Financial Times Mandate articles from September 2005

Financial Times Mandate archives from September 2005

From the Editor: Slim pickings from underweight stance.(Editorial)
September 1, 2005... Just when pension fund trustees were getting comfortable with core-satellite asset allocation and entrusting the salvation of their underfunded schemes to a swelling army of specialist managers, along comes a survey to shake their faith in...

News & Analysis: Trading and Exchanges - Alternatives are in vogue as investors feel the pressure.
September 1, 2005... Increased pressure on performance and the need for better portfolio diversification is forcing institutional investors to pump more money into alternative asset classes. According to a new survey by Russell Investment Group, real estate...

News & Analysis: Trading and Exchanges - DMO 50-year bond proves market is thriving.
September 1, 2005... The market for inflation-linked bonds is not only growing in size but also in terms of the different investment products on offer to investors. The latest addition to a market that currently stands at over E500bn is the world's first ever...

News & Analysis: Trading and Exchanges - Thieme: I would `defend to my last breath' LSE freedom.
September 1, 2005... With the London Stock Exchange (LSE) caught in the cross-hairs of potential multi-billion euro bids from Euronext, Deutsche Boerse and Macquarie Group, Heiko H. Thieme - chairman of American Heritage Management Corporation - said that, were he...

News & Analysis: Trading and Exchanges - Messaging Services - Swift chief exec plays down claims of imminent closure.(Brief Article)
September 1, 2005... A claim by Swift's chief executive Leonard H. Schrank that the financial industry-owned messaging body's "transformation" project was on track was greeted with some scepticism by delegates attending Sibos 2005 in Copenhagen. As Mr Schrank...

Asset Allocation: The Chief - Maintaining an edge keeps you at MLC.
September 1, 2005... Super-sized mandates are not normally associated with Australian asset managers - a population of 20m simply cannot support the kind of scale which attracts global attention. But there are some notable exceptions. MLC, the fourth biggest...

Asset Allocation: FTM Interview - Peter Baxter - A new age for pension funds.
September 1, 2005... If you want to run high performance long-only investment products, start a hedge fund. Why? If all the best managers are busy running hedge funds, then the only way to woo them is to launch your own alternative investment strategies. ...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Europe - To the sidelines or a possible recovery?
September 1, 2005... The general economic backdrop in Europe has been disappointing for some years. But this belies the fact that within the Eurozone there are marked distinctions between different countries. Spain and Ireland are growing quite rapidly, running...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - North America - Consumer market faces a tough test.
September 1, 2005... The weekend before Hurricane Katrina barreled into Louisiana and Mississippi, I stopped by one of my favorite petrol stations along the back roads of New Hampshire. Alas, the pump was locked and empty. The proprietor told me that he had refused...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - South America - Need super-cycle to maintain high.
September 1, 2005... The effects of a sustained period of high commodities prices have had a substantial impact on a Latin America long dogged by high inflation, currency crises, and ballooning fiscal deficits. In a scenario of continued strong energy and commodity...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Asia Pacific - Reassurance at PM's re- election.(prime minister)
September 1, 2005... Investors have welcomed the landslide Japanese general election victory of prime minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic party. In the wake of the election result, a flurry of trading activity pushed the Nikkei 225 index up 1.17...

Special Report: Managing Insurance Assets - Fund Houses pitch expert briefs to life companies.
September 1, 2005... Over the last few years, the life insurance sector has been criticised for failing to meet clients' expectations. Changes in regulation and poor investment returns at the beginning of the decade have resulted in many life companies rethinking...

Sponsored Report: Managing Insurance Assets - Work for more than guaranteed returns.
September 1, 2005... What makes a good investment strategy for a with-profits fund and why do such funds pose particular problems? With-profits insurers in particular are required to pay attention to policyholders' reasonable expectations (PRE), so for example...

Sponsored Report: Managing Insurance Assets - Aligning risks with capital commitment.
September 1, 2005... We are now eight months into the new UK regulatory environment governing insurance company capital requirements and, although the new rules were subject to considerable debate, the fundamental impact on the markets has yet to be fully...

Sponsored Report: Managing Insurance Assets - Scaling FSA's `twin peaks'.(Financial Services Authority)
September 1, 2005... A seismic change happened recently to the way that life insurance companies were regulated within the UK through the introduction of the Financial Services Authority's (FSA) PS04/16 regulations. Its effects were as profound for the insurance...

Strategy Selection: Aub-advisory Uncovered - Commitment and a creative culture.(Skandia Investment Management )(Interview)
September 1, 2005... GSAM: When considering a potential sub-advisory partner what are the organisational attributes that Skandia Investment Management looks for? Alan Durrant: First of all we consider the organisation's structure. Obviously a potential partner...

Special Report: Inflation-linked Bonds - DMO linker shows the importance of sharing.
September 1, 2005... At the end of August, the UK Debt Management Office (DMO) announced the launch of the world's first ever 50-year inflation linked bond (ILB). The market had been waiting for the announcement for some time, but the syndicated offering model...

Special Report: Inflation-linked Bonds - A global view on inflation-linked bonds.
September 1, 2005... Over the past five years, investors have embraced the idea that incorporating inflation-indexed bonds into a portfolio, at the expense of nominal bonds, leads to the creation of a more efficient portfolio. This is because inflation-indexed...

Technology: Credit Derivatives - Baby steps to understanding.
September 1, 2005... With a British Bankers' Association report forecasting that the global market in credit derivatives will rise to $8400bn (e6,839bn) by the end of 2006, recent remarks from the US Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, and the UK's Financial...

Technology: Exchanges and Trading Platforms - Boosting OMS resources.
September 1, 2005... Prospects for vendors of trade order management systems (OMS) would appear extremely bright, in light of forecasts indicating that global spending on systems will rise almost 60 per cent by 2007. And, following the summer acquisition by ITG of...

Technology: Mifid Regulations - Effects of fragmentation.
September 1, 2005... The trend towards outsourcing of back-office administrative functions is likely to be accelerated by the requirements of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (Mifid), while asset managers who outsource will come under greater...

Technology: Interview - Setting the standard.
September 1, 2005... Whatever else lay behind JPMorgan Chase's decision to terminate its collaboration with Schroders over development of a new operating platform to support Schroders' UK investment operations, it might have served to further endorse Brown Brothers...

Support Services: Outsourcing - Corporate lips quiver.
September 1, 2005... When the news broke that JP Morgan had abandoned its five-year struggle to implement an outsourcing deal with Schroders and was paying back GBP20m (e30m), there was something of a sharp intake in breath in the sector. This was not because the...

Support Services: Service Level Agreements - Pre-defining the parameters.
September 1, 2005... One thing that both JPMorgan and Schroders agreed on when they called it a day on their troubled lift-out contract was that their "operating models are no longer sufficiently aligned to justify the continuation of the project". "We had...

Support Services: Fund Administration Locations - The people's choice.
September 1, 2005... With the Isle of Man posting a robust 42 per cent (GBP3.3bn) increase in funds under management in the year to end-March 2005, the self-governing UK Crown Dependency is now bidding to become the jurisdiction of choice for the administration of...

Support Services: Sponsored Article - Letter from Europe - A simple solution to all the paperwork.
September 1, 2005... The recent Ucits III regulations may seem like an administrative nightmare, but a better understanding of the directive's requirements can bring benefits to investors and fund promoters alike. While they are seen as one homogenous command,...

Strategy Selection: Fx Focus - Diversification will pay.
September 1, 2005... Active currency management, comprising both overlay and active return strategies, has become increasingly popular in recent years. Accompanying this has been a trend towards hiring managers who employ a systematic/model- based approach to...

Special Report: Securities Lending - Time to tighten up market practices.
September 1, 2005... The International Securities Lending Association's (ISLA) latest paper challenging the `myth' that securities lending poses a threat to good corporate governance might well prompt the word `coincidence' to spring to mind. Two days after...

Sponsored Report: Securities Lending - Tailoring a third party partnership.
September 1, 2005... Once considered a back office operational function, securities lending is today increasingly viewed as a valuable asset management activity. Like the investment process itself, securities lending demands vision, commitment and investment if its...