Photo: Philippedelavie. Deutsche Bank pagará 629 millones de dólares para cerrar procesos judiciales por negociaciones de valores rusos
Deutsche Bank this week has reached settlements with the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS). The settlements conclude the FCA and the DFS’s investigations into the bank’s anti-money laundering (AML) control function in its investment banking division, including in relation to certain securities trades that occurred between 2011 and 2015 involving its Moscow, London and New York offices.
“The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has today fined Deutsche Bank AG (Deutsche Bank) £163,076,224 for failing to maintain an adequate anti-money laundering (AML) control framework during the period between 1 January 2012 and 31 December 2015. This is the largest financial penalty for AML controls failings ever imposed by the FCA, or its predecessor the Financial Services Authority (FSA),” said the FCA in its statement. “Deutsche Bank was used by unidentified customers to transfer approximately $10 billion, of unknown origin, from Russia to offshore bank accounts in a manner that is highly suggestive of financial crime.”
“Under the terms of the settlement agreement with the FCA, Deutsche Bank agreed to pay civil monetary penalties of approximately 163 million pounds (USD 204 million). The bank qualified for a 30 percent discount for agreeing to settle at an early stage of the FCA’s investigation. The FCA noted in its findings that the bank has committed significant resources to improving its AML controls and recognises the work already undertaken in this area. The FCA also noted that the bank has been exceptionally cooperative in bringing the matter to its attention and throughout its investigation,” Deutsche Bank explained in its statement.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement with the DFS, Deutsche Bank entered into a Consent Order, and agreed to pay civil monetary penalties of 425 million dollars and to engage an independent monitor for a term of up to two years.
The settlement amounts are already materially reflected in existing litigation reserves, said the bank.
Foto: ASSY. Pan American Finance contrata a Peter Wallin como asesor senior
Pan American Finance has announced that Peter R. Wallin has joined the firm as Senior Advisor.
Peter comes to Pan American Finance with nearly 40 years of investment banking experience in the Latin American region, having held senior positions with, among others, INTL FCStone, Standard Bank, and Midland Bank.
In his new role, Peter will advise clients on merger and acquisition, project finance, and capital raising transactions across various industries and sectors, including Infrastructure, Oil & Gas, Power, and Real Estate.
Pan American Finance is an independent advisory firm providing investment banking services, including M&A advisory, project finance, and debt & equity capital raising, to business owners and asset managers primarily in the Latin American and U.S. markets.
Canadian asset manager British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (bcIMC) has reached an agreement with Britain-based credit investment firm Hayfin Capital Management to fully acquire the majority shareholding of Hayfin from the existing consortium of institutional shareholders.
Financial details of the transaction, subject to regulatory approval, remain undisclosed.
The deal aims to support Hayfin’s long-term growth plans and simplify its ownership structure. Hayfin’s management and employees remain shareholders alongside bcIMC. Also the new majority shareholder will pour capital into Hayfin’s funds.
“Hayfin’s principal focus will remain managing assets for third parties; the day-to-day independence of the Hayfin team over operations, investments, and personnel will be unaffected by the change in ownership,” stated Hayfin, which has €8.2bn of assets under management.
Tim Flynn, CEO of Hayfin Capital Management, commented: “This long-term investment from bcIMC will provide the access to capital and streamlined ownership structure to realise our ambition of becoming Europe’s leading credit platform. What won’t change under the new ownership arrangements is the independence of Hayfin’s experienced team of credit investment professionals, or our commitment to delivering high-quality returns for the third-party investors whose capital we manage.”
Jim Pittman, senior vice president of private equity at bcIMC added: “We see this as a strategic long-term investment in a leading company that has the potential to generate value-added returns for our clients. Having known the Hayfin team since inception, I’m confident in their strategy and ability to further expand their business and raise additional capital through their funds.”
British Columbia Investment Management Corporation has C$122bn (€86.4bn) in assets under management.
Key wealth markets are set to experience a surge of new business models and further industry consolidation akin to that of broker consolidators in the UK insurance market, as the independent financial advisor (IFA) workforce ages and new technology and capital is introduced, according to financial services research and insight firm Verdict Financial.
The company’s latest report states that one of the more optimistic predictions for the future involves the aging, predominantly baby boomer advisor base in places such as Australia, Canada, the UK and the US, and posits a novel exit strategy based on robo-advisors looking for new clients. This prediction is modeled on the broker consolidation trend in the UK, but substitutes cashed-up robo-advisors for the traditional broker-consolidator.
Robo-advisors are online wealth management services that provide automated, algorithm-based portfolio management without the need for human financial planners. With many offering largely exchange-traded fund (ETF)-based portfolios, their hallmark is very low fees. Robo-advisors were arguably the hottest fintech trend in wealth management in 2016, with dozens launched around the world.
Andrew Haslip, Verdict Financial’s Head of Content for Asia-Pacific, says that with their rock-bottom fee structures, independent robo-advisors only break even with pools of client assets well above industry averages, something even the most successful companies, such as Bettermint and Wealthfront, will struggle to achieve this year even in the US, the world’s largest wealth market.
Haslip explains: “Inflows to robo-advisors, while positive, have slowed and smaller robo-advisors or those in smaller markets such as Australia will remain well below the necessary volume based on current trends. For robo-advisors looking to scale up their client assets quickly, the wave of retiring advisors, along with the current low cost of capital, offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, provided they pay for it.”
Verdict Financial believes high profile robo-advisors in 2017 could tap the market for the capital necessary to buy the client books of retiring financial advisors, whose generally affluent older customers tend not to have considered a robo-advisor.
Haslip adds: “The clients will benefit from cheaper ETF-based portfolios, while robo-advisors boost their client assets. So keep your eye out for the wealth industry’s newest trend, the robo-consolidator.”
Wikimedia CommonsFoto: Garrett A. Wollman. Allianz Global Investors aumenta su mandato con State Street
State Street Corporation has been appointed by Allianz Global Investors to provide a wide range of investment services. The agreement expands an existing relationship into a strategic global partnership with State Street delivering a broad spectrum of investment servicing solutions for more than EUR 450 billion in assets under management.
State Street will provide middle and back office solutions including fund administration, depository and trustee services, global custody, transfer agency, share class hedging, and data consolidation services. The mandate remains subject to approvals of applicable funds’ boards as well as customary regulatory approvals.
Jeff Conway, chief executive officer for EMEA at State Street said, “We are delighted to expand our relationship with Allianz Global Investors and are looking forward to the next phase of this strategic partnership, which defines a new service model for leading asset managers. State Street’s data consolidation and analytics capabilities are a cornerstone for creating a joint end to end operating model that will service AllianzGI across all asset classes and jurisdictions and support their future growth. This mandate demonstrates the value of a true partnership with our client.”
Foto: Santi Villamarín
. Aumenta el interés entre los inversores institucionales estadounidenses por el liability-driven investment
“Institutional investors have faced a variety of pressures during the past year that have made achieving their investment goals very challenging,” states Chris Mason, senior analyst at Cerulli with regards to the January edition of The Cerulli Edge – U.S. Institutional Edition. “Unfavorable forward-looking returns across several asset classes and recent shifts in the interest rate environment have created additional uncertainty.”
“The difficult market environment, including historically low interest rate levels, has wreaked havoc on corporate defined benefit planned sponsors,” continues Mason. “However, the recent increase in interest rates following the election has sparked renewed interest in pension derisking and liability-driven investing (LDI) among these institutional investors.”
Cerulli believes that in order for managers to serve their clients most effectively, it is imperative they understand how these specific challenges affect institutions as a whole. As rates continue to rise, managers should focus on highlighting their LDI solutions. Proactive managers that educate plan sponsors about the benefits of derisking will be the best positioned in the marketplace.
After two years of serving a select group of leading real estate investment managers, Juniper Square announced the launch and general availability of its market-leading investment management software.
Clients such as Beacon Capital, The Reliant Group, and Cortland Partners rely on Juniper Square to help them manage nearly 20,000 investment positions and over $25B in capital. More than 8,000 investors use Juniper Square to access reporting on nearly 1,000 investments, and Juniper Square customers are currently raising capital for more than 130 offerings using its software.
Juniper Square’s technology integrates many capabilities into a single capital markets software system: a CRM designed for real estate; a secure data room and automated subscription process to streamline fundraising; a powerful investment accounting system that can scale to the most complex funds; and an automated, best-in-class investor reporting capability designed to meet the needs of even the most sophisticated investors.
“Moving from our previous system to Juniper Square was like night and day. Having a common source for our latest fund and investor data has enabled our accounting, investor relations, and fundraising teams to work together more efficiently. In addition, our investors value having self-service access to comprehensive investment data through Juniper Square’s easy-to-use portal,” said Dane Rasmussen, Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations, Beacon Capital.
“Real estate managers today are buried under mountains of spreadsheets and struggle with antiquated systems that are hard-to-use and don’t talk to each other. Juniper Square puts an end to that with an easy-to-use, integrated system that supports the entirety of the capital markets operation, from front office to back. Whether they have ten investors or thousands, our software frees up managers to focus on what they do best: buying, selling, and leasing real estate, while providing an unparalleled experience for their investors,” said Alex Robinson, Co-Founder and CEO of Juniper Square.
Confirming this trend, in its 2016 Global Private Equity Fund and Investor Survey, EY found a “seismic shift” in the importance of reporting when investors select a manager, stating, “In just one year, we see a 400% increase in investors that now rank a private equity firm’s ability to handle reporting requirements as the most important when selecting a firm.”
Juniper Square’s modern, easy-to-use software helps real estate sponsors of all sizes respond to the growing demands of the industry. Whether the challenge is seamlessly managing relationships with thousands of individual investors, or meeting sophisticated institutional reporting needs, Juniper Square enables real estate firms to focus on the real estate instead of the back office.
The European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA) published itin January is latest Investment Funds Industry Fact Sheet, which provides net sales of UCITS and non-UCITS for October 2016. 28 associations representing more than 99 percent of total UCITS and AIF assets provided with net sales data.
Bernard Delbecque, Senior director for Economics and Research at EFAMA commented: “Despite anemic net sales of equity funds since January 2016, UCITS continued to attract robust new investment in October thanks to net inflows into bond, money market and multi-assets funds”.
The main developments in October 2016 can be summarized as follows:
Net inflows into UCITS and AIF totaled EUR 62 billion, compared to EUR 51 billion in September.
UCITS registered net inflows of EUR 47 billion, up from EUR 30 billion in September.
AIF recorded net inflows of EUR 15 billion, down from EUR 21 billion in September.
Total net assets of European investment funds stood at EUR 13,756 billion at end October, compared to EUR 13,836 in September and EUR 13,320 billion at end 2015.
Going into further detail:
Long-term UCITS (UCITS excluding money market funds) recorded net inflows of EUR 22 billion, compared to EUR 28 billion in September.
Equity funds recorded net outflows of EUR 1 billion, compared to net inflows of EUR 2 billion in September.
Net sales of bond funds increased slightly from EUR 16 billion in September to EUR 17 billion in October.
Net sales of multi-asset funds decreased slightly from EUR 7 billion in September to EUR 6 billion in October.
UCITS money market funds recorded net sales of EUR 25 billion, compared to EUR 2 billion in September.
Secure growth companies could be forced out of the limelight by turnaround stories in US equity markets following a period of significant gains for online retailers and other internet stocks, according to Legg Mason affiliate ClearBridge Investments.
Margaret Vitrano, a manager with ClearBridge, says the dearth of economic growth in the US in recent years has caused investors to focus on ‘secure growth’ names.
However, she believes better opportunities to access higher growth rates have emerged in unloved sectors experiencing reversals in their fortunes.
“There is a dearth of growth and this explains why high-flying internet companies performed well in 2015 and 2016,” she said. “There has been a focus on secure return and a very low appetite for turnaround stories because of market nervousness.”
As a result, Vitrano argues that opportunities have arisen in cyclical sectors, with valuations too attractive to ignore. “Energy is a good example, as in a cyclical recovery we think companies in this sector have a lot of earnings growth ahead,” she says. “It has also had less focus recently from investors so you can find value there.”
As well as energy names, Vitrano is unearthing opportunities in the healthcare space, where valuations have lagged the wider market. “We have a very broad definition of growth – it is not just revenue growth, it can be margin expansion, and some of those diamonds in the rough look attractive to us,” she says.
“Healthcare and biotech in particular look really interesting right now. In the case of biotech stocks, they underperformed substantially last year so valuations are attractive.” Looking at broad market levels, Vitrano says that, although indices such as the Dow Jones are close to hitting all-time highs, valuations are only approaching “fair value” given the backdrop of record low rates and quantitative easing.
However, she cautions that financials appear expensive on current valuations, with the risk growing that too many rate hikes have been priced-in to forecasts for the sector. “Yes, rates are probably heading higher, but if there is one thing we have learned about what this Fed is doing, it is incorporating multiple data points – not just here but outside the US,” she says. “So I would caution that between here and 2018 a lot could happen to change the shape of the interest rate curve.”
Vitrano is avoiding large financial stocks such as money centre banks because, as a growth investor, such stocks cannot deliver the requisite rates of growth. However, she does see value in specific companies in the sector.
“We don’t own big financials as we think we can find better growth elsewhere, outside of the large money centre banks, but we are now entering a period where you may have a double whammy of potentially higher interest rates and less regulation, or even a triple whammy if we get tax cuts,” she says.
“The fundamental landscape has improved for the whole financials sector, and we do like Schwab, for example, as we see it as a secular growth opportunity which will also be a beneficiary of higher rates.”
Foto: Craig Sunter
. Betterment lanza un servicio que completa su oferta digital con humanos
Betterment, the largest independent online investment advisor, yesterday announced the next evolution of the company with the release of a new service offering, expanding the company’s platform beyond a single digital product to a multi-plan advice offering that includes access to CFP® professionals and licensed financial experts.
The company can now meet the needs of its customers however customers want to invest and receive advice, whether it’s through the existing digital offering or also working in conjunction with a team of licensed experts. This team will help customers monitor their accounts, answer their financial questions, and give them advice. The new plans give customers the best of both worlds— smarter technology and access to financial experts:
Betterment Digital: Customers gain access to our current award-winning technology, with tax-efficient algorithms and digital advice, at an incredibly low cost.
Betterment Plus: Customers receive an annual planning call from a team of CFP® professionals and licensed financial experts who also monitor their accounts throughout the year.
Betterment Premium: Customers get unlimited access to a team of CFP® professionals and licensed financial experts who monitor their accounts and give them advice and financial planning throughout the year.
Customers who would like a full-time, dedicated independent financial advisor can be referred to an RIA who uses the Betterment for Advisors platform to manage its clients investments through its recently announced Advisor Network.
The firm will now charge a flat 0.25% for its Digital plan, 0.40% for the Plus offering, and 0.50% for the Premium offering. The Plus plan requires a $100k minimum balance, and the Premium plan requires a $250k minimum balance. For all three plans, Betterment’s fees are only charged on the first $2 million of your balance. Betterment will waive its management fee on any assets over $2 million.
“I joined Betterment because it was a chance to help get financial advice in the hands of more Americans- millions of Americans,” said Alex Benke, CFP, VP of Financial Advice and Investing at Betterment. “As a traditional financial planner, you can only serve a few hundred clients at most. Through the last five years at Betterment, I’ve learned that while most Americans really need financial advice, not everyone wants it in the same way. Some never want to talk to a person, some need help from time to time, and others need careful, ongoing guidance. About a year ago, we set out to broaden and deepen our human-delivered advice offering, while making it more accessible. Our vision is to be your one-stop-shop for financial advice, available in whatever form or frequency you require, and always in your best interest, as a fiduciary.”
“We’re committed to empowering customers to do what’s best for their money, so they can live better,” said Jon Stein, Founder and CEO of Betterment. “At Betterment, we promise to always act in the best interests of our customers. From the beginning, we’ve built what our customers have asked us to prioritize, and what would have the biggest impact for them. Now, with our Plus and Premium plans, we can give customers the best of both worlds: our smarter technology and access to licensed financial experts.”
The firm manages more than $7 billion in assets for more than 210,000 customers.
