According to new research from global research and consulting firm Cerulli Associates, advisors spend less than 20% of their time making investment decisions.
“While investing is a key component of any financial plan, advisors spend more time tending to client-related activities such as acquiring new clients and meeting with current clients,” comments Emily Sweet, senior analyst at Cerulli. “They allocate the remainder of their time to administrative tasks, including office management and compliance-related work.”
Framing their role as relationship-focused could be difficult for many advisors because their value proposition has historically been investment-centric,” Sweet explains. “Our data shows that after tending to important client needs, time available to manage investments is limited. Outsourcing elements of investment management can enhance efficiency.”
“With so many outsourced resources available, and given the regulatory environment, it is time for advisors to consider how investment management fits into their day-to-day job description,” Sweet explains. “One method of outsourcing investment management is using models. Whether home office, proprietary, or third party, models serve as solid starting points for client portfolios. Models paired with shorter-term, tactical strategies help advisors set a baseline for client portfolios and lessen the time they spend making investment decisions.”
“Fewer investment decisions frees up advisors’ time, allowing them to focus more on the broad scope of their client relationships,” Sweet adds. Cerulli suggests that advisors view models and other outsourced resources not as a conflict to their value proposition, but as a complement to their investment process. Creating a standard starting point for investing client portfolios can help advisors scale their efforts while allowing room to tailor the end portfolio to suit individual clients’ needs.
These findings and more are from the 4Q 2016 issue of The Cerulli Edge – Advisor Edition, which examines the benefit of outsourcing and how asset managers are revamping distribution.
TD Ameritrade and Scottrade Financial Services, have entered into a definitive agreement for TD Ameritrade to acquire Scottrade in a cash and stock transaction valued at $4 billion.
The transaction combines two highly complementary organizations with long histories of helping millions of people invest in their financial futures. For TD Ameritrade, the transaction adds significant scale to its retail business, extends its leadership in trading, and more than quadruples the size of its branch network.
The company expects to realize approximately $450 million in combined annual expense synergies, and more than $300 million in additional longer-term opportunities. The first 25 percent of the expense synergies are expected to be realized in Year 1 post-close and the remainder realized in Year 2. Furthermore, the transaction is expected to generate double-digit EPS accretion post-conversion.
The transaction, which has been approved by the boards of directors of TD Ameritrade, TD Bank Group (TD) and Scottrade, will take place in two, concurrent steps. First, TD will purchase Scottrade Bank from Scottrade Financial Services, for $1.3 billion in cash consideration. Under the terms of the proposed acquisition, Scottrade Bank will merge with and into TD Bank, N.A., an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of The Toronto-Dominion Bank. Additionally, TD will purchase $400 million in new common equity (11 million shares) from TD Ameritrade in connection with the proposed transaction, pursuant to its preemptive rights.
Then, immediately following that acquisition, TD Ameritrade will acquire Scottrade Financial Services, for $4 billion, or $2.7 billion net of the proceeds from the sale of Scottrade Bank.
The $2.7 billion will be comprised of:
$1.0 billion in new common equity (28 million shares) issued to Scottrade shareholders; and
$1.7 billion in cash, which includes TD Ameritrade cash ($900 million), a new debt offering ($400 million), and the proceeds from the sale of 11 million shares to TD ($400 million).
Additionally, following the transaction’s close, Scottrade Founder and CEO Rodger Riney will be appointed to the TD Ameritrade Board of Directors.
For the 12 months ended Sept. 30, 2016, TD Ameritrade and Scottrade, on a pro-forma combined basis, had $944 billion in total client assets.
“For more than 40 years, TD Ameritrade has been committed to breaking down the barriers that stand between American investors and Wall Street. That means delivering an investing experience grounded in technology and innovation that educates and enables investors with all levels of ability and wealth to work toward their financial goals,” said Tim Hockey, TD Ameritrade president and chief executive officer. “We’ve found in Scottrade a partner with an equally-strong passion and a proven track record for delivering exceptional client experiences. This combination will allow us to leverage our strengths and increase our scale, further accelerate our asset gathering capabilities and introduce our award-winning line-up of trading tools, products and education services to millions of new investors.”
“Since founding Scottrade in 1980, our mission has been to lower the cost of investing and trading while treating clients fairly and honestly. Over the last 36 years, thanks to the tireless efforts of our talented associates, we have expanded our services and evolved the business while maintaining our commitment to helping people overcome barriers to financial success,” said Rodger Riney, Scottrade founder and chief executive officer. “We are confident we have found a great partner in TD Ameritrade, who shares our client-first focus. Joining forces will enable us to offer clients an expanded array of trading tools, enhanced education resources and advanced option capabilities with broader geographic reach. Together, we will be well-positioned to compete in today’s rapidly evolving financial services industry.”
The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. The parties expect it to close by Sept. 30, 2017, with an anticipated clearing conversion to TD Ameritrade systems in 2018.
Wikimedia CommonsFoto: BU Rob13 & Gage. ¿Hillary o Trump? ¿Cuánto le importa a los mercados?
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is leading Republican Donald Trump in opinion polls, though her edge over the billionaire has narrowed. What might the outcome, as well as all of the heated political rhetoric, mean for the global economy and financial markets? Are concerns mounting among investors? Is it time for investors to re-adjust portfolio allocations?
According to David Lafferty, Chief Market Strategist at Natixis, when speaking to investors both in and outside of the U.S., the presidential election is almost always the number one question on their minds. He mentions their first caveat is to remind investors that proposal differences pre-election are always bigger than implementation differences post-election; divided government ensures that presidents get only a small portion of what they want. In general, this means that investors tend to put too much weight on election outcomes vis-à-vis portfolio expectations. “Guessing whether Mrs. Clinton will be bad for healthcare stocks or Mr. Trump will be good for defense/military stocks is a poor way to build a durable portfolio.”
Second, there is still a lot of time left. Due to the Electoral College math and superior fundraising and organization, Mrs. Clinton seems the odds-on favorite to win. But we still have a few weeks left. We’ve got one more debate to go, and with these two candidates, the final weeks offer a higher-than-usual chance for more bombshells (perhaps something in Donald’s tax returns or Hillary’s missing e-mails?).
“For sport, we’ll continue to handicap the outcome like everyone else, but if Brexit has taught us one thing, it’s that betting on the conventional wisdom can be dangerous. With too many variables still unknown, including the election winner, the make-up of Congress, or how proposals will morph into policy, long-term market implications are uncertain. To be sure, neither candidate has presented a convincing pro-growth policy that would boost economic activity or the equity markets. Regardless of the winner, Washington gridlock won’t likely produce major policy changes, although some modest corporate tax reform is possible. While long-run return implications are uncertain, we still believe that Mr. Trump’s newcomer status and lack of policy history would make him the source of more short-term volatility.” concluded Lafferty.
Natixis’ latest 2016 Global Financial Advisor Survey top findings include:
U.S. advisors say neither candidate will be better
U.S. advisors appear to be ambivalent or unconvinced when it comes to who they think could have the most positive impact on five key factors: the stock market, bond market, global economy, global trade, and geopolitical risk.
Given the choice between Clinton, Trump, either, or neither, 40% of respondents in the U.S. chose “neither” for all factors with the exception of global trade, where 32% believe Clinton will fare better, and geopolitical risk where Clinton received the highest number of responses at 35%.
Globally, advisors say Clinton will be better
Outside the U.S., it appears that financial professionals believe Hillary Clinton would have a more positive impact on all five factors. Clinton’s numbers in each run in the mid-40s and mid-50s, while those believing Trump would result in better outcomes numbered in the mid-teens. Country to country there are some variances in responses. But overall, advisor sentiment was relatively consistent from country to country.
What advisors think about next U.S. President -Stock markets U.S. respondents over the age of 47 believe Trump will be better for the market (34%) compared to Clinton (21%) while 37% answered neither. 57% of women advisors globally believe Clinton will be better for the stock market. – Bond markets 47% of advisors globally give Clinton the edge for bonds compared to 14% who believe Trump will be best. Colombia (65%), Chile (61%), Spain (57%), Italy (55%) and Panama (55%) report the strongest inclination that Clinton will be best for bonds. France is a significant outlier from this trend with 47% of advisors choosing “neither.” – Global economy 43% of U.S. women advisors believe Clinton will be better for the global economy compared to 19% who believe Trump will be better. Globally, 44% of advisors favor Clinton on the global economy, 27% say neither, 16% favor Trump and 13% call it a toss-up. – Geopolitical risk 42% of U.S. Independent Advisors and 45% of U.S. women advisors believe Clinton will be better on geopolitical risk. For women globally, the number reached 62%.
1% of advisors with books of business above average ($29.5 million is sampling’s average size) favor Clinton on geopolitical risk, 29% say neither and 23% say Trump. Those with books below average are more likely to say neither (39%).
Chris Wallis, CIO Vaughan Nelson Investment Management, recommends investors to ignore the election, reminding them that looking back at U.S. presidential history for over 180 years, one can see that the elected president has never really had a big impact on the financial markets. “There is no doubt about it – the U.S. has an interesting pair of presidential candidates this election season. They are offering very different policy choices across the board – from foreign, trade, tax, economic, healthcare to immigration policy. But that being said, I really don’t believe it makes any difference to the markets and long-term investors’ portfolios whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump wins on November 8.”
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: fusion-of-horizons. Ricardo Morean se incorpora a Bolton Global
Bolton Global Capital has announced that Ricardo Morean has joined the firm. With this addition, Bolton hopes to leverage Morean’s successful career of growing the international wealth management businesses of Merrill Lynch, Wells Fargo, and RBC where he was in charge of major branch complexes in New York, Miami and Latin America.
Morean will be responsible for business development for Bolton Global as well as GEA Capital,an affiliated advisory group based in Miami specializing in asset management for institutions and high net worth clients.
More recently, Morean was Senior Managing Director of RBC’s International Advisor Group, covering Latin America and Europe, as head of the company’s offices in Miami, New York and San Diego until the RBC closed its non-US client business in 2015.
Morean began his career as a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch in 1992. After holding senior positions in business development and branch management with Merrill Lynch’s Latin American operations, he was promoted in 2005 to Regional Managing Director for the firm’s international financial advisors in the New York, Miami and San Diego offices. After Merrill Lynch was acquired by Bank of America in 2008, he joined Wells Fargo as Regional Managing Director responsible for the firm’s international advisors in Miami and New York.
He is a graduate of Ohio State University and holds a Masters in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Arizona State University.
An economy set to rebound. A president committed to implementing reform. A government of competent technocrats. A crackdown on corruption. A set of new CEOs to oversee inefficient state-owned companies. A central bank embarking on a rate cutting cycle. A country with deep, liquid capital markets.
Would anyone believe us if we said this is Brazil?
According to Yacov Arnopolin and Lupin Rahman, emerging market portfolio managers at PIMCO, “before tagging on the requisite caveats, we tip our hat to the country’s impressive turnaround in policymaking. As always, much will ride on the ability to push through fiscal reforms and improve the supply side of the economy. But with confidence in the government returning, Brazil could be set for a comeback ‒ one that could restore nominal interest rates to single digits and put credit rating upgrades back on the table.”
Not politics as usual
On their recent trip to Brazil they witnessed a stark change in what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) called the “counterproductive” politics and policymaking of the previous administration. “Impeachment has paved the way for a centrist, business-friendly government under President Michel Temer, who has a team that can get things done. This coincides with Brazil starting to exit the worst recession in its history and a turn in inflation from double-digit figures earlier in the year.”
They believe the change in sentiment has sparked a strong rally in Brazilian assets, but as the new administration’s honeymoon draws to a close, the country’s prospects ride on reform. Will the government’s proposals be enough to bring about the necessary changes?
Brazil’s challenges ahead
The positive sentiment for Brazil notwithstanding, they see three main risks to President Temer’s plans.
Brazil’s debt-to-GDP is set to reach 90% of GDP by the end of this decade. While the vast majority of the debt is in local currency, that level still ranks among the highest in the emerging markets. Reforms cannot change the near-term fiscal and debt path; they can merely seek to avoid an even more dire scenario. And they will take more than one political cycle to be effective.
Disinflation could be lower than expected. Years of indexation and supply-side bottlenecks could limit the disinflationary pressures from high unemployment and a large output gap and keep inflation “stuck” at high levels. Moreover, the multiple levels of subsidized lending that de-fanged monetary policy may take years to unwind or simplify.
Public opinion may prove to be more sensitive to increasing unemployment and the realities of lower social security and pension benefits. In fact, Brazilian voters still generally favor large governments and a strong social safety net. In addition, Lava Jato (“Operation Car Wash”) corruption investigations could spill over to the government. The risk is that Temer’s popularity fades and political noise around the 2018 election race increases.
The positive scenario
If Temer’s reforms are successful, PIMCO believes they could trigger a virtuous circle of deeper reforms after the 2018 elections. A sustained return of confidence would likely increase foreign direct investment and portfolio flows; and a return of “animal spirits” would lift consumption and prompt faster lift-off for the economy. All of this bodes well for the currency. And while the real is unlikely to have the same uninterrupted climb as in recent months, its high carry of nearly 13% offers a decent cushion against potential weakness.
“The Brazilian Central Bank has recently initiated what we anticipate will be an extended cutting cycle, lowering the overnight rate by 25 bps to 14%. Although the local yield curve is pricing in cuts of just over 320 basis points (bps) to January 2018, we believe the total cycle – subject to meeting the requisite fiscal milestones – could total about 500 bps or more, bringing nominal rates back to single digits. Thus, while local rates are less attractive than they were at the height of the political crisis, they offer potential to rally further, particularly given their starting point which is by far the highest in the G-20! An even bigger prize would be to reduce the high real rate burden the country is facing – nearly 6%. Just as poor fiscal management took Brazilian securities into a downward spiral, reform could improve valuations on Brazilian sovereign and corporate credit versus those of higher-rated EM peers. As a result, we believe the country’s fixed income assets continue to present compelling opportunities.” They conclude.
Regular readers of the CIO Weekly Perspectives know that we try to relate our observations on topical news to our medium-term investment outlook. Yet a “weekly” commentary inevitably gets a little caught up in current headlines.
So this week we try to dig beneath the surface of the headlines that are dominating current markets. There are already plenty of deeper indicators of what the world might look like in 2017-18.
An Eventful and Uncertain Fall Ahead
For sure, there’s a lot to dig through between now and the end of the year: quarterly earnings, GDP growth, employment figures, and, of course, central bank policy decisions. After 20 weeks of corporate bond purchases, last Thursday Mario Draghi’s pronouncements left markets looking to December 8 for more hints about whether QE would be extended or “tapered”. Six days later we will have a Federal Reserve announcement likely to increase short-term rates. And, if you haven’t heard, the U.S. has a big vote on November 8, Italy has a tricky referendum to get through on December 4 and Spain may be forced into yet another general election before the end of the year.
These events are likely to move markets—understandably. Some will undoubtedly feature in forthcoming CIO Perspectives. But, as investors become consumed with these current events, storm clouds seem to be gathering and recession risks rising.
Recession Risks Are Rising
Near term economic data looks decent enough. U.S. GDP for the second half of the year will likely show an improvement on the first half and, while it’s early days in the Q3 earnings season, it looks like S&P 500 earnings, while nothing to write home about, will have modestly improved.
Nonetheless, that only brings us to flat earnings growth, year-on-year, and it marks six straight quarters of weak reports. Moreover, the Bureau of Economic Analysis’s National Economic Accounts reveals this to be a problem across U.S. businesses, not just among the S&P 500 elite group of companies.
Housing starts have slowed, retail sales and consumer confidence are softening and employment growth seems to be peaking. The inflation we are experiencing is not benign: non-discretionary costs such as energy, housing and healthcare are rising, but not discretionary costs—a characteristic of recessions, historically. Wages are rising, which will put pressure on companies’ margins. And of greatest concern, credit conditions appear to be tightening: recent editions of the Federal Reserve Board’s Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices (SLOOS) report tightening lending standards for all companies, but especially smaller firms.
We Are Late Into an Elongated Cycle
These are all late-cycle indicators. We should not turn a blind eye to them just because GDP and earnings have ticked up slightly on a weak first half of the year.
Let’s be clear: I’m not calling for a recession to start on January 1, or for investors to sell all their risk assets. Indeed, this has been an elongated business cycle and there is a good chance that it can be elongated still further. Even casual observers of this economic cycle will conclude it has been quite unique. What might lead us to get more optimistic in our outlook? Political leadership doing their job: corporate tax reform, infrastructure investment, and a more sensible regulatory environment.
We have written a lot over recent weeks about the growing probability of extra fiscal stimulus around the world, for example. Central banks have been keeping things afloat for years and will continue to try to do so.
But it’s also true that central banks are conceding the limits of their influence and that politics can easily get in the way of fiscal plans and structural reforms. Even in the best-case scenario, no central bank or government has ever been able to legislate the business cycle out of existence.
So this is just a timely reminder that the cycle will turn at some point, and that a couple of quarters’ headlines can obscure late-cycle dynamics that are appearing in the data. Digging down to these underlying dynamics keeps us relatively cautious on risky assets.
The BofA Merrill Lynch October Fund Manager Survey shows global investor risk-aversion is growing as cash allocations increase to near-15-year highs. “This month’s cash levels indicate that investors are bearish, with fears of an EU breakup, a bond crash and Republicans winning the White House jangling nerves,” said Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at BofA.
Manish Kabra, European equity quantitative strategist, added that, “Although investors see an EU-disintegration as a big tail risk, European fund managers surveyed are more optimistic about the economic growth outlook for the Eurozone and expect stronger inflation.”
Other highlights include:
Cash levels jumped from 5.5% in September to 5.8% this month. Investors’ average cash balance was last this high in July 2016 (post-Brexit vote) and in Fall 2001.
Investors identify fears of an EU breakup, a bond crash and a Republican winning the White House as the most commonly-cited tail risks.
With inflation expectations at a 16-month high and perceptions of developed market equity and bond valuations at record highs, investors are no longer underweight in commodities for the first time since December 2012.
Rotation out of healthcare/pharma, REITs and bonds, into banks, insurance, equities, commodities and EM.
Investors cite Long high-quality stocks, Long US/EU IG corporate bonds and minimum volatility strategies as the most crowded trades.
Allocation to EM equities rises to the highest overweight in 3.5 years, from 24% last month to 31% in October.
Allocation to U.S. and Eurozone equities is unchanged from last month, while allocation to UK equities falls to net 27% underweight from net 24%.
Allocation to Japanese equities improves modestly to net 3% underweight from net 8% underweight last month.
Foto: waferboard
. GAM completa la adquisición de Cantab Capital Partners y lanza dos nuevas estrategias cuantitativas bajo el nombre GAM Systematic
GAM has completed the acquisition of Cantab Capital Partners, which was first announced on 29 June 2016. Cantab, a multi-strategy systematicmanager based in Cambridge, UK, manages USD 4.1 billion in assets for institutional clients worldwide (as at 1 October 2016). It’s technology and its team of over 30 scientists, led by Dr Ewan Kirk, form the cornerstone of GAM Systematic. This new investment platform is co-headed by Adam Glinsman, CEO of Cantab, and Anthony Lawler, Head of Portfolio Management at GAM’s Alternative Investments Solutions (AIS) group.
Two new UCITS funds are to be launched, subject to regulatory approval, that will offer daily liquidity and will be available under the GAM Systematic name. Both funds will be designed to deliver attractive risk-adjusted returns as well as offering diversification to equity and bond investments over the cycle. The new funds will also be structured to be cost-effective.
The systematic global equity market neutral strategy will contain Cantab’s established equity-focused models, which have delivered a successful return track record as part of Cantab’s flagship Quantitative Fund launched in 2007. It will invest in liquid equities globally using proprietary research and trading systems, without taking equity market beta. Over a three-year cycle, the strategy will aim to deliver attractive returns with annual volatility of 6-8%.
The systematic diversified macro strategy will be a multi-strategy, multi-asset product based on Cantab’s established Core Macro fund, which launched in 2013. It will seek to generate returns uncorrelated to traditional asset classes by identifying persistent and recurring sources of return across over 100 markets in currencies, fixed income, equity indices and commodities. Over the cycle, it is expected to deliver attractive returns with negligible correlation to traditional markets and annualised volatility of 10-12%.
The latest European ETF Market Review from Thomson Reuters Lipper shows that negative market impacts led—in spite of net inflows—to lower assets under management in the European ETF industry in September (€480.1 bn for September, down from €480.4 bn at the end of August).
According to Detlef Glow, Head of EMEA research at Thomson Reuters Lipper and author of the report, the decrease of €0.3 bn for September was mainly driven by negative market impacts (-€2.4 bn), while net sales contributed a positive €2.1 bn to the assets under management in the ETF segment.
Other highlights include:
Bond ETFs (+€1.3 bn) posted the highest net inflows for September.
The best selling Lipper global classification for September was Bond Emerging Markets Global in Local Currencies (+€0.8 bn), followed by Equity Emerging Markets Global (+€0.5 bn) and Equity Global (+€0.5 bn).
iShares, with net sales of €1.0 bn, maintained its position as the best selling ETF promoter in Europe, followed by Vanguard (+€0.8 bn) and UBS ETF (+€0.4 bn).
The ten best selling funds gathered total net inflows of €3.1 bn for September.
Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF USD (+ €0.7 bn), was the best selling individual ETF for September.
Foto: Bradley Davis. Lennar cierrra el Lennar Multifamily Venture en 2.200 millones de dólares
Lennar Corporation has announced that LMC, its wholly owned subsidiary, received an additional $250 million commitment to its Lennar Multifamily Venture (“LMV“), which completes the fund raising for this long term multifamily development investment vehicle. With commitments totaling $2.2 billion, the Miami based company LMV is well capitalized to develop and ownClass A multifamily communities in 25 target markets throughout the United States.
Lennar launched LMC in 2011, and since that time the company has been among the nation’s most active developers. LMC currently has approximately 13,300 apartment homes in 45 communities operating or under construction and including these communities, a total development pipeline that exceeds $7 billion and over 23,000 apartments. The company builds high-rise, mid-rise, and garden apartment communities.
LMV’s ownership includes six prominent institutional investors, comprised of foreign pensions, sovereign wealth funds, and insurance companies. Lennar also has a $504 million commitment to the venture.
Currently, the venture has approximately 9,100 apartment homes under development in 31 communities for a total development cost of $3.1 billion. With the combined equity commitments and 50% leverage, LMV has approximately $1.3 billion in dry powder to invest in future opportunities.
Macquarie Capital acted as a financial advisor and placement agent for LMC.
