Financial Times Mandate articles from July 2005

Financial Times Mandate archives from July 2005

From the Editor: Bounce back to business as usual.(London terrorist bombings, 2005, and their economic effects)(Editorial)
July 1, 2005... Only ten minutes after the announcement that London will be holding the 2012 Olympic Games, press releases regarding the economic impact on the city and those stocks that could perform better as a result were sent to every editor's inbox across...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Aberdeen's 'quantum leap' earns Deutsche client base.(Aberdeen Asset Management; Deutsche Bank)
July 1, 2005... Aberdeen Asset Management is likely to keep most of Deutsche Bank's institutional clients in the UK once its acquisition deal is completed. The agreement between the two firms involves Aberdeen buying Deutsche's institutional equity, fixed...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - CSAM sings praises of open architecture.(Credit Suisse Asset Management)
July 1, 2005... Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) has laid out its vision for the future of fund markets across Europe. Speaking in his keynote address to the Fund Forum conference in Monte Carlo, CSAM's vice-chairman Bob Parker described a shift away from...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Asia to see pension assets swell.
July 1, 2005... Pension assets under management in the Asian-Pacific region could grow from current the E1,100bn to E2,900bn in 2015, according to a recent study by Allianz Global Investors (AGI). As governments in the region push pensions reforms, the...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Back offices stressed by hedge funds.
July 1, 2005... They have been called "locusts" by a leading German politician. Their regulation has even been on the agenda for the G8 summit in Edinburgh, as if our political leaders did not have more important issues to discuss. To some people, hedge funds...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Outsource collapse to cost JPMorgan GBP20m.
July 1, 2005... JPMorgan Chase's decision to call time prematurely on its collaboration with Schroders over development of a new operating platform to support Schroders' UK investment operations, provides fresh evidence that outsourcing may not offer the...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - CME creates Asian telecom hub.(Chicago Mercantile Exchange)
July 1, 2005... Further growth in the importance of the Asia-Pacific region as a destination for investments has led to increased activity in the area from stock exchanges and trading platforms. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME), the largest US futures...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Nine more sign up to Euronext as French govt offers tax breaks.(Brief Article)
July 1, 2005... The French finance ministry's decision to announce new tax breaks for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) opting to list on Alternext, the fledgling market of pan-European stock exchange operator Euronext, has been designed to provide more...

Comment: The Bender Agenda - A time for inner calm.(asset management)
July 1, 2005... The summer of 2005 has been full of financial stories, which will have a lasting impact on the way investments are managed. A series of mergers and acquisitions has straddled the annual Fund Forum event held in Monte Carlo, where structural...

Asset Allocation: The Chief - HSBC set to build on its Asian roots.(HSBC Investments)
July 1, 2005... With markets operating in a low nominal return mode, trying to outperform benchmarks doesn't seem to be the most attractive strategy for investors seeking absolute returns. According to Ayaz Ebrahim, chief investment officer of Asian-Pacific...

Asset Allocation: FTM Interview - Luis Pena Kaiser - Reputation is everything.(Interview)
July 1, 2005... In the last few years there have been two developments in the Spanish pensions industry, which many believed would drive real growth in the sector. First came the legal requirement for companies with pension assets in their balance sheets to...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Europe - Voter revolt must spur priority shift.
July 1, 2005... The resounding "non" that the French gave to the European constitution was the latest evidence of a pan-European revolt against established politicians. It was symptomatic of a growing desire by voters in those countries that founded the...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - North America - Impact of Asia is positive for west.
July 1, 2005... The two most important global trends of the last two years have been the rise in oil prices and the continued decline in long-term interest rates. One could argue that both of these developments are indicative of a negative global economic...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - South America - Investors nervous as elections loom.
July 1, 2005... The history of foreign investment in Latin America is strewn with examples of political crises leading to economic turmoil, devaluation, and debt default. Over the last 20 years a dramatic political transformation has occurred as democracy has...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Asia Pacific - Japan to maintain treasuries deal.
July 1, 2005... Faced with a demographic problem, fiscal policy tightening and an inability to reflate the economy, the outlook for Japanese government bonds over the next three to five years looks cautiously optimistic as global low real interest rates seem...

Asset Allocation: Portfolio Flows - Speculators favour oil futures.
July 1, 2005... There seems to be little sign of any weakening in the desire of speculative accounts to hold long dollar positions, despite the extremity of their positions (they recently reaching fresh record highs according to CFTC Commitments of Traders...

Asset Allocation: Dutch Pension Schemes - Dutch legislation shake-up.(financieel toetsingskader)
July 1, 2005... Financieel Toetsingskader (FTK), the legislation due to come into force at the start of next year, will force Dutch pension funds to focus on their liabilities, with inevitable consequences for asset allocation. Under the new rules, funds...

Strategy Selection: The Consulting Room - US plans hit by hidden losses.(pensions plan liabilities)
July 1, 2005... US pension plan liabilities rose last year, despite investment returns hitting double digits in 2004 for the second consecutive year following the 2000-2002 market downturn. A survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting of the retirement...

Strategy Selection: Sub-advisory Uncovered - France is the new promised land.
July 1, 2005... "Outsourcing asset classes to external sub-advisors is a sign of weakness." This is quite a bold statement, yet one which often dominates the mindset of some Continental European circles. Research conducted by l'Agefi, in association with...

Performance Overview: Legg Mason thrashes S&P 500.
July 1, 2005... Legg Mason's Value Fund, a $2.7bn Dublin-domiciled open-ended fund, is co- managed by Mary Chris Gay. The fund mirrors the US-domiciled Value Trust managed by Bill Miller, CEO and CIO of Legg Mason Capital Management, who has been with the...

Technology: Trading Platforms - How to get out of a FIX.
July 1, 2005... Buy-side asset managers in the fixed income market have benefited from the growth in electronic trading platforms. They provide both transparency and liquidity but this is only part of delivering straight through processing (STP) for asset...

Technology: Outsourcing - Link service with savings.(Schroders to get GBP20 mil from JP Morgan)
July 1, 2005... As if to destroy a few more cogs in the troubled outsourcing machine, Schroders is to receive GBP20m (E29m) from JP Morgan after the two announced their five-year custody and fund accounting outsourcing project was over. The word failure was...

Technology: Transaction Processing - The cart before the horse.(London Stock Exchange report)
July 1, 2005... In September, and precisely five years after the iX merger between the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and Deutsche Boerse (DBAG) was canned, the UK Competition Commission's final report into the anticipated acquisition of the LSE by pan-European...

Technology: Transaction Processing - Breaking down the barriers.
July 1, 2005... The transformations that have occurred and continue to mould the clearing and settlement industry are far from complete, nor are they fully defined. This business is currently in the limelight as market professionals have come to realise that...

Technology: Transaction Processing - Facing settlement risk.
July 1, 2005... The European investment fund industry may well be smiling again now after recovering from the slump following 9/11. Assets under management are rising nicely and generally demographics are pointing the way to a good future. But hidden below the...

Technology: Trading and Exchanges - Striving for Nordic harmony.
July 1, 2005... The pace of infrastructural consolidation and the development of technology- led trading tools in the Nordic region has been relatively fast-paced when compared to a number of other European countries. NOREX was the first stock exchange...

Support Services: Cash Management - A perfect time to cash in.
July 1, 2005... One could be forgiven for thinking that in the current low-interest rate environment, cash management and treasury solutions would be way down the list of considerations for institutional investors. In truth, both pressures on technology and...

Sponsored Report: Transition Management - Cutting costs and gaining an edge.
July 1, 2005... There are many events that drive institutional investors, such as pension funds, to change their investment managers or investment portfolio structures. The three most common ones are: - Asset allocation change where there is a re-aligning...

Sponsored Report: Transition Management - Getting the measure of your manager.
July 1, 2005... Performance measurement and transaction cost analysis can often be confused when assessing the qualities of a transition. Performance measurement is used to measure fund returns over a period, usually relative to a benchmark. The...

Sponsored Report: Transition Management - Not a time for the faint hearted.
July 1, 2005... The remarkable increase in the numbers of transition management service providers continues unabated. This proliferation has served to ensure that the margin pressure, first introduced by the more aggressive of the investment banks around 2001...