Financial Times Mandate articles from October 2006

Financial Times Mandate archives from October 2006

From the editor: Expecting too much from hedge funds.(Editorial)
October 1, 2006... Byline: Henry Smith The massive losses suffered by Amaranth Advisors, coupled with the remarkable fall from grace of Vega Asset Management, has forced investors to focus hard on the risks associated with hedge fund investment. The...

News & Analysis: Institutions neglecting risk tests in hedge fund moves.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Henry Smith Institutional investors pay less attention than family offices to the risk profiles of hedge funds they are looking to invest in, according to Neil Heywood, sales director at hedge fund managers, Armajaro Asset...

News & Analysis: European firms need to put in graft on STP.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Paula Garrido European financial institutions have to work much harder to implement straight-through processing (STP) initiatives in their back and middle offices, according to a survey released during the 2006 Sibos conference...

News & Analysis: Premiums are putting off pension buy-outs.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Roger Aitken The premiums being charged by insurance companies to take on the liabilities of corporate pension schemes which have closed to new members are "excessive" and may stifle buy-out activity, an investment consultant has...

Asset Allocation: FTM Interview - Ted Sotir - Goldman Sachs making bids to win the beta bets.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Henry Smith As institutional investors have come to realise that the biggest bet in their portfolio is the beta bet, at some point they are going to consider their beta and alpha exposures in isolation, according to Ted Sotir, head...

Asset Allocation: The Chief - Extending the hand of friendship.(Company overview)
October 1, 2006... Byline: Paula Garrido Despite having around $540bn (e484.4bn) under management, AIG Global Investment Group (AIGGIG) is rarely mentioned among the world's largest asset management houses. This lack of recognition has much to do with the...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Europe - Untangling a web of misconceptions.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Dominic Wallington Investing in Europe in the last two years has been a question of ignoring the popular Anglo Saxon cant on the region. The general market level suggests acceptable returns, the 2007 price/earnings ratio forecast...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - North America - Holding your breath for a 'soft landing'.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Christopher Probyn The US economy is currently shifting gears, making the short-term outlook particularly uncertain. After a robust expansion that lowered the unemployment rate steadily over the last three years, growth is poised...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - South America - Mettle tested but all remains calm.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Katy Dobson This summer, no equity region has tested the mettle of investors as sorely as Latin America. But while stock prices have fluctuated wildly in reaction to news on global economic growth, US interest rates and commodity...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Asia Pacific - All eyes on major player's tightening.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Stephen Dowds Forecasts for economic growth in Asia have been under scrutiny in the recent past as investors consider the impact of both domestic tightening measures undertaken in two of the larger economies, namely China and...

Asset Allocation: Portfolio Flows - Global pessimism buoys dollar.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Neil Mellor Despite a host of rational reasons for expecting a sustained sell-off in the dollar over the past six months (including a record trade deficit, surprisingly weak capital inflows into the US being recorded by the US...

Strategy Selection: The Consulting Room - It's a marathon, not a sprint.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Cohn Fund managers now have a rich set of algorithmic trading capabilities at their disposal and they need to employ them more frequently and in more creative ways to help them reduce transaction costs and increase trade...

Special Report: Exchange Traded Funds - etf market expands in scope and reach.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Paula Garrido The market for exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continues to boom, with new products in new asset classes being listed across different stock exchanges. Since they were first launched in 1993, ETFs have managed to...

Sponsored Report: Exchange Traded Funds - The ever-widening universe of etf users.
October 1, 2006... FTMandate: Having overcome a level of institutional investor scepticism over the last five years, are such investors now important players in the exchange-traded fund (ETF) market? What sort of investor makes up the greatest customer base for...

Special Report: Enhanced Cash - Assets flow to liquidity funds to make cash work.(Interview)
October 1, 2006... Byline: Paula Garrido Increased demand from institutional investors for an alternative to traditional bank deposits has resulted in huge growth in money market or liquidity funds. These vehicles offer investors a flexible and secure...

Sponsored Report: Enhanced Cash - Attractive alternative to short-term deposits.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Judith Benson Over the past 10 years, treasurers and other cash investors have come to accept AAAm rated liquidity funds as an attractive alternative to short-term deposits. These funds offer investors the benefits of security,...

Sponsored Report: Enhanced Cash - Knowing the risks before jumping in.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Curry Most enhanced cash funds differ from traditional AAA rated liquidity funds in a number of ways. They may take more interest rate risk by managing the portfolio with a longer duration, they may take greater credit...

Sponsored Report: Foreign Exchange - Growth slows, but fx interest continues.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Tim Cooper Last year, global foreign exchange trading volumes failed to maintain their impressive growth of 25 per cent from 2004. But they still rose a titillating 14 per cent in 2005, according to a survey by Greenwich...

Sponsored Report: Foreign Exchange - Regulation driving demand for e-trading.
October 1, 2006... FT Mandate: Why are so many asset managers turning to electronic trading? Neill Penney: We see three main drivers - efficiency, best execution and, most recently, compliance with regulations such as Sarbanes Oxley. Since it was introduced...

Market Barometer: Investors not so big on Japan.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Elizabeth Cripps The future doesn't look so bright for Japanese equities, according to leading European and US fund managers. Natexis Asset Square's latest World Multimanagement Indicator confirms a downturn in optimism on Japan,...

Advertising Feature: Funds of hedge funds: the less risky option.
October 1, 2006... Funds of hedge funds (FoHFs) have been criticised for the extra layer of fees they tack on and it is argued that multi-strategy hedge funds can replicate diversification. However, the best multi-strategy hedge funds are generally concentrated...

Special Report: Germany - German CTAs open a world of opportunities.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Elizabeth Cripps Contractual trust arrangements (CTAs) are transforming the German institutional arena, as they open up a whole new investment world to corporate pension funds. With regulatory scrutiny lifted, and responsibility...

Advertising Feature: Moving into a german market ripe for the picking.
October 1, 2006... Germany is a land of opportunity as far as asset managers are concerned. This belief is behind ING's decision to focus on Germany with the opening of a new office in Frankfurt, both to service existing German clients previously serviced out of...

Technology: Trading and Exchange Platforms - Reaching the billion quote mark.(Eurex- Andreas Preuss )
October 1, 2006... Byline: Roger Aitken Since rejoining Eurex this April as chief executive, Andreas Preuss has spent the last few months busily analysing the impact of recent trends in the derivatives industry and how this futures and options exchange can...

Technology: Fix Protocol - Unsung technology heroes calling for new members.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Roger Aitken In issuing a pre-close period update in September extolling the recent tremendous growth in the value of Sets bargains (up 47 per cent to GBP624bn in 2006 over 2005), the London Stock Exchange (LSE) said that this...

Technology: Data Management - How to deal with the data explosion.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Roger Aitken In grappling with the data explosion currently afflicting financial markets, speed sustainability and artificial intelligence are all increasingly critical factors, but their impacts will not be as smooth as...

Support Services: Fund Administration - Capitalising on FTK demands.
October 1, 2006... Byline: Henry Smith A wave of investment administration outsourcing is anticipated in the Netherlands before and after the introduction of new accounting regulations in 2007. According to Albert Roell, chairman of Kas Bank in...