Financial Times Mandate articles from November 2005

Financial Times Mandate archives from November 2005

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Big bank dominance could force China mutual fund consolidation.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Henry Smith The Chinese mutual fund market is expected to undergo a manager shake-out as large state banks seek to dominate the business by exploiting their wide distribution networks. Consolidation in an industry which...

News & Analysis: Trading and Exchanges - Lead 400 words plus pic.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Roger Aitken The growth benefits of an effective pan-European platform for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are estimated at up to 0.6 per cent of the EU's GDP (or, as much as E56.63bn), an independent study by Oxford...

News & Analysis: Trading and Exchanges - Downlead - 375 words with two deck headline in here then.
November 1, 2005... The growth benefits of an effective pan-European platform for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are estimated at up to 0.6 per cent of the EU's GDP (or, as much as E56.63bn), an independent study by Oxford Analytica has claimed. Up...

News & Analysis: Trading and Exchanges - Sidebar story around 180 to 200 words.
November 1, 2005... Developments are likely to be shaped largely by the London Stock Exchange's (LSE) Alternative Investment Market (AIM), with the market segment being "structurally well positioned" to take on the mantle of a European growth capital market. A key...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products and Mandates - Survey reveals lack of tech budgeting for MiFID demands.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Roger Aitken Despite understanding of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive having risen in 2005, over 50 per cent of investment firms still have not started budgeting for MiFID technology projects in 2006, a survey...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products and Mandates - Structured Products.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Roger Aitken Growing numbers of institutional investors in North America are using listed and highly liquid equity derivatives for hedging and investing purposes as an alternative to cash equities and to minimise equity trading...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products and Mandates - US pensions gap increase looms.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Roger Aitken The overall pensions deficit among 80 major companies within the Fortune 100 in the US is projected to rise 65 per cent by year-end unless market conditions improve and/or company contributions are increased by a...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products and Mandates - F&C appointment tackles SRI issues head on.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Roger Aitken The choice of F&C Asset Management by Dutch insurance and pensions provider, Achmea to run E1.5bn of its assets in a responsible engagement overlay programme has been hailed as a further endorsement that implementing...

Strategy Selection: The Consulting Room - WH Smith makes right call.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Tony Osborn-Barker UK retailer Boots' pension fund's switch to bonds from a traditional equity driven asset allocation won many plaudits, if only for impeccable timing. While the equally strong financial economics arguments put...

Asset Allocation: Portfolio Flows - Hurricane fears blow over.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Neil Mellor In offering little suggestion of any impending shift in the strategy that it has employed hitherto, the Federal Reserve has conveyed a sense of resolution amidst a prevalence of lingering uncertainty over the outlook...

Asset Allocation: FTM Interview - Renaud de Planta - Going against the grain.(Company overview)
November 1, 2005... Byline: Yuri Bender Renaud de Planta, the partner at Swiss private bank Pictet & Cie responsible for asset management activities, looks out from his vantage point on the banks of Lake Geneva and smiles every time he hears about a new...

Asset Allocation: Preparing for all change at the Fed.(Putnam Investments Inc.)(Ben Bernanke will be appointed as chairman of the US Federal Reserve)
November 1, 2005... Byline: Paula Garrido After months of speculation, President Bush's administration finally announced that Ben Bernanke would takeover as chairman of the US Federal Reserve once Alan Greenspan retires in January. Market participants...

Asset Allocation: Scheme Spotlight - Produce the goods within new Sainsbury's system.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Henry Smith A failure to replace bad managers quickly enough is blamed for the unsatisfactory performance suffered by the GBP3.1bn pension scheme of UK supermarket chain J. Sainsbury over the last three years. Describing...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Europe - German firms grasp nettle by 'self-help'.
November 1, 2005... Byline: William Davies The recent fears of rising inflation due to high/rising energy prices and perhaps fears of stagflation have resulted in negative returns in equity markets over the last few weeks. However, core inflation has...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - North America - Equity bid saves abysmal October.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Daniel C. Peirce After a sunny start, October became rather a dreary month - not just for weather-beaten New Englanders, but also for equity investors worldwide. Volatility measures began climbing, and solid September gains made...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - South America - Politics squanders Latin oil price boom.
November 1, 2005... Byline: John Cleary A resurgent oil price has led to a buoyant Latin American economy, but also added weight to unorthodox economic policies and damaging political rhetoric. Fitch Ratings recently issued a report condemning the...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Asia Pacific - Asia weathering energy impact.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Nick Brooks With oil prices continuing to hover near historic highs there are growing concerns that Asia's nascent manufacturing-led recovery may be derailed. The main way Asia is affected by high oil prices is by the impact...

Asset Allocation: US federal reserve - Experts expect volatility rise during Fed head switch.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Paula Garrido In October, and after months of speculation regarding the future leadership of the US Federal Reserve, President Bush finally announced the name of the person who will replace Alan Greenspan when he retires early next...

Special Report: Equity Derivatives - The revolution feeding equity risk appetite.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Gerry O'Kane It is always bad for business, any business, when the company's chief executive is marched off to the police station. It gets worse when the share price falls 74 per cent in four days and rumours confirm that clients...

Sponsored Report Equity Derivatives: Hybrid: the new buzz word.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Guillaume Picot The hybrid domain has seen a spike of interest from a broad spectrum of the investment community: from retail clients eager to venture out of a pure equities/bonds portfolio or private banking clients and...

Strategy Selection: Sub-advisory Uncovered - The three pillars of sub- advisory.
November 1, 2005... Where once taking the route of sub-advisory was regarded as an admission of failure, for private banks and fund management houses, today it is seen as a sign of strength. Forward thinking, consumer focused organisations have realised that to...

Strategy Selection: Benchmark.
November 1, 2005... 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: Credit Default Swaps - Flexibility, but with a volatile edge.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Christine Senior Credit default swaps (CDS) are powering ahead as the instrument of choice for a wide variety of credit investors. The International Swaps and Derivatives Association reports the notional amount of credit...

Sponsored Report: Algorithmic Trading - Learning to use the technology tool.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Dr Tom Middleton Algorithmic trading has used up many column inches and conference minutes in 2005, and this level of publicity looks set to continue in 2006 as take up increases and available products evolve. The majority of...

Sponsored Report: Credit Default Swaps - Credit default swap indices for the buy-side.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Christoph Stubbe In recent years, the CDS market has experienced exponential growth. It was therefore not particularly surprising when market participants were confronted with settlement issues requiring their immediate attention....

Sponsored Report: Credit Default Swaps - Relief for the cds market's growing pains.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Richard M. McVey The global credit markets will most likely look back on 2005 as a landmark year, and not just because it witnessed the beginning of the end of the Greenspan era, or because of the headlines chronicling the passing...

Strategy Selection: Fixed Income - The less volatile option.
November 1, 2005... FTMandate: What is a senior debt investment strategy and what impact is it designed to have on a fixed income portfolio? Jeff Bakalar: Senior loans are large corporate loans made to non-investment grade companies. We invest in the same...

Strategy Selection: FX Focus - Allocation to turn B to A.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Daniel Szor As alternative investment managers continue their never-ending search for alpha, it is clear that for most the priority is in generating the smoothest returns possible with the lowest possible volatility. In the...

Technology: Stock Exchanges - SME battle commences.
November 1, 2005... As most analysts and casual observers assumed that Europe's patchwork quilt of national stock exchanges and alliances seemed to be on the brink of further industry consolidation, a battle appears to be brewing among Europe's top bourses over...

Technology: Straight-through Processing - Creating customisation.(Company overview)
November 1, 2005... Byline: Roger Aitken With securities industry players grappling with efforts to reduce operational costs, cut down on trade errors and speed up execution, a report by Celent forecasting that brokers-dealers will spend a staggering $3.3bn...

Technology: Straight-through Processing - Finding the root of the problem.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Gary Wright Recent surveys have estimated the total cost for the securities industry to achieve straight-through processing (STP) to be billions of dollars. Can this investment be substantiated? The starting point to resolving...

Performance Overview: Genesis creation tops tables.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Paula Garrido According to data from Standard&Poor's, the Genesis Emerging Markets Investment Company fund, was top performer over one and three years within the global emerging markets equities category. Launched in 1994,...

Sponsored Feature: Global Fund Administration - Establishing the right outsourcing model.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Rob Wright There is no question that the asset manager outsourcing model has matured significantly over the past couple of years, with outsourcing arrangements now an established part of the fund management landscape in the UK and...

Sponsored Article: Letter from Europe - France makes giant leap to alternatives.
November 1, 2005... Byline: Vincent Beaujeu-Dumontel European hedge fund management used to be almost exclusively the preserve of Swiss and UK fund managers. However, in recent years, their dominance has become less pronounced. New alternative investment...