the Chinese central bank to loosen policy.
Agriculture ended the month lower, down 4.16%, pressured by higher-than-expected ending corn stocks and further data showing larger-than-expected US acreages planted despite the earlier weather related planting delays. News that Australia’s new-crop wheat production increased 15% from a year ago added to concerns over larger global supplies. Australia is one of the world’s largest wheat exporters. Energy decreased 2.55%, led by Natural Gas, following the higher-than-consensus storage injections in June as reported by the US Energy Information Administration. Livestock was the best performing sector, up 3.10%, with both Live Cattle and Lean Hogs ending the month higher. The USDA lowered its forecast for 2013 pork production and reported lower feeder cattle placements for May than a year ago.
Foto: Captain-tucker . El mercado residencial de Miami sube un 25% en un año
The Second Quarter 2013 Miami Residential Market Report reveals that the Miami market is continuing its momentum of market strength. For the ninth consecutive quarter, since 2Q 2011, Miami Dade’s overall median sales price has gone up year over year. Current median sales price is $219,000, a 25.1% increase since last year. This is the largest year-over-year median price gain since 1Q 2012. Average price also increased 13.9% since last year.
The Miami Residential Market Report is produced by StreetEasy.com, a comprehensive real estate information website. The report tracks the market trends of the greater metropolitan area with quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year comparisons.
“These price gains were driven primarily by strong condo resales and single-family home resales in Miami-Dade. When you separate out the housing types, the price gains are even more dramatic,” says Sofia Song, Head of Research at StreetEasy.com. According to the report, the median price forcondo resales jumped 48.6% to $208K and single-family homes went up 24.3% to $230K since last year.
Some highlights of the Miami report include the following:
New Developments– This quarter, there was 65% fewer new development sales compared to a year ago. This is a segment of the market that is truly constrained by the low inventory. Two-thirds of new development closings this quarter were under $300K.
Condo Resales – This segment of the market had a decrease of 11.1% in the number of transactions this quarter compared to a year ago. However, average PPSF jumped 34.3% to $341.
Single-Family Home Resales– 22% of all single-family homes sold this quarter were over $500K. Average PPSF climbed to $227, a 17% increase from a year ago.
StreetEasy.com’s partnership with DataQuick allowed the website to compile the recorded sales of residential properties that traded in the Miami-Dade County during Q2 of 2013.
In addition to overall Miami-Dade county data, the report also focused on six major markets of the greater metropolitan area, defined as such:
Greater Aventura & Bal Harbour : Golden Beach, Sunny Isles, Ojus, Aventura, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor Islands, Surfside, and Indian Creek
Upper Miami Beach : La Gorce, La Gorce Island, Allison Island, Mid Beach, Nautilus, Bayshore, Sunset Islands, North Bay Road, Biscayne Point, Normandy Island, and North Beach
South Beach & Fisher Island
Urban Core : City of Miami (includes Downtown Miami & Brickell), Coral Gables, Key Biscayne, Pinecrest, and South Miami
Southwest Miami Dade : Kendall, Doral City, Sweetwater, Tamiami, University Park, Westchester, Fountainbleu, and Coral Terrace
Northeast Miami Dade : Miami Shores, North Miami, Biscayne Park, North Miami Beach, and Golden Glades
Foto: Raimond Spekking. Deutsche Asset & WM ficha a Caroline Kitidis para servir a clientes UHNWI de las Américas
Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management announced that Caroline Kitidis will join the firm as Head of Key Client Partners & Wealth Investment Advisory for the Americas, effective August 2013, said the bank in a press release.
Kitidis will lead a team that structures customized investment solutions for ultra high net worth clients in the Americas, including individuals and family offices.
Dario Schiraldi, Head of Global Client Group, Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management, said: “I am delighted a professional of Caroline’s caliber has joined our team to help provide ultra high net worth clients with comprehensive market access, high quality investment ideas, and swift execution.”
Jerry Miller, Head of Asset & Wealth Management Americas, added: “This is an exciting time in the development of our ultra high net worth business. Our investment platform spans all asset classes and is ideally suited to serve the needs of the most sophisticated investors.”
Kitidis joins Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management after 15 years at Goldman Sachs. She was most recently Head of the Americas Structured Solutions Group within Private Wealth Management. Before that, she led Equity Derivative Structuring for private clients.
Kitidis will be based in New York and report to Dario Schiraldi and Deutsche’s Co-Heads of Wealth Management in the Americas, Chip Packard and Haig Ariyan.
With €944 billion of assets under management (as at December 31, 2012), Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management is one of the world’s leading investment organizations. Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management is the brand name for the Asset Management & Wealth Management-division of Deutsche Bank AG and its subsidiaries.
