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Deborah Fuhr Received the William F. Sharpe Indexing Lifetime Achievement Award

ETFGI has announced that Deborah Fuhr, Managing Partner & Co-founder of ETFGI, is the 2014 William F. Sharpe Indexing Lifetime Achievement Award winner. She was honored at IMN’s 19th Annual Global Indexing & ETFs conference at the JW Marriott Camelback Resort & Spa in Scottsdale, Arizona on December 8th. This distinguished award recognizes the most accomplished innovators and practitioners in the indexing industry, and was presented by The Journal of Index Investing.

Deborah is considered one of the leading global experts on ETFs with over 20 years industry experience in financial products, 15 of which have focused on exchanged traded funds and exposures. Currently she is the managing partner and co-founder of ETFGI, an independent research and consultancy firm established in early 2012 to provide analysis on the global ETF and ETP industry. The firm is focused on providing thought leadership, publishing independent research on industry trends, the eco-system, institutional users, products, applications, and competitors, and providing education and assistance to investors on product comparison, asset allocation implementation, as well as offering customised research and consulting.

Prior to ETFGI Deborah was the Global Head of ETF Research and Implementation Strategy at BlackRock/Barclays Global Investors from 2008 to 2011, and was a Managing Director and Head of the Investment Strategies Group at Morgan Stanley for 11 years prior to that.

Deborah commenced her career at Greenwich Associates and has lectured extensively on ETFs and other exchange traded exposures. She has served on several industry bodies and is a consultant to investors, promoters, distributors, stock exchanges, trading platforms and national- and supra-national regulatory bodies.

She was recently named as one of the Top 100 women in European Finance in 2014 by Financial News. She has an MBA from the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, and Bachelor of Science from the University of Connecticut.

Previous William F. Sharpe Lifetime Award recipients include Harry Markowitz, William Brodsky, Joanne Hill, John C Bogle, and Robert Arnott, among others.

Turkish Optimism Defies Difficult Backdrop

| Por Alicia Miguel | 0 Comentarios

It can be refreshing to encounter optimism as an Emerging Markets economist, given its rarity in these straitened times. Certainly, there is plenty of it to be found in Turkey. Despite, or perhaps because of, the country’s status as one of the original “Fragile Five” and the continued focus on its macroeconomic fundamentals, officials and private sector economists remain defiantly bullish about prospects overall. To be diplomatic, we are slightly more cautious.

Central to investor concerns, and a driver of lira weakness, has been the country’s external balance sheet position. The country is a clear outlier in terms of its reliance on external financing flows, with very high levels of short term external debt (approximately 25% of GDP). Within Turkey, comfort is drawn from the fact that the bulk of this borrowing is conducted by banks, who deposit dollars at the central bank to obtain lira liquidity. In essence, the high external financing requirement is not seen as a problem.

It is true that Turkish banks have managed to rollover debt without problems since 2001, even during the global financial crisis. But the loan to deposit ratio now stands at 113% following years of 20-30% credit growth, so some domestic activity at least is dependent on foreign financing. Even if Fed rate hikes do not bring a sudden stop, or reversal, of capital flows, the cost of borrowing will increase and drag on growth. Particularly as the central bank is targeting, among other things, a flat yield curve; Fed rate hikes will push up yields at the long end of the curve and necessitate hikes by the Turkish central bank.

“Central bank independence” is a phrase met with a polite cough at best in Turkey. The common perception, borne out by recent actions, is that the central bank will cut whenever possible in support of growth, despite inflation far above the 5% target. Happily, a combination of base effects, cheaper oil (Turkish energy imports totalled $55 billion in 2013), and reduced exchange rate pass-through will see inflation fall back sharply next year. However, a rebound is likely as the effects fade and as further rate cuts feed through.

Domestically saving is regarded as Turkey’s real problem, being relatively low at 15% of GDP (and only 12% in the private sector). This is the result of demographics, a low central bank rate, and economic and political uncertainty. A low savings rate helps fuel demand for foreign capital and limits domestic investment, so recently announced plans to boost saving and create an institutional investor base are welcome. However, with a 5-10 year timeframe, clearly a rapid turnaround is not in the offing.

In addition to this drag on performance, the trade outlook is not especially positive. Turkish producers are still not competitive enough, particularly when compared to Asian counterparts. Turkey is still very dependent on Europe as a market at a time when the Eurozone seems to be slowing. Meanwhile, the government has said it will reduce import dependency it is not clear how it plans to do so. It is difficult to see the current account deficit falling below 5% next year.

Politically, Erodgan appears to remain firmly in control, and a victory for his ruling party in next year’s elections seems assured. It is less clear that Erdogan’s party would survive him, however, and this dependency on one man represents something of a risk. Meanwhile, although ISIS is all but knocking on Turkey’s door, for now the country seems secure and is demonstrating no desire to enter into a regional war. Public opinion is against intervention, the Kurdish minority notwithstanding, and none of the analysts we spoke to saw ISIS as the main concern. If the West wants Turkey involved, they will need to commit their own troops first.

Following a recent trip to Istanbul, Craig Botham, Emerging Markets Economist at Schroders, shares his views on the Turkish economy.

Gramercy Funds Management contrata a una especialista en análisis de riesgo soberano

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Gramercy Funds Management ha nombrado a Sarah Glendon vicepresidenta senior economista especializada en análisis de riesgo soberano. La experiencia de Glendon en riesgo soberano en mercados emergentes mejorará la capacidad de Gramercy para identificar e interpretar las tendencias y movimientos de los mercados globales, además de los factores subyacentes que los determinan. Su incorporación lleva el número del equipo de investigación de créditos a 15 analistas, informó la firma a través de un comunicado.

«El conocimiento de Sarah acerca del impacto a corto y largo plazo que las tendencias de los mercados internacionales tienen sobre los mercados de crédito emergentes fortalecerá nuestro potencial de inversión, ofreciendo un beneficio cuantificable para nuestros clientes», dijo Robert Koenigsberger, socio gestor, fundador y jefe de la Dirección de Inversiones de Gramercy.

«Estoy muy contenta de unirme a uno de los principales equipos de mercados emergentes que reconoce la importancia de entender la dinámica del riesgo soberano cuando se invierte en créditos soberanos y corporativos en mercados emergentes», dijo Glendon.

Antes de unirse a Gramercy, una gestora con 5.000 millones de dólares en mercados emergentes, Glendon fue analista senior y vicepresidenta del Grupo de Riesgo Soberano de Moody’s, en donde se desempeñó como una de las principales analistas del Equipo de Riesgo Soberano de América Latina. En dicho cargo, publicó investigaciones relacionadas con la calidad de créditos de numerosos entes soberanos y viajó de forma constante a países dentro del alcance de su cobertura geográfica, reuniéndose con funcionarios de gobierno y representantes del sector privado.

Antes de Moody’s, Glendon fue analista de Riesgo Soberano en los Grupos de Gestión de Activos e I+D Corporativo en AIG. Glendon recibió su título bachiller en Estudios Internacionales en Middlebury College, en una graduación con honores. Recibió su título de Maestría en Economía Internacional/Estudios Latinoamericanos de la Johns Hopkins University y obtuvo la beca G. Donald Johnston por su excelencia académica en Estudios Latinoamericanos.

BTG Pactual Chile recibe autorización final para operar como banco

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La Superintendencia de Bancos e Instituciones Financieras de Chile (SBIF) ha aprobado la licencia bancaria definitiva de Banco BTG Pactual Chile, que iniciará operaciones antes del 30 de enero de 2015.

En este sentido, BTG Pactual Chile explicó que su interés por obtener una licencia bancaria se explica desde un punto de vista estratégico y posicionamiento latinoamericano, pues le permitirá ampliar su giro y crecer en el país a través de una oferta financiera multiservicio. De esta forma, una vez que comience su funcionamiento, el foco estará en ingresar al negocio de crédito y derivados, además de complementar la oferta en los segmentos de clientes ya cubiertos, tales como el institucional y wealth management.

“Esta autorización nos permitirá expandir la gama de productos y servicios financieros ofrecidos a nuestros clientes en Chile y consolidar nuestra posición como uno de los principales actores de la banca de inversión en Latinoamérica, todo esto ejecutado con los más altos estándares de control de riesgos y gobierno corporativo”, afirmó Alejandro Montero, gerente general de Banco BTG Pactual Chile.

Asimismo, este enfatizó que “el modelo de negocios de BTG Pactual en Chile es ser un banco de inversión que ofrece servicios relacionados a estas actividades, pero que también pueda otorgar créditos para complementar las operaciones de sus clientes en negocios de finanzas corporativas o de wealth management”.

La autorización que otorga la Superintendencia de Bancos e Instituciones Financieras (SBIF) se considera como un paso fundamental dentro del plan estratégico de negocios de la compañía, permitiendo además contribuir al incremento de la competitividad del sistema financiero en Chile a través de la oferta de productos y servicios bancarios de primer nivel.

Cabe destacar que de los bancos que operan en este momento en el país, la última licencia entregada fue en el año 2004.

Plana ejecutiva

El 30 de mayo pasado el regulador ya había dado la autorización de existencia y aprobado los estatutos de la sociedad anónima bancaria, lo que había sido precedido por la validación del prospecto que incluía un plan de desarrollo de negocios para los primeros tres años de funcionamiento, así como con los antecedentes que avalaron la solvencia e integridad de sus accionistas fundadores en noviembre de 2013. De esta forma, Banco BTG Pactual Chile tendrá un capital inicial de 75.000 millones de dólares y en el corto plazo llegará a 125.000 millones.

El directorio de la firma está compuesto por Juan Andrés Camus (presidente), Jorge Errázuriz (vicepresidente) y los directores André Porto, Mateus Carneiro, Joao Dantas, Bruno Duque y Christian Flemming. Mientras que la administración de la compañía estará a cargo de ejecutivos con vasta experiencia en el mercado financiero: Alejandro Montero, gerente general; Jose Lucio Nascimento, gerente de Finanzas; Enrique Pérez, gerente de Planificación y Control y subgerente general; Gonzalo Ferrer, gerente comercial; Cristián Vidal, gerente de Operaciones; Cristián Venegas-Puga, fiscal, y Emilio Jarufe, gerente de Informática.

The European Asset Management Industry Plays a Crucial and Growing Role in Financing the ‘Real Economy’

| Por Alicia Miguel | 0 Comentarios

Based on the staff costs, taxes paid and profits of the industry, it is estimated that the European asset management industry contributes an average of 0.35% per year to European GDP and has very significant potential to fill the gap left by banks in providing finance to European economy, according to Societal and Economic Impacts of the European Asset Management Industry, a report by Jens Hagendorff, Professor of Finance & Investment at the University of Edinburgh, sponsored by EY, and with contributions from EFAMA.

The European asset management industry is large, with assets under management of over 115% of European GDP (or nearly €17 trillion). It directly employs around 95,000 individuals across Europe and is estimated to indirectly employ 530,000 full-time equivalents. The value added is particularly large in the UK, where it contributes 1% of GDP per annum, and in France, where it contributes 0.5% of GDP per annum. In absolute terms, the figures are also large – across Europe the report estimates that yearly value added of the industry is €50b.

Roy Stockell, Wealth & Asset Management Leader for EMEIA at EY, says: “What makes the size of the industry particularly noteworthy is the rate at which it is growing. Comparing OECD data for the UK in 1980 against comparable data for today shows that the industry has grown six-fold in little more than 30 years. This is largely because populations have become larger, older and wealthier and this trend shows no sign of slowing. Asset management is a European success story. Policymakers need to recognize the potential of the asset management industry to play a larger role in financing the ‘real economy’.”

Asset managers are already key to the financing of the economy

In 2012, the asset management industry held debt securities issued by euro area residents worth €4 trillion. This amounted to 23% of all debt securities outstanding at the time and corresponds to 32% of the value of euro area bank lending. The ratio increases to 43% if mortgage lending is excluded from bank lending figures.

The figures are particularly high in the UK where the debt securities managed by the industry correspond to 26% of all debt securities, but 82% of bank lending and 87% of bank lending excluding mortgages.

The report also considers equity financing. In 2012, European asset managers managed equity values at €1,374b, which corresponds to 31% of the market value of euro area listed firms and nearly 40% of the free float of European listed firms.

Jens Hagendorff, Professor of Finance & Investment at the University of Edinburgh and author of the report says: “Long-term savings and risk management are at the heart of what the industry provides, which makes it suitable to provide long-term finance to European corporations. As such, the industry provides a crucial link between investors and the needs of the real economy.

“It also should be noted that the European asset management industry does not attract a costly bailout guarantee and can therefore offer financing services in a more cost-efficient way than banks, generating a large saving for society.”

The industry acts as a steward of Europe’s corporate landscape

The report estimates that nearly €500b of the value of the European equity market is due to the role European asset managers play in improving the corporate governance of the firms they invest in.

Christian Dargnat, President of European Fund and Asset Management Association, commenting on the report, says: “We are very supportive of research initiatives such as the one carried out by this report, as they are crucial tools to communicate better on how our industry meets important needs of European societies.

“The evaluation of how we, asset managers, have a significant and positive impact on the European economy bears strong significance for the role we have to play in the financing of this economy.

“Policymakers, the media, peers and the public equally need to be made aware of the potential we can bring to this crucial goal —which ranks high in the agenda of both international and European top-level regulating bodies.”

You can access the full report here.

BNY Mellon Highlights Differences Between Deflation, Disinflation and Lowflation

| Por Alicia Miguel | 0 Comentarios

Despite sluggish economic growth in recent years, BNY Mellon’s 2015 Outlook is for a prolonged global and U.S. economic expansion, according to BNY Mellon Chief Economist Richard Hoey. Stronger future growth should reflect a fading of drags on growth rather than new sources of strength says Hoey in his Economic Update entitled, «Outlook 2015.»

«Following three years of global growth near 3% on the IMF measure, we expect a somewhat faster pace of global growth in 2015, given the lagged benefit of low interest rates and the effect of low energy prices,» Hoey says. «Given the downward shift in trend growth in China, we expect the developing economies to expand at about the same pace in 2015 as in 2014.»

«With the fiscal drag fading, the cyclical pace of U.S. economic expansion is now shifting higher,» Hoey continues. «A somewhat similar pattern has emerged in the UK, although more fiscal tightening lies ahead. It is notable that the labor markets of these two countries are among the most flexible in the developed world, which appears to have fostered a combination of strong job growth and postponed wage inflation.»

Hoey cites that due to the slow pace of global growth, there has been concern about deflation, disinflation and lowflation. (Deflation is a pattern of declining prices, disinflation is a downward shift in the pace of positive inflation and lowflation is positive inflation persisting at a pace only slightly above zero.)

«We make a distinction between ‘bad deflation‘ due to a collapse in demand, ‘capacity hangover deflation‘ due to past overexpansion of capacity and ‘good deflation‘ attributable to successful technological innovation,» Hoey says. «We believe that the oil and gas sector is an instance of ‘good deflation,’ as technological innovation has sharply reduced the cost of producing oil and gas in the U.S. The U.S. energy service companies are global leaders of technological innovation in the energy sector. We regard the recent weakness in energy prices as a symptom of successful technological innovation rather than as a signal of a weakening global economy.»

Other report highlights include:

Japanese Expansion Sustainable but Sluggish– Stating that Japan was «caught in a stagnant equilibrium for two decades,» Hoey says that Japanese policy should stimulate a moderate cyclical expansion through low real interest rates.
China Economy a Crucial Uncertainty for 2015 – Hoey states that the deceleration in Chinese economic growth is not cyclical but structural, due to the combination of a slowdown in the growth of its labor force and the need to correct past credit and property excesses. Hoey thinks that China is beginning a transition from a double-digit trend growth rate in the past to a sustainable growth rate near 6% in the future.
Sustained European Expansion in 2015, 2016 and 2017 – While Hoey cites adverse demographics and relative energy prices, as well as a badly designed euro currency system contributing to a sluggish long-term outlook for Europe, Hoey is cyclically more positive about European prospects for the near term and expects moderate but sustained European expansion in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
U.S. Economy «Three-for-Three» Growth Acceleration – Hoey believes that the U.S. economy has just made an upward shift from a half-decade of expansion at a real GDP growth rate slightly above 2% to three years of 3% real GDP growth. «This new «three-for-three» growth acceleration should be due largely to a fading of the persistent drag from the government sector over the last half-decade,» Hoey says. Hoey also says that over the next three years, he expects U.S. real GDP growth to accelerate to about 3% and nominal GDP growth (real GDP growth plus inflation) to accelerate to about 5%. He also expects this acceleration of real and nominal economic growth to contribute to a multiyear uptrend in U.S. interest rates.

«We believe that U.S. monetary policy will be very supportive of economic expansion for the next several years,» Hoey says. «With inflation below the Fed’s target and some slack remaining in the labor market, both parts of the Fed’s dual mandate support stimulative monetary policy.» «Since we believe that the U.S. economy is not currently very inflation-prone, we would expect a monetary policy fully supportive of economic expansion in 2015 and 2016, with the need to shift to a truly restrictive policy postponed until 2017 or 2018, after the Presidential election of 2016,» Hoey concluded.

Gramercy Property Trust Closes a €350mn Venture for Single-Tenant Net Leased Assets in Europe

| Por Alicia Miguel | 0 Comentarios

Gramercy Property Trust has announced, along with several of its investment partners, the closing of a €350 million venture targeting single-tenant net leased assets and sale-leaseback opportunities across Europe, and the simultaneous acquisition of ThreadGreen Europe Limited, an existing property investment and asset management platform.

Gramercy Europe is a joint venture among the Company and investment entities managed by EJF Capital LLC, Fir Tree Partners and Senator Investment Group LP, along with certain other investors. Gramercy Europe will invest predominantly in single-tenant industrial, office and specialty retail assets in Germany, the Netherlands, the Nordic region, the United Kingdom and other targeted European countries. The total equity capital available to Gramercy Europe is €350 million, comprised of an initial commitment of €250 million of equity from Gramercy and the Founding Investors as well as an additional capital accordion of €100 million. Gramercy has a total commitment of €50 million to the venture. Simultaneously with the closing of the venture, Lindsay Sparacino of EJF, Jarret Cohen of Fir Tree and Michael Simanovsky of Senator will join the board of directors of Gramercy Europe, together with certain representatives appointed by Gramercy, including Gordon F. DuGan.

Simultaneous with the closing of Gramercy Europe, the Company is purchasing all of the assets of ThreadGreen Europe Limited who will provide the day-to-day management of the investment vehicle. With the ThreadGreen purchase, Gramercy has a fully-integrated presence in Europe, including investment personnel, asset management capability as well as all support functions in those areas. Principals of the Company and ThreadGreen worked together for a number of years at W. P. Carey & Co., where Alistair Calvert, Managing Director of ThreadGreen, along with Michael Heal, Director of ThreadGreen, ran the London office of W. P. Carey from December 2004 to June 2006. ThreadGreen currently manages approximately €210 million in single-tenant industrial and office assets located in Germany, Finland and Switzerland. Gramercy’s management along with the ThreadGreen principals have overseen investments in excess of $3 billion of single-tenant properties in Europe over a greater than 10-year period.

Gordon F. DuGan, Chief Executive Officer of Gramercy Property Trust, stated, “We are very excited about the opportunity to buy single-tenant assets with long, inflation-indexed leases throughout Europe at high current yields. We believe this new investment vehicle gives Gramercy shareholders access to European net leased assets in scale and in partnership with deep-pocketed and sophisticated partners. Gramercy will have a fully-integrated team on the ground that we have worked with in the past and a strategy that I have many years of experience with. We hope to replicate the success we have had with Gramercy Property Trust with our effort on Gramercy Europe.”

Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC served as the Company’s financial advisor in connection with the transaction.

El grupo chileno Security concreta una emisión de bonos por 119 millones de dólares

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Grupo Security concretó este jueves una emisión de bonos corporativos en el mercado chileno por UF 3 millones, equivalentes aproximadamente a 119 millones de dólares. Santander Global Banking and Markets actuó como asesor financiero y agente colocador de esta transacción, cuyo objetivo es el refinanciamiento de pasivos y financiamiento de otros fines corporativos del holding, informó el grupo a través de un comunicado.

La operación se ejecutó a través de la Serie L3 por UF 3 millones a 21 años plazo, con un duration de 12,04 años, y una tasa de colocación de 3,80%. La demanda obtenida alcanzó a 1,15 veces el monto colocado. El uso principal de los recursos de la colocación es el prepago de las series B2, C2, D, y E, destinándose el saldo recaudado al plan de inversiones del emisor.

“Las condiciones obtenidas por Grupo Security demuestran su solidez y trayectoria como un actor importante del mercado de capitales. La emisión se cerró con éxito, generando alto interés por parte de los inversionistas institucionales y privados”, explicó Javier Díaz, responsable de Inversionistas Institucionales de Santander GBM.

Germany Leads European Mutual Fund Inflows

| Por Alicia Miguel | 0 Comentarios

The European funds industry enjoyed net inflows of only €0.4bn into long-term mutual funds for October 2014, according to Lipper Thomson Reuters.

Single fund market flows for long-term funds showed a mixed but positive picture for October; 22 of the 33 markets covered in Lipper’s report showed net inflows. The single market with the highest net inflows for October was Germany (+€2.4bn), followed by Italy (+ €1.9bn) and Belgium (+€0.8bn). Meanwhile, the international fund hubs Luxembourg and Ireland (-€5.8bn), France (-€1.5bn), and Denmark (-€0.5bn) stood on the other side.

Mixed-asset products—with estimated net inflows of €7.7bn—were the best selling asset class overall for October.

BlackRock, with net sales of €4bn, was the best selling group of long-term funds for October, ahead of Vanguard (+€2.2bn) and Pioneer (+€1.6bn).

Provisional figures for Luxembourg- and Ireland-domiciled funds suggest equity funds, with estimated net inflows of around €17.6bn, will be the best selling products for November.

La Bolsa de Santiago y el Consejo para la Transparencia facilitan el acceso a la información financiera

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El presidente de la Bolsa de Comercio de Santiago, Juan Andrés Camus, y la presidenta del Consejo para la Transparencia, Vivianne Blanlot, suscribieron este jueves un importante convenio de colaboración que establece que ambas instituciones trabajarán de manera conjunta en la implementación de actividades que permitan potenciar prácticas de transparencia y acceso a la información en el mercado de valores, satisfaciendo los intereses de la ciudadanía de forma proactiva y pertinente. Éste es el primer convenio que suscribe el Consejo para la Transparencia con una institución privada.

El presidente de la Bolsa de Santiago, Juan Andrés Camus, destacó que “esta iniciativa va en línea con los permanentes esfuerzos de la Bolsa para acercar a la ciudadanía la información del mercado de valores, buscando que el acceso a la información y al mercado redunde en relaciones de confianza y en una mejor calidad de decisiones de inversión de las personas”.

Entre los principales objetivos de esta alianza, destacan el expandir el conocimiento y vigencia del principio de transparencia para los usuarios de información de la Bolsa de Santiago, sus intermediarios y las empresas listadas en la misma; ampliar el acceso a información por parte de sectores de la población generalmente ajenos a las prácticas del mercado de valores, y desarrollar mecanismos de acceso a información, de escucha y participación ciudadana que permitan identificar nuevas necesidades de información de las personas.

Por su parte, la presidenta del Consejo para la Transparencia, Vivianne Blanlot, afirmó que “este convenio es una muestra de la labor permanente que realiza el Consejo con el fin de promover la transparencia, valor que aporta sustantivamente a la generación de confianza tanto en el mundo público como en el privado”. Y añadió que “el compromiso suscrito hoy apunta a trabajar de manera conjunta en acciones que permitan potenciar prácticas de transparencia, acercar a la ciudadanía a la información del mercado de valores e identificar otras necesidades de acceso a la información que puedan tener las personas”.

De acuerdo al convenio, el Consejo para la Transparencia colaborará en la difusión y promoción de acciones y actividades de la Bolsa de Santiago orientadas a la transparencia y entrega de información. Asimismo, trabajará en conjunto con el área de Educación de la Bolsa para realizar actividades orientadas a promover prácticas de transparencia y acceso a la información en el mercado de valores, además de proporcionar asesoría técnica para la elaboración de documentación que promueva estándares en estas materias.