Financial Times Mandate articles from September 2006

Financial Times Mandate archives from September 2006

From the Editor: Filling your own knowledge gap.(Editorial)
September 1, 2006... Byline: Henry Smith, editor So Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) is organising a series of free monthly seminars for UK pension fund trustees in conjunction with the University of Westminster. Under the name of the Pension Investment...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates: - China opens doors to foreign assets.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Henry Smith A sharp recovery in the Chinese domestic stockmarket in 2006 has prompted a previously reluctant securities regulator to approve the country's first Qualified Domestic Institutional Investor (QDII) fund. Lehman...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - UK and Holland lead surge in European SRI holdings.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Henry Smith The European socially responsible investment (SRI) market has grown by 36 per cent since 2002 to over E1000bn of assets under management today. The UK and Holland continue to lead the way with E781bn and E47.5bn...

News & Analysis: Securities Services - Derivatives talk is a two-way street.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Roger Aitken Pension schemes, particularly in Europe, should communicate more effectively with exchanges to redress the still "wide variance" in the understanding, use and application of derivatives products in pension fund...

News & Analysis: 'Member milking' exchanges don't offer value.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Roger Aitken Stock exchanges in Europe are "still milking" their members and clients despite some recent moves to reduce the level of trading tariffs across the core products they offer, according to a UBS banker and representative...

Asset Allocation: FTM Interview - Churchill Franklin - The benefits of using cold calculations over emotions.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Paula Garrido Quantitative investment strategies are now widely accepted by institutional investors, who no longer have to convince potential clients that visiting the companies they invest in is not the only way to identify the...

Asset Allocation: Scheme Spotlight - KLM relying on inflation linked bonds to fly high.
September 1, 2006... Alternative investments might be attracting growing institutional interest, but one Amsterdam-based pension fund consultancy has deemed them inappropriate for its client. The Blue Sky Group, which advises on assets totalling E10.5bn in...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Europe - Markets look for solace in the past.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Diane Jones Equities around the world endured a volatile period over the first half of 2006. The year began well, with most major markets registering consistent advances, supported by solid economic growth, healthy corporate...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - North America - Global equities may score a slam dunk.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Jeffrey L. Knight It is amazing how many metaphorical parallels there are between sports and capital markets. Books like Michael Lewis' Moneyball and Sam Walker's Fantasyland typically show up on finance professionals' summer...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - South America - Tough Brazil not ready to crack.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Mike Reynal At the beginning of the year, we identified the electoral cycle as the main risk for Latin American markets in 2006, and indeed we have witnessed some difficult events, such as the re-nationalisation of the energy...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Asia Pacific - The illusion of independence.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Simon Weston A mantra long familiar to investors in non-Japan Asia is that of the region 'decoupling' from the rest of the world. This means that Asia has 'grown up' enough, both economically and politically, to become a...

Asset Allocation: Portfolio Flows - China moves to cool the economy.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Neil Mellor One of the more surprising elements of 2006 so far has been the high level of public debate that has taken place within China on the closely related topics of currency policy and FX reserves. This point was nicely...

Comment: The Bender Agenda - Look on the bright side of the Schroders 'slide'.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Yuri Bender Talk of consolidation and efficiency drives from Schroders' chief executive, Michael Dobson, have not gone down too well in the City, despite the high esteem in which he is held there. At 6 feet, four inches, Mr Dobson...

Strategy Selection: Property - Building across new borders.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior Investors' interest in European real estate shows no signs of flagging. According to the latest research from Jones Lang LaSalle, investment volumes reached E95bn in the first half of 2006, a 30 per cent increase...

Advertising Feature: Is it time to make the Reit move?
September 1, 2006... At approximately E16,000bn, global real estate is a large asset class that represents 15 per cent of the world's global investment market. The vast majority of real estate is owned by private market investors, as opposed to public companies....

Strategy Selection: Inflation-linked Bonds - Inflation-linked bonds wait for market to go Dutch.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Gerry O'Kane When the Dutch pension system is forced to take action, financial houses sit up and take note, hoping for a windfall. So it was with recent regulatory changes that made schemes pay closer attention to short-term...

Strategy Selection: Derivatives Clinic - Accommodating commodities.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Wojtek Nabialek Commodities are a valued addition to an equity portfolio due to the dual benefits of decorrelation from equities and historically high returns. Over the last five years, commodities have returned a healthy 13...

Special Report: Managing Insurance Assets - Life insurers take the outsourcing route.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Christine Senior A lot is changing in the world of life insurance. The declining popularity of with-profits funds linked to poor investment returns, and the demand for more, and more varied, types of unit-linked funds are driving...

Strategy Selection: Hedge Funds - Institutionalisation attempts to keep hedge funds in check.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Paula Garrido Increased inflows of institutional money into hedge funds are having a major impact on the way the industry operates. Competition among managers and the very specific requirements of pension funds and other...

Performance Overview: Outside help boosts Julius Bar.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Paula Garrido Three years ago Julius Bar decided to outsource the management of its Central Europe Stock fund to external manager Charlemagne Capital. This has proved to be a good move since the fund has been the top performer over...

Special Report: Azerbaijan - Fuelling Expansion - Living off the fat of the land.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Nick Kochan A remote corner of the former Soviet Union, famed for its oil, celebrated by the Russian communist regime for its wine, is about to be the toast of the Euromarkets. Azerbaijan is issuing a Eurobond in the autumn to...

Special Report: Azerbaijan - Balance sheets look better.
September 1, 2006... Banks in Azerbaijan are bellwethers of the massive growth in the economy. The banking market is growing by a quarter each year, somewhat lower than gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 36 per cent, but enough to stimulate a surge of change,...

Special Report: Azerbaijan - After the oil is gone.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Nick Kochan FT Mandate: What is the state of the Azerbaijani economy? Samir Sharifov: Accelerated growth describes it well. The growth can be observed in almost all spheres: GDP [gross domestic product] growth is substantial....

Special Report: Azerbaijan - Capital markets await lift-off.
September 1, 2006... Azerbaijan's stock exchange has taken the first steps to establishing itself as a capital market for the region. In due course, it should also become a key engine in the modernisation of Azerbaijan's economy. The Baku Stock Exchange (BSE) has a...

Special Report: Azerbaijan - Azerbaijan's banking leader.
September 1, 2006... Positive economic and social change in the Republic of Azerbaijan observed in recent years and the newly forming system of social relations has resulted in political stabilisation and economic growth. The state's bid to create a balanced market...

Special Report: Azerbaijan - Hydrocarbon sector to gush.
September 1, 2006... July 13 was a red letter day for Azerbaijan's energy industry. When the BP- led consortium loaded its first tanker from the long-awaited Baku-Tbilisi- Ceyhan (BTC) pipeline, the country's politicians, financiers and oil industry experts...

Special Report: Azerbaijan - Azeri dreams.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Courtney Fingar Walking along the boardwalk at dusk and glancing back at the grey, gloomy city blanketed with fog and ringed with the skeletal outlines of oil rigs, it is difficult to see the booming, beguiling Baku of recent...

Technology: Interview - Trader tools at your fingertips.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Roger Aitken FT Mandate: From your perspective as an agency broker based in New York, how have direct market access (DMA) and algorithmic trading been embraced in the US, where the market has come from and where it's going? ...

Technology: Equity Markets - Big players set to flex their muscles.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Roger Aitken Fierce and growing competition for a share of the US equities marketplace over the next four years is likely to see some stock exchange players forced out of business, while others will be acquired by larger players...

Technology: Portfolio Trading - The extra burden on brokers.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Roger Aitken With over 82 per cent of US institutions revealing that they direct agency portfolio trades as compensation for sell-side fundamental equity research commitments, buy-side firms not only benefited from "flattening"...

Technology: FX Focus - No job too small for eFX.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Jake Smith The electronic trading of FX (eFX) continues to grow. Data recorded by HSBC to the end of June 2006 showed that eFX volumes increased by 25 per cent over the same period in 2005. This is in addition to increases of 60...

News: Securities Services - BNP Plump acquisition paves way in Germany.(Gerald Noltsch of BNP Paribas Securities Services)(Interview)
September 1, 2006... Byline: Roger Aitken BNP Paribas Securities Services' (BP2S) acquisition of the third-party securities clearing and settlement activity of Bankhaus Carl F Plump (Plump) not only positions the bank as a tier II provider in the segment in...

Support Services: Fund Administration - Caceis hints at hub for all its moving admin parts.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Henry Smith Strong and sustained competition from Ireland's financial services sector is hailed as a significant factor contributing to the development of Luxembourg's fund administration industry over the last 10 years. ...

Support Services: Sponsored Article - Letter from Europe - Private equity is coming of age.
September 1, 2006... Byline: Pierre Oger The private equity market has reached new heights in leveraged buyouts, fund raising and buys and sells. It has become a mature industry and private equity structures are today seriously competing with traditional stock...