Financial Times Mandate articles from February 2009

Financial Times Mandate archives from February 2009

Analysis: Market analysis - Europe.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Justin Thomson European small and mid-cap equities look very attractive at their current levels. The panic selling that gripped the market towards the end of last year has dissipated, and we are now beginning to see investors...

In brief.
February 1, 2009... A one-page paper from UBS Global Asset Management has urged investors to avoid holding large amounts of cash during a difficult investment and economic environment. The reasoning was that investors would miss out on a recovery and fail to take...

Analysis: Pass-throughs able to cushion downgrades.
February 1, 2009... Byline: nat mankelow The covered bond market could be heading for a reversal in fortunes following a series of deals where the bond rating is less dependent from the issuer's. These deals use a 'pass-through feature' which removes the...

Analysis: Market analysis - North America.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Daniel C. Peirce Amid a deep economic downturn, the January inauguration of Barack Obama brought Americans a welcome interlude of celebration. With employment conditions and retirement plans eroding together, however, renewed...

Analysis: Funds seek separate accounts.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Henry Smith Funds of hedge funds are increasingly asking the managers of the underlying strategies they invest in to set up separately managed accounts for them. The aim is to gain complete control over their clients' assets...

Analysis: Market analysis - South America.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Marcelo Assalin After a few years of above-trend economic growth, a virtuous cycle fuelled by unprecedentedly high levels of commodity prices, Latin American countries have seen their economic prospects worsen dramatically over the...

Analysis: Madoff scandal asks industry awkward questions.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Martin Steward Some investors in the Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Bernard Madoff Investment Securities, the broker-dealer founded by the ex-Nasdaq chairman, knew that he was cheating and that's why they invested. That is the...

Analysis: Market analysis - Asia Pacific.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Yang Liu Chinese markets rebounded towards the end of 2008 in response to the massive stimulus package announced by the Chinese government in November. The package comprised a series of measures designed to reboot the economy,...

Comment: Leader - Investors unlikely to dive back in.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Henry Smith, Editor W hat will it take to entice investors back into the equity markets en masse? Gripped by fear and uncertainty and nursing huge stock portfolio losses, they have fled to the safety of cash, bullion and government...

Comment: Soapbox - Changing for the better.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Alex Balfour T he fund of hedge funds industry has received a great deal of negative press coverage of late. The best way to judge the funds of hedge funds industry as a whole is to look at other industries for parallels. In...

Comment: The Consulting Room - The case for continued diversity.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Lloyd Raynor Over many years trustees have been advised to diversify their growth assets to make their portfolios more resilient to falls in equities. Given recent market declines across a number of asset classes as well as...

Interviews: The Chief - Going global.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Henry Smith It is just over a year since the asset management operation of Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA) was restructured into three business lines - traditional (long-only equity, fixed income), hedge funds and private...

Interviews: FTM interview - Keeping an eye on the future.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Henry Smith T hat many asset managers think 2009 will be a challenging year for them is hardly surprising. To hear one say that this promises to be an "exciting" year is more unexpected. Yet, "exciting" is how Leen Meijaard,...

Features: Time to turn to credit.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Nat Mankelow With the spread between gilts and US treasuries and investment grade corporate bonds at a record high, and the uncertainty in the equity markets failing to subside, the appetite for holding riskier credit investments...

Cover story: Liability-driven investment - Are LDI strategies here to stay?
February 1, 2009... Byline: Henry Smith Given the staggering losses suffered by pension funds as a result of falling markets, could 2009 bring a surge in demand for liability-driven investment (LDI) strategies? According to consultants Watson Wyatt,...

Strategies: Convertible bonds - An improving outlook after the perfect storm.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Martin Steward "Perfect storm" is an over-used metaphor, but few would argue with its application to convertible bond markets last September and October. A year ago the weather looked so balmy: 2007 had been great for issuance and...

Strategies: Hedge funds - Preserving capital in turbulent markets.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Martin Steward It was easy enough to make money in hedge funds through 2008 - if you picked the right short sellers, global macro managers or CTAs you could have doubled your assets but, perversely, things were tougher for those...

Strategies: Flow derivatives - Investors flock to safety and simplicity.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Christine Senior The last few months have been some of the most volatile times ever experienced in world markets. Massive swings in daily share prices have reached levels never previously seen in the lifetimes of today's market...

ETF platform allocation: Inflows set to continue.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Nat mankelow The boom in exchange-traded funds witnessed in the past 12 months is expected to continue well into 2009, according to leading market makers, with inflows from retail investors set to rise following a recent regulatory...

Funds performance: Cautious balanced - Absolute prudence.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Martin steward "For the moment the portfolio is mostly boringly safe," says Roland Lescure, Groupama Asset Management's chief investment officer, of the Gan Prudence Fund. But it just happens to be our top-performing cautious...

Strategies: Foreign exchange - FX volatility switches focus to managing risk.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Rekha Menon As a consequence of the credit crisis that has created widespread havoc in the financial industry globally, forex markets have witnessed unprecedented levels of volatility over the past year. It is estimated that...

Technology: Trading venues - The ongoing search for liquidity.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Ceri Jones Multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) have made inroads into European equities trading and are likely to drive down pricing, and threaten the data revenues of the main bourses. Four MTFs are now operational in...

Technology: Exchange traded funds - Fund Administrator's Diary - Striking the right note.
February 1, 2009... First conceived in the US in the early 90s, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have attracted much attention of late. The number of ETFs listed on international stock markets has risen over the past years and this proliferation has been accompanied...

Technology: Fund administration - Falling asset values prompt restructuring.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Kalpana Fitzpatrick Like many financial institutions, fund administrators in Europe have not escaped the economic downturn. Fund administration centres in Ireland, Luxembourg and the Channel Islands have been particularly...

Analysis: CAAM-SGAM merger the 'logical' step.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Nat Mankelow Low cost index products, better solutions for clients managing escalating pension liabilities, and a potential IPO, are all on the wish-list for the merged asset management businesses of Credit Agricole (CAAM) and...

Analysis: Iceland seeks new sources of finance.
February 1, 2009... Byline: Spencer Anderson Iceland is looking to private equity to help resuscitate its beleaguered domestic companies. Two new ventures are underway, one from the country's pension funds, and the other from financial services firm Audur...