Financial Times Mandate articles from September 2004

Financial Times Mandate archives from September 2004

From the Editor: CalPERS external overhaul misses chance to beef up in-house team.(California Public Employees' Retirement System)(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... America's largest pension fund, the $166bn (e135bn) California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) is not known for being slow off the blocks when it comes to either asset allocation or shareholder activism. Indeed, CalPERS has...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - CalPERS and ABP favour DIY approach to running assets.(California Public Employees' Retirement System)
September 1, 2004... Pension schemes could save money by managing their assets in-house, according to findings that will come as a blow to external fund managers. The world's largest pension scheme, ABP, runs 85 per cent of assets with internal staff and may...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Multi-manager funds grow 28 per cent.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Multi-managers appear to be cashing in on the decline of the old style balanced mandate, growing their assets under management by an average of 28 per cent last year. SEI Investments has just hit the $100bn (e82bn) mark, up from $75bn last...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Trustees plan allocations despite hedge fund slump.
September 1, 2004... There are signs that the hedge fund honeymoon period could be over, as the flow of money into the products slumped substantially in the past few weeks. Hedge fund performance is also down, with the Hedge Fund Research Composite Index...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Performance Ranking.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Newcomer UK equity specialist Majedie Asset Management is emerging as a darling of investors. Its standard UK equity product has topped performance rankings compiled by Russell/Mellon Caps, bringing in an impressive 30.2 per cent for the 12...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Growing use of ETFs as sector strategy tool.(Exchange traded funds)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are emerging as a handy route to investment by sector. Whereas the products have traditionally been known as vehicles for efficient exposure to global and country markets, the new use for ETFs is becoming...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - RCM selects BNY for multi- country brief.(RCM UK)(Bank of New York)
September 1, 2004... The Bank of New York has scooped the world's first multi-country securities services outsourcing mandate. RCM UK, part of the Allianz Dresdner Asset Management Group, has selected BNY to run the back and middle offices of its $8.75bn (e7bn) in...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Indexers toast specialist rivals.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Indexers are celebrating increased inflows to both their passive and enhanced products thanks to the rise of specialist fund management. The total value of assets in indexed funds shot up by 38 per cent in 2003, according to the latest research...

News & Analysis: Industry & People - Dutch bill under fire for short-term outlook.
September 1, 2004... Dutch pension funds could be forced to adopt a more conservative investment approach if controversial government proposals to reform retirement provision become law. Plans under consideration include permitting employees to cash-in certain...

News & Analysis: Industry & People - Insurance companies provide succour for fund managers.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Pioneer Investments has bagged a $3.6bn (e2.9bn) brief from the Safeco Life Insurance company, in one of many deals indicating that the big money for fund managers is coming increasing from insurers. Pioneer will run 22 mutual funds managed...

News & Analysis: Industry & People - UK trustee system in doubt as NAPF undertakes review.
September 1, 2004... The UK pension fund industry looks set to be subjected to yet another shake- up, under which the trustee system may be scrapped. The powerful National Association of Pension Funds (NAPF) is reviewing both the training of trustees and, in a...

News & Analysis: Industry & People - 'Big fish' trapped in Kas Bank net.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... European securities services firm Kas Bank is boasting a rise in profits on the back of new products and clients. Kas has reported a 7 per cent increase in profits to E8.8m for the first half of 2004. The results are due to new client wins...

News & Analysis: Industry & People - Hiring spree boosts Northern Trust product and sales teams.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Northern Trust Global Investments (NTGI) has poached Helen Macdonell from Hermes for its international active equity team. The move is part of a plan to launch a global active product in the first quarter of 2005, revealed Stephen Dowd, head of...

News & Analysis: Industry & People - Schmedding opens Union's windows to new assets.(Bastian Schmedding)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... "At Allianz, you could tell how well you were doing by the number of windows in your office," said Bastian Schmedding, who has left the Munich insurer's Geneva hedge funds arm to oversee the acquisition of new institutional assets for Union...

News & Analysis: Industry & People - Gartmore's Beazley opts for global CRM approach.(Charles Beazley)(customer relationship management)
September 1, 2004... Gartmore, making leaps and bounds to shake-off its UK-biased brand in favour of a global remit, has taken the surprise step of merging its European bank introduced business with the UK retail offering. This flies in the face of competitors...

News & Analysis: Industry & People - Roberts: active managers should not fear ETFs.(exchange-traded funds)(Mark Roberts)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Having breached the E5bn barrier in European exchange-traded funds (ETFs), Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has also squeezed in front of HVB, its key continental rival in terms of market share. BGI's iShares franchise now runs $92.2bn (E76bn)...

Comment: The Bender Agenda - New kid on the investment block.(Editorial)
September 1, 2004... Passive managers have long competed on price and add-on services rather than performance. This commoditisation has also encroached into the active equity and bond management world. With little to differentiate between competing investment...

Comment: Bottomline - Keeping DeAM's Wolves from the door.(Deutsche Asset Management)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... Paul Manduca, head of Deutsche Bank's asset management activities in Europe, is a big fan of English football club Wolverhampton Wanderers. He even insisted on a special "Wolves" room for his new high-tech German headquarters on Frankfurt's...

Asset Allocation: The Chief - ADAM oils machinery of performance engine.
September 1, 2004... Like most asset managers who boast a strength in growth equities, Allianz Dresdner Asset Management (ADAM) prospered during the remarkable bull run of the late 1990s. Total assets under management rose from E343bn in 1998 to E1126bn in 2001....

Asset Allocation: Scheme Spotlight - Australian fund switches to active strategy.(Public Sector Superannuation and Commonwealth Sector Superannuation )
September 1, 2004... Coming out of the late 1990s, throttles were shoved wide open on equities at Australia's second largest pension provider, the Public Sector Superannuation and Commonwealth Sector Superannuation (PSS/CSS) funds. With the dotcom bubble still to...

Asset Allocation: FTM Interview - Hugo Lasat - Eyes on the bottom line.(Interview)
September 1, 2004... Hugo Lasat is not a man disposed to colourful metaphors or damning indictments of rival fund houses. In an interview with the Belgian dynamo responsible for Dexia Asset Management, the real story comes in the occasional descriptive phrase. ...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Europe - Avoid macro and sector themes.
September 1, 2004... For stock selectors, there has been a welcome return to normality this year, after the roller coaster of 2003 post-March 12. This year, cheap companies with improving prospects and relatively high profitability have performed well. In some...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - North America - Bets on organic growth look good.
September 1, 2004... In the past few years, managers have been trimming fat from balance sheets that were bloated with leverage and unamortised goodwill. In the process, corporations built up huge hoards of cash. Since the bubble burst three years ago, sales have...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - South America - Venezuela risk is not significant.
September 1, 2004... Latin American markets have largely recovered from the temporary dip in April and May, in turn the result of changing expectations of US interest rates. If anything, developed market equities look most vulnerable to further global shocks; and...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Asia Pacific - Consolidation gives valuations an edge.
September 1, 2004... Global markets have been faced with myriad uncertainties in the past few months, including high oil prices, rising interest rates and fresh geopolitical threats. Technology stocks have borne the brunt of the sell-off, caused by a surge in...

Asset Allocation: Portfolio flows - Japan's upturn not a fait accompli.(Japan's economy)
September 1, 2004... After a decade of economic stagnation and frequent false dawns, renewed signs of recovery in Japan unsurprisingly brought with them a flood of foreign investors in 2003. From the spring of last year, inflows of equity capital poured into Japan,...

Asset Allocation: The Panel - CPPIB cuts down reliance on bonds.(Canada Pension Plan Investment Board)
September 1, 2004... The Canada Pension Plan (CPP) Investment Board was set up in 1996 as an independent investment company to invest the funds not needed by the CPP to meet current pension payments. It also invests the proceeds from maturing bonds held by the CPP....

Asset Allocation: The Panel - Equity and property boost Maryland.(Maryland State Retirement and Pension System)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The Maryland State Retirement and Pension System (MSRPS) recently reported a 16.2 per cent return on investments for the 12 months to end-June, which boosted assets during the period by GBP3.5bn to GBP30.1bn. The strong performance was led...

Asset Allocation: Mandate Analysis - Fixed income goliaths.(Morgan Stanley Investment Management)
September 1, 2004... Morgan Stanley Investment Management has gained the top spot in FT Mandate's listing of global fixed income managers, ranked by volume of reported new business won over the past 12 months. Propelling it to pole position was a GBP1bn (E1.5bn)...

Strategy Selection: Manager Survey - pan-European fixed income - Europe's battle of the bonds.
September 1, 2004... Unstable stockmarkets and funding shortfalls coupled with the introduction of new accounting standards, such as FRS17, have concentrated investors' minds on both the alpha-generating and liability-matching potential of fixed income investing....

Strategy Selection: Manager Survey - Axa banks on total return.(Axa Investment Managers)(Company Profile)
September 1, 2004... Axa Investment Managers: E161bn in pan-European fixed income Flagship product: Axa International Obligations Investment process Transparent, five-step process, which combines both top-down and bottom-up approaches, consisting of:...

Strategy Selection: Manager Survey - BGI nails ALM mandate demand.(Barclays Global Investors)(asset and liability management )(Company Profile)
September 1, 2004... Barclays Global Investors: E65bn in pan-European fixed income Flagship product UK All Stocks Corporate Bond Fund Investment process Disciplined, three-step process, which combines top-down and bottom-up approaches: -...

Strategy Selection: Manager Survey - Bottom-up analysis from DeAM.(Deutsche Asset Management)(Company Profile)
September 1, 2004... Deutsche Asset Management: E106bn in pan-European fixed income Flagship product: Pan-European Aggregate Fund, E1.46bn AUM Investment process Security selection in corporate, agency, securitised and government bonds. Bottom-up...

Strategy Selection: Manager Survey - Mazzella leads Morley push.(Morley Fund Management)(Andre Mazzella)(Brief Article)(Company Profile)
September 1, 2004... Morley Fund Management: E73bn in pan-European fixed income Flagship product: Aviva European Corporate Bond Fund Investment process Fundamental research, driven by proprietary quantitative model. This tool brings together a range of...

Strategy Selection: Manager Survey - Pru's valuation toolbox variety.(Prudential M&G)(Company Profile)
September 1, 2004... Prudential M&G: E84bn in pan-European fixed income Flagship product: M&G Corporate Bond Fund Investment process Proprietary fundamental research identifies where market valuations are attractive compared with medium term fair...

Strategy & Selection: The Consulting Room - Setting bond managers free.(equity investors-analysis)
September 1, 2004... The wild swings in equity prices in the past few years have had a dramatic effect on pension fund asset allocation. Because of the heightened awareness of the risk of equity investing, fixed income has assumed a far more important role in...

Strategy Selection: UK agency shifts E432m to specialist structure.(Environment Agency)(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... The Environment Agency in the UK has tendered three mandates worth a total of GBP295m (E432.7m) following a strategic decision to shift the management of its GBP980m Active Pension Fund from a balanced to a specialist structure. Howard...

Strategy Selection: Benchmark.(FT Mandate Benchmark Online database )(Brief Article)
September 1, 2004... 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 Europe, the Americas and the...

Strategy Selection: Dream team - Core beliefs drive GSAM.(Goldman Sachs Asset Management)
September 1, 2004... In the nine years since 1995, Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) has taken its global tactical asset allocation (GTAA) assets under management from nil to more than $38bn (e31bn). The team won $9.7bn, now funded, in the first half of...

Performance Overview: Morgan Stanley takes a chance.
September 1, 2004... It is a European fixed income fund, but not quite as we know it. Morgan Stanley's European Strategic Bond Sicav is outperforming its peers thanks to a slightly more risky investment strategy. The fund has racked up returns of 5.4 per cent...

Special Report: Inflation-linked bonds - Demand for hot tips.(Treasury inflation-protected securities)(Interview)
September 1, 2004... Since launch in 1997, the market for US Treasury inflation-protected securities (Tips) has become a multi-billion dollar business of growing international appeal. The amount of Tips outstanding at the end of August was $223bn (e182bn). Tips now...

Special Report: Inflation-linked bonds - Vital solution to a perilous.
September 1, 2004... The majority of corporate UK final salary pensions are inflation linked, although until recently only a small proportion of these assets were invested in the index-linked market. The overwhelmingly preferred route in the 1980s and 1990s was...

Special Report: Inflation-linked bonds - Domestic versus global.
September 1, 2004... When the inflation-indexed bond markets were first created, the majority of investors held portfolios that contained only domestic inflation-indexed bonds denominated in their own currency and their own inflation. But over the last 10 years or...

Special Report: Inflation-linked bonds - French dressing for 'linker' bond dishes.
September 1, 2004... British pensioners were among the first to enjoy the benefits of inflation- linked bonds. Since the beginning of the 1980s, issues of such securities in sterling have been largely swallowed by UK pension funds and were often held simply to...

Special Report: Inflation-linked bonds - A better bet than gold.
September 1, 2004... Both the supply of and demand for inflation-linked bonds have grown substantially in the past few years as institutional and retail investors worldwide recognise the defensive and diversification benefits. The euro inflation-linked bond...

Special Report: Inflation-linked bonds - Worthy asset in the pensions portfolio.
September 1, 2004... If inflation-protected bonds were a fashion item, they would be a nice pair of sensible shoes: reliable and useful but perhaps a little dull. Yet this perception is beginning to change as investors realise that the low levels of inflation to...

Support Services: Custody, Clearing & Settlement - French bank tastes German success.(BNP Paribas Securities Services)
September 1, 2004... The Frankfurt operation of BNP Paribas Securities Services (BNPPSS) faces a strong operational challenge. In 2003, it entered into a strategic partnership with BrainTrade, a subsidiary of Germany's stock exchanges. BrainTrade's platform,...

Support Services: Clearing & Settlement - Little action follows G30 plan.
September 1, 2004... A grand-sounding Plan of Action aimed at helping to solve the world's global clearing and settlement conundrum was announced last year, but it seems to have inadvertently created another big question for the industry. Never mind the issue of...

Support Services: FX Focus - Double clicking for currency gains.(Foreign exchange)
September 1, 2004... Institutional investors are changing the way they look at their foreign currency requirements. Historically, a majority of investors treated currency purchases as an administrative task associated with the settlement of a cross-border fixed...

Support Services: Custody Giants - Outsourcing deals expand business.
September 1, 2004... Outsourcing deals are "where it's at", according to Tony Solway, head of BNP Paribas Securities Services UK. This seems to be the consensus among the top dogs of the global custody world. While they argue that their core service of custody must...

Support Services: Custody Giants - State Street keeps top slot.(revenues)
September 1, 2004... Assets under custody: $9100bn The Boston-headquartered securities servicing giant is now the biggest player in its field, with $9100bn (e7440bn) on the books, as at June 30, 2004. However, this figure marks a slump in assets under custody...

Support Services: Custody Giants - BNY bundles its products.(The Bank of New York)
September 1, 2004... Assets under custody: $8600bn The Bank of New York (BNY), ranked number two by FT Mandate in assets under custody, has seen its business rise to $8700bn (e7032bn) by following a philosophy of selling securities services, not custody. "We...

Support Services: Custody Giants - Strong pipeline for JPMIS.(J.P. Morgan Investor Services)
September 1, 2004... Assets under custody: $8000bn JPMorgan has been stuck in the "bronze" position in FT Mandate's ranking of securities services providers by assets under custody since March. In 2003, the firm enjoyed a comfortable second place behind then...

Support Services: Custody Giants - Organic growth at Citigroup.(Citigroup Global Transaction Services )
September 1, 2004... Assets under custody: $7000bn Robert Binney makes no apologies for feeling pleased. Since January, the CEO for EMEA for Citigroup Global Transaction Services has watched the company notch up a total of $7000bn (e5724bn) of assets under...