Financial Times Mandate articles from September 2007

Financial Times Mandate archives from September 2007

From the Editor: Playing it safe helps in bumpy times.(Editorial)
September 1, 2007... Byline: Henry Smith, editor Amid the uncertainty surrounding the final outcome of the subprime mortgage crisis, it is hard to tell what the impact has been on pension funds. But it is likely that the steady diversification of investment...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - Better risk management makes stock market crash unlikely.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Nat Mankelow Better risk management and co-ordination from the exchanges and regulators means a repeat of the 1987 stock market crash is less likely, market makers at an industry event in Europe believe. Addressing delegates at...

News & Analysis: Strategies, Products & Mandates - New Aima committee looks to build bridges with institutions.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Martin Steward The Alternative Investment Management Association (Aima) has created a new steering committee dedicated to improving the engagement of the hedge fund industry with the institutional investor community. The...

Asset Allocation: The Consulting Room - Striving to be part of IT crowd.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Henry Smith Performance measurement teams within asset management companies have "an almost insatiable appetite" for new IT systems as they come under pressure from their clients to provide accurate and complete explanations of...

Asset Allocation: Interview - AGI looks to create the perfect culture for affiliates.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Henry Smith Asset management firms, irrespective of size, should foster a "culture of investment" that benefits their clients. A focus on achieving sustainable performance will bring investor satisfaction and long-term...

Asset Allocation: The Chief - At the centre of a transformation.(Company overview)
September 1, 2007... Byline: Nat Mankelow Given his position at the centre of a rapidly developing and expanding financial marketplace in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Patrick Butler is a refreshingly calm and measured senior banker. He is head of...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Europe - Weak markets likely to year end.
September 1, 2007... Ongoing credit and liquidity issues are likely to continue to generate uncertainty in financial markets, particularly in relation to risk appetite, potential financial losses and the economic growth outlook. We expect European stock markets to...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - North America - Looking back with a financial wish list.
September 1, 2007... In a stock market where prices have been advancing for some time, investors often look back and say: "I wish I bought this stock back when it was trading at." We believe the market is entering the "back when" period which investors will be...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - South America - Region remaining robust despite risk.
September 1, 2007... Latin America is broadly doing better than at any time since the mid 1970s. The region is in its fourth successive year of economic growth, which is averaging 5 per cent, while inflation remains in the low single digits. The region's trade...

Asset Allocation: Market Analysis - Is this the calm before the storm?
September 1, 2007... It is still too early to have a totally clear picture of what the impact of the current credit crunch will be on Asia in macro terms. Though a level of stability has returned to the markets (although the sharp rebound in itself reflects the...

Strategy Selection: Hedge Funds - Opportunities open up for hedge funds after credit crunch.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Martin Steward One of London-based hedge fund GLC's web pages likens trading strategies to British football teams. For mortgage-backed, read Cowdenbeath: "Everyone has heard of them but no one's ever seen them play." Well, we...

Strategy Selection: Private Equity - Are subprime woes spelling end of LBO private equity party?
September 1, 2007... Byline: Martin Steward It's safe to assume that few prognosticators had ninjas at the top of their list of threats to the global economy. That's the epithet applied by US subprime mortgage wags to borrowers with No Income, No Job...

Strategy Selection: Credit Markets - Recovering from the credit fallout in the wake of subprime.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Nat Mankelow The stark conclusion made by a leading US fixed-income manager in an address to institutional clients last month was this: "If you want to know how this happened, then just follow the money!" The comments made by...

Strategy Selection: Equity Derivatives - Navigating the bewildering array of equity derivative choices.
September 1, 2007... The versatility of equity derivatives is making them increasingly important to a range of investors, from new 130/30 funds seeking enhanced market returns, to hedge funds implementing complex trading strategies. Equity derivative...

Strategy Selection: Equity Derivatives - Demanding clients drive tailor-made solutions.
September 1, 2007... There are a number of ways that equity derivatives can be adapted to specific user's needs. One is by customising the underlying asset or index which a derivative gives exposure to. Merrill Lynch's Mr Ypsilanti comments: "Investors want...

Special Report - Inflation-linked bonds - Stopping the ilb boom from popping.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Gerry O'Kane If they had not all been away on holiday, you could just imagine the older hands of the investment community wagging their fingers and cackling: "I warned you whipper-snappers those new-fangled subprime collateralised...

Sponsored Report: Inflation-linked bonds - Increased sophistication to protect against inflation.
September 1, 2007... The past decade has seen low and stable inflation in the major developed economies of the world. The widespread and relatively successful use of either explicit or implicit inflation targeting by the main central banks has consequently led to...

Strategy Selection: Carbon trading - Congestion expected in the rush for carbon exposure.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Ceri Jones Trading on the European Climate Exchange (ECX), the pan-European platform for carbon emissions trading, has rocketed this year. Some $500m (362.5m) of trades, based on EU Allowances surrendered by EU- based...

Strategy Selection: Carbon trading - Investors putting faith in futures.
September 1, 2007... Around 90 per cent of carbon emissions trading activity is currently in physicals and just 10 per cent is in financials, estimates Ingo Ramming, who heads up Dresdner's joint carbon venture with Gazprombank, set up in January. A...

Strategy Selection: Managing insurance assets - Use of ILS is gathering pace as credit crunch takes effect.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Nat Mankelow The convergence of insurance risk with the capital markets has opened up an alternative channel for insurers to raise capital and offered institutions a source of potentially liquid and uncorrelated investment...

Strategy Selection: Managing insurance assets - Subprime issue could boost ILS.
September 1, 2007... Summer 2007 will be remembered best for the shudder felt within the global financial markets from the fallout in the US subprime industry. But, according to some in one corner of the structured finance world - those involved in insurance...

Special Report: MiFID - Trying to make sense amid the confusion.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Peter Guest For something that nobody wants to talk about, the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID) has certainly generated its fair share of industry surveys. The one constant emerging from divergent studies is...

Sponsored Report: MiFID - Facing the challenges in a best practice world.
September 1, 2007... FTMandate: What exactly is 'best execution'? Is it simply about finding the best price, or is there more to it than that? Jerry Lees: If you take a literal view of the requirement for 'best execution' within the MiFID guidelines then all a...

Sponsored Report: MiFID - Taking advantage of internalisation.
September 1, 2007... In terms of the European market landscape, some of the most potentially radical changes MiFID may bring is in the area of internalisation and crossing away from the primary exchanges. The introduction of multilateral trading facilities...

Sponsored Report: MiFID - Crossing networks shed light on dark liquidity.
September 1, 2007... The past several years have seen a sharp increase in off-exchange trading via crossing networks. In the US alone, over 25 such networks now provide clients with access to so-called 'dark liquidity' in one capacity or another. New market...

Sponsored Report: MiFID - Both man and machine needed to enter new era.
September 1, 2007... Today's buy-side traders are making more complex decisions about execution than ever before - and they are expected to justify their choices to their firms and their clients. With the introduction of the Markets in Financial Instruments...

Advertising Feature: The future's bright for dividend strategies.
September 1, 2007... This summer, Eurex, one of the world's largest derivatives exchanges and the leading European clearinghouse, introduced derivatives on the Dow Jones EURO STOXXr Select Dividend 30 Index. Eurex's new futures and options were launched July...

Electronic trading: Technology - Taking a seat at the table.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Peter Guest When Charles Prince took over as CEO of Citi, then Citigroup, in 2003, it was supposedly with a brief to bring in a new culture of restraint, even frugality. Four years on, Citi has developed a reputation for innovation...

Sponsored Article: Support services - Letter from Europe - At the Sharp end of automation.
September 1, 2007... Byline: Olivier Paeme In recent years, the fund industry has seen a significant increase in the complexity of fund strategies, especially in the hedge fund arena. This growing complexity has been accompanied by demands from investors and...