Financial Times Mandate articles from May 2006

Financial Times Mandate archives from May 2006

From the Editor: A passive reaction to new products.(Editorial)
May 1, 2006... A recent survey of 50 fund managers by consultants, Hymans Robertson, shows that institutional investor demand for passively- managed mandates increased last year. Should we be surprised? Not if we consider this in the context of the...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Fees fracas puts pensions off hedge fund approach.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Paula Garrido Despite the hype surrounding the use of hedge fund as alpha generation tools, some of the largest institutional investors are still reluctant to make significant allocations to the asset class. Speaking at the...

News & Analysis: People and Industry - Atlantis chief dies in 'boating accident'.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Yuri Bender Peter Irving, the highly individual founder and chief executive of successful Asian investment boutique, Atlantis, has died, aged 49, in a "boating accident", in the Solent, off the Southern Coast of the UK. An Atlantis...

News & Analysis: Investors must not pay through the nose for beta.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Paula Garrido Institutional investors searching for alpha are faced not only with the challenge of choosing the right strategy, but also with the task of identifying the managers who really can deliver. As alpha comes at a premium,...

Asset Allocation: FTM Interview - Keith Skeoch - The invisible heroes of the big equity sell off go global.
May 1, 2006... When it comes to career highlights, it's not difficult for Keith Skeoch, CEO at Standard Life Investments, to name his proudest moment. In 2004, when he was the group's chief investment officer, his team stealthily sold off equities worth...

Asset Allocation: The Chief - Ixis looks to play away from home.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Henry Smith If a planned merger between the investment banking and asset management divisions of France's Caisse d'Epargne group and the Banque Populaire mutual group goes ahead, it will create one of Europe's largest fund...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Europe - Red tape pushes up unemployment.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Gareth Isaac The European economy has emerged from a lacklustre period and recent data suggests that the region's economy is booming. But one of the longer term barriers to growth in Europe remains structural economic...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - North America - Waiting with dread for property to fall.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Scott Mather The US outlook is all about the property market, which has been the wind beneath consumers' wings this decade. Housing price wealth effects and mortgage equity withdrawal have allowed the US consumer to go on an...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - South America - The key drivers for long-term growth.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Jules Mort The stellar outperformance of Latin America continues. In the three years to the end of March, the region has delivered a local currency gain of 232 per cent - which is around twice that of most leading markets. But can...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Asia Pacific - Taking the shine off Asian equities.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Greg Kuhnert It is difficult to be negative about Asian equities this year in the face of current conditions. The global economy is growing at a steady clip, while economists continue to enthusiastically revise up growth estimates....

Asset Allocation: Portfolio Flows - G7 increases pressure on China.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Neil Mellor It seems quite ironic that members of the G7 recently called for "greater exchange rate flexibility . in emerging economies with large current account surpluses" given some of the moves seen in Asian currencies since...

Asset Allocation: The Consulting Room - A time to turn to alternatives.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Robert Brown Over the last few years, talk has turned to action as pension funds around the world move into alternative assets and strategies in ever growing numbers. In 2004, global pension funds committed nearly $30bn...

Strategy Selection: Absolute Return Strategies - Transparency brings absolute return clients back to reality.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Paula Garrido Traditionally, benchmarks have been the best tool for monitoring the health of investment portfolios. However, disappointing market performance at the beginning of the decade has resulted in increased interest in...

Strategy Selection: Covered Bonds - New lease of life for old hand as covered bonds explode.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Ceri Jones Covered bonds have provided cheap and simple funding for 200 years, but enormous investor appetite for yield and long bond duration has fuelled exponential demand in the last five years, nudging the market past E1700bn....

Strategy Selection: Benchmark.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Djuro Rnic 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...

Special Report: Investment Banking Series - Liability-driven investment - Banks come knocking on trustees' doors.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Gerry O'Kane We are all familiar with the painful predicament pension funds find themselves in. Haunted by underperforming assets, bleeding deficits and becoming ever-more wrapped in regulatory bandages, trustees and pension fund...

Special Report: Kazakhstan - Stalled reforms mar optimism.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Christopher Pala Inexorably rising oil revenues and a leadership committed to a market economy have put Kazakhstan on an upward course that is expected to continue well beyond the next decade, when the volume of oil and gas exports...

Special Report: Kazakhstan - Best laid plans.
May 1, 2006... FTMandate: How is the economy performing? Kairat Kekimbetov: Very well. We were planning to double the 2000 GDP - that is the year when the economy started growing again - by 2010 and now it looks like we will be two years ahead of...

Special Report: Kazakhstan - Good on assets, short on vision.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Christopher Pala Kazakhstan's banking assets continued to grow in 2005. The 68 per cent rise was slightly less than last year but the outlook is for continued growth. Banking assets have reached 60 per cent of gross domestic...

Advertising Feature: Generating positives from external sources.
May 1, 2006... In 2005, the Kazakhstan economy enjoyed less external liquidity, despite some favourable external statistics, and less profound growth. Overall economic tendencies proved to be contradictory and difficult to assess as some negative trends were...

Special Report: Kazakhstan - Kazakhstan reveals an independent streak.
May 1, 2006... Byline: Christopher Pala When Grigory Marchenko, Kazakhstan's most visible banker, took over Halyk Bank, the country's third largest, in January 2005, he made a convincing case that the bank needed a strategic partner and that it would be...