| For Elena Santiso | 0 Comentarios
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.”
| For Alicia Miguel | 0 Comentarios
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.”
| For Fórmate a Fondo | 0 Comentarios
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.
| For Fórmate a Fondo | 0 Comentarios
Last week Funds Society celebrated its first anniversary hosting a cocktail party in Miami. Close to 100 professionals of the asset and wealth management industry attended, coming from Genève, London, Miami, Mexico, New York and Zurich.
In 2013, Funds Society had an average 12% month over month growth, highlighting a strong support from its readers, the wealth and asset management community throughout the Americas region.
Moreover, Funds Society is currently working with more than 10 international asset and wealth management firms. Funds Society’s team has also grown, adding a new senior journalist, Alicia Miguel, covering the European asset management scene from Spain.
In 2014, Funds Society will be dedicating more resources to the website’s English version launching a daily newsletter in English during the first quarter of the year. Funds Society will also launch a mobile version of its website.
| For Alicia Miguel | 0 Comentarios
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.
| For Alicia Miguel | 0 Comentarios
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.
| For Alicia Miguel | 0 Comentarios
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.
| For Fórmate a Fondo | 0 Comentarios
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.
| For Alicia Miguel | 0 Comentarios
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.