Financial Times Mandate articles from August 2004

Financial Times Mandate archives from August 2004

From the Editor.(Editorial)
August 1, 2004... Welcome to your new improved FT Mandate Welcome to your new-look FT Mandate! After more than five years as a fortnightly publication, we felt the time was right to ring in some changes. FT Mandate has been refashioned as a bigger,...

News: Industry Trends - Short-termism of capital markets undermines SRI.(Industry Overview)
August 1, 2004... The short-term outlook of capital markets is a significant obstacle to incorporating environmental, social and governance principles into investment-decision making, according to Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the United Nations...

News: Industry & People - F&C dominates institutional posts after merger with Isis.(Isis Asset Management)(F&C Management)
August 1, 2004... Executives at F&C Management have bagged the lion's share of key institutional appointments following its merger with Isis Asset Management. Of the 11 positions on the executive committee responsible for the day-to-day running of the...

News: Industry & People - Dynamic strategy from State Street.
August 1, 2004... A flexible investment strategy for defined benefit pension plans has been launched as an antidote to traditional "static" benchmarks. State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has developed the dynamic risk allocation model (Dram) which it...

News: Industry & People - Personnel - Investec pays price for vetoing managers' claim.(Investec Asset Management)(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Investec Asset Management has been forced to find five equity fund managers after a string of senior employees quit in a dispute over pay. The South African asset manager refused to bow to demands from five members of its "4 Factor" equity...

News: Industry & People - Australian bank closes custodial subsidiary in UK.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... One hundred and forty staff face redundancy from National Custodian Services (NCS), the UK subsidary of National Australia Bank (NAB), after the parent company transferred its GBP40bn (e60bn) UK custody business to The Bank of New York. ...

News: Industry & People - UBS: strategic benchmarking vital.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Trustees must focus on asset allocation and strategic benchmarks if they are to capitalise on the market upturn, according to an industry survey. The UBS Pension Fund Indicators found that the global equity market was up 25 per cent to...

News: Industry & People - Exeter and iimia to combine forces.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... The Exeter Group and iimia are set to merge to create a single financial service business with GBP3bn (e4.5bn) in assets under administration. The merged business will trade under the iimia name and have four divisions comprising...

News: Industry & People - SEC considers stricter legislation.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... The alternative investment industry is facing new legislation in the US after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed tighter controls for hedge funds. In a contentious 3-2 vote in July, the SEC proposed hedge funds with more...

News: Industry & People - Schroders' Singapore arm hands registrar business to Dexia.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Schroder Investment Management's Singapore business has outsourced its entire registrar business to Dexia Fund Services. Schroders identified a need for consolidated registration services for both its existing unit trust business and its...

News: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Balanced briefs clipped as fixed income finds favour.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... The Polestar Group pension fund has terminated balanced contracts following an asset liability study conducted by Hewitt Bacon & Woodrow. Investec Asset Management and AllianceBernstein are among the winners at the GBP380m (e570m) UK...

News: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Engineers give green light to bond futures.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... The GBP400m (e600m) pension scheme of a UK engineering company, the Weir Group, which has awarded fixed income mandates to Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) and Legal & General Investment Management is making pioneering use of derivative...

News: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Scottish agency switches to Swip as Abbey bows out.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Abbey National, which has made a strategic move from asset management to distribution, has ceded its GBP40m (e60m) fixed income mandate at a major Scottish pension fund to Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (Swip). Scottish Enterprise,...

News: Strategies, Products & Mandates - News in brief.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... One of the world's largest shipping companies has appointed Northern Trust Global Investments (NTGI) to run its pension fund's first allocation to a multi-manager strategy. The Gotaas-Larsen UK pension scheme, which is sponsored by Golar...

News: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Northern Trust's fund accounting offer.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Demand from European investment managers has prompted Northern Trust Global Fund Services (GFS) to launch a UK fund accounting operation. The global custodian will create a UK fund accounting centre to complement its existing fund...

News: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Ohio Teachers' fund puts $12bn in BNY custody.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... The Bank of New York (BNY) has snapped up a $12bn (e9.8bn) global custody and foreign exchange services mandate with a major US pension fund. The State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio reappointed the global custodian following a review...

News: Strategies, Products & Mandates - MRC sacks Deutsche and Merrill while specialists seize spoils.
August 1, 2004... Major restructuring at a GBP480m (e750m) UK pension fund has seen Merrill Lynch Asset Management and Deutsche Asset Management lose out on balanced briefs. The Medical Research Council (MRC) pension fund has moved to specialist management...

News: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Traditional funds will lose out to alternatives, reports survey.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... The burgeoning growth of hedge funds is set to undermine demand for traditional funds, according to nearly three-quarters of European fund managers. The Morningstar European funds trends survey found that 75 per cent of fund management...

News: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Northern Trust beats US rivals in group trust services race.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... LSV Asset Management has chosen Northern Trust to provide a range of group trust and limited partnership services for its newly-launched LSV International Value Equity Trust and LSV International Value Equity Fund. In addition to global...

News: Strategies, Products & Mandates - BNY secures $3bn Kazakh contract.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... The Bank of New York (BNY) has picked up a global custody brief with the National bank of Kazakhstan for $3bn (e2.5bn) of foreign exchange reserves. Kazakhstan's national bank originally employed four separate custodians but decided to...

News: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Schroders to run Cambridge property brief.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Cambridgeshire County Council in the UK has awarded Schroder Investment Management an GBP85m (e127m) property fund of funds mandate following a decision to increase its strategic commitment to property from 6 per cent to 10 per cent of total...

Comment: The Bender Agenda - Merrill follows BGI convergence.(Barclays Global Investors)(Merrill Lynch and Company Inc)
August 1, 2004... Ten years ago, a cultural gulf divided teams marketing institutional and retail fund products for the same investment house. Typically there would be a mutual disdain between the two. "The worst thing would be if you were on your way to an...

Comment: Don't let's be beastly to the Germans.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Are there any other Europeans who ever feel sorry for the Germans? Every time there is a lack of success in German sport or business, there is a sense of schadenfreude - ironically a Teutonic term - in the UK, Italy and the Netherlands. ...

Asset Allocation: The Chief - Meeting the demand for dynamic asset allocation.
August 1, 2004... Winning institutional asset management mandates is all about matching whoever is on the other side of the table, so that clients feel comfortable. The bidders find who their counterparts will be in the client's team, research their background...

Asset Allocation: Scheme Spotlight - PME proves its mettle.(Pensioenfonds Metalektro)
August 1, 2004... The E14bn retirement scheme, Pensioenfonds Metalektro (PME) is just a medium- sized player in its home market of the Netherlands. But it is one of the more vocal funds. And one of the areas in which it is currently making noise is socially...

Asset Allocation: FTM Interview - John Brennan - Eschewing convention.(Interview)
August 1, 2004... The trading abuses scandal that struck more than 20 mutual fund companies last year costing them their reputations and upwards of $2.3bn in compensation pay-outs is still shaking the US investment industry. The Securities and Exchange...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Europe - No light at end of Germany's tunnel.
August 1, 2004... The May German IFO Business Climate Survey index was down in June at 96.1 and has declined by 1.4 per cent since January 2004. Orders are flat: the value of German new orders was unchanged last month and since December, is down 0.4 per...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - North America - Doom and gloom despite recovery.
August 1, 2004... Just two years into economic recovery and investors are disillusioned and disgruntled, despite evidence that they should feel anything but. Fear of the Federal Reserve, news from the Middle East, rising energy prices, election rhetoric and...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - South America - Export growth and retail sales robust.
August 1, 2004... Growth remains the dominant theme in Latin America despite the global interest rate uncertainty which sparked the May/June sell-off in local and external emerging markets. The region has been recovering for two years, with Brazil particularly...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Asia Pacific - China remains cautiously resilient.
August 1, 2004... Three months ago, investors were elbowing each other aside to get into China and its Asian neighbours. The region had the strongest GDP growth, the most exciting prospects and the fastest growing investment opportunities in the world. In...

Asset Allocation: Portfolio Flows - Foreigners acquire taste for Japan.
August 1, 2004... Official data shows a marked pick-up in the underlying pace of foreign investment into Japanese equities since mid-May. This has seen foreigners' overall holdings rise to their highest level since the Ministry of Finance (MOF) started...

Asset Allocation: Mandate Analysis - American idols.(Industry Overview)
August 1, 2004... Mellon Capital Management has been crowned king of the international equity managers for volume of reported new business wins over the last 12 months. Propelling Mellon to pole position in FT Mandate's ranking table was a massive $5bn...

Asset Allocation: Manager Survey - Axa Investment Managers.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Flagship product Axa Europe Actions Investment process Active and fundamentally based, conviction-led, driven by in-house research. Largely bottom-up and risk managed. Main portfolios have no systematic factor or style. Four-step...

Asset Allocation: Manager Survey - BNP Paribas Asset Management.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Flagship products Pan-European Large Cap and Mid Cap Equities Investment process Disciplined, transparent three-step process using active, bottom-up approach: - Idea generation: Best company ideas derive from three sources of...

Asset Allocation: Manager Survey - JPMorgan Fleming Asset Management.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Flagship product JPMF Europe Equity fund, E1.9bn low risk fund with tracking error of 2-4 with +/-2 stock active and +/-3 sector and country. Investment process Based on philosophy that "on average, fast growing cheap stocks with...

Asset Allocation: Manager Survey - Morley Fund Management.(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
August 1, 2004... Flagship product Morley does not have a pan-European institutional fund, but runs a segregated institutional pan European Fund on behalf of a client. Investment process Team-based approach to running clients money combines...

Asset Allocation: The Consulting Room - Hedge fund know-how.(pension fund management )
August 1, 2004... There has been no shortage of discussion surrounding alpha-related products in pension fund management - whether in the form of active management in traditional asset classes or other products such as absolute return funds, or hedge funds. ...

Strategy Selection: Deutsche loses e496m Welsh council contract.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... The Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council Superannuation Fund in the UK has put a GBP330m (e496m) balanced equity mandate out to tender due to dissatisfaction with the performance of the current holder of the brief , Deutsche Asset...

Strategy Selection: Benchmark.
August 1, 2004... Djuro Rnic writes: The FT Mandate Benchmark Online database is a unique, fully searchable database listing the latest mandate wins and losses in the asset management, custody and related third-party services in Europe, the Americas and the...

Strategy Selection: Dream Team - AlpInvest reaches summit.
August 1, 2004... AlpInvest Partners jumped to the top of the premier league of private equity business winners in Europe when it was awarded E6bn in mandates from major Dutch pension funds ABP and PGGM at the start of February. This took its total assets under...

Strategy Selection: Portable Alpha - Globetrotting for higher returns.(Portable Alpha)
August 1, 2004... The three-year bear market in equities focused pension fund minds on the need for benchmarks that closely match the liabilities of their schemes. The days of presuming that equities will produce strong positive returns over the long term have...

Sponsored Feature: Portable Alpha - Extending the fixed income frontier.(Portfolio management)
August 1, 2004... One way to achieve potentially higher returns, without impacting overall portfolio risk, is to significantly increase active fixed income risk - an approach known as "active alpha fixed income investing". By thoughtfully combining three...

Performance: Overview - Ode to a maverick European fund.(Odey Asset Management)(Company Profile)
August 1, 2004... Started in 1991 by Barings refugee Crispin Odey, Odey Asset Management has always had a disdain for benchmarks. As a primarily absolute-return oriented hedge fund house, it has been able to bring some of the risk disciplines and alternative...

Support Services: Market Developments - US Teachers plan awards $1bn middle and back-office brief to Mellon GSS.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Mellon Global Securities Services (GSS) has picked up an outsourcing and custody deal with a new branch of the US Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association College Retirement Equities Fund (TIAA-CREF). Following restructuring at the firm,...

Support Services: Market Developments - Investors Bank & Trust assets jump 34 per cent.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... Investors Bank & Trust has seen its assets processed for clients climb 34 per cent in the past year after a string of business wins. The firm announced it had added Matlin Patterson, Marathon Asset Management and Manning & Napier to its...

Support Services: Market Developments - JPM buys hedge fund firm.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... JPMorgan Treasury & Securities Services has acquired a hedge fund administration company in a bid to boost its presence in the alternative investment market. Tranaut Fund Administration, a privately- owned hedge fund administrator, will...

Support Services: Market Developments - BNP Paribas breaks into Austrian custody.(Brief Article)
August 1, 2004... BNP Paribas Securities Services is branching out into the Austrian custody market following the launch of its clearing and settlement business in the region. The custodian has established a direct link to the Austrian central securities...

Support Services: Market Developments - ATP opts for FundSettle.
August 1, 2004... Denmark's largest pension scheme administrator, ATP, has selected Euroclear's FundSettle platform to process all its pan-European fund transactions. ATP will use Euroclear for all its non-Danish fund processing as part of Folkeboersen, its...

Support Services: Trading Costs - Cross-border disharmony.
August 1, 2004... A single, unified pan-European clearing and settlement system for mutual funds would make matters much simpler for transfer agents (TAs) and distributors of investment products. But any attempts to instigate greater cooperation have been...

Support Services: Technology - Keeping the back office in-house.
August 1, 2004... The bear market and economic downturn that caused a sharp decline in fund managers' revenues and profitability has, in spite of a fitful recovery, bred an enduring cost-consciousness in the investment industry. Exacerbating the downward...

Support Services: Performance Measurement - Being part of the big GIPS conversation.(Global Investment Performance Standards)
August 1, 2004... Desperate to avoid stifling legislation, investment managers are firm believers in voluntary compliance and self-regulation. Among the numerous best practice guidelines and voluntary codes, the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS)...

Special Report: Transition Management - Introduction - New players flock to a growth sector.
August 1, 2004... At the beginning of this year, a transition management brief was up for grabs worth GBP30bn (e45bn) after Abbey National Asset Management outsourced most of its active funds under management. The brief reminded the industry how lucrative...

Special Report: Transition Management - smoothish runnings.
August 1, 2004... They might be circumspect in refusing to say business is great, but transition managers have had a healthy few years and the past 12 months have not been too shabby either. For the US market, last year's mutual fund scandal, dragged to the...

Special Report: Transition Management - Distinguishing features.
August 1, 2004... The floodgates are open, flung wide by an avalanche of newly arrived transition managers descending on the marketplace in all different forms and guises. Suddenly, it seems that every type of financial institution that has anything to do with...

Special Report: Transition Management - avoiding the raw risk of expensive delays.
August 1, 2004... Transition management should address much more than the simple execution of a portfolio list. In today's marketplace, technology and quantitative risk methodologies are imperative. They are also ubiquitous. Order management systems and...