Wikimedia CommonsPhoto: Rabensteiner - Bearbeitet von Rainer Z. Asset Growth vs Alpha Generation: the Capacity Management Conundrum
Success in asset management leads to a well-known conundrum: how to best manage increases in assets under management (AUM) while continuing to generate value-added alpha for clients.
A growth in AUM may make it more difficult to implement a strategy by imposing certain costs and impediments, such as liquidity constraints, potentially higher transaction costs and client-servicing requirements, as well as the need to ensure adherence to the strategy. Business diversification across multiple strategies and investment teams is another important consideration when evaluating the capacity of individual investment strategies. According to a new research published by MFS, this is key to ensuring a sustainable business model, which in turn impacts individual product performance.
Capacity can be managed in various ways, including with the implementation of product closures, which are designed to protect the interests of existing clients by limiting further inflows. In this case, MFS refers to both clients in the strategy of interest as well as clients more broadly in strategies that may overlap with the product in question. Preserving alpha-generating capability for existing clients is paramount in their view, and is at the heart of capacity management. It is in this context that capacity management is viewed as an integral component of risk management at MFS.
While there is general agreement among asset managers and their clients that products need to be closed for capacity reasons, there is little consensus on how capacity should be measured. Various academic and industry studies have offered a number of quantitative tools to help determine product capacity; however, these approaches are sensitive to the underlying assumptions made and none is definitive. Not only is capacity hard to measure, it is also a function of current market conditions and the characteristics of a given strategy.
Certain asset classes are inherently more capacity constrained than others. Portfolios invested in large-cap US equities have significantly more capacity than portfolios invested in either small-cap or emerging market equities. Highly concentrated portfolios (e.g., 20-stock portfolios) generally have less capacity than more diversified portfolios, depending on the liquidity of stocks included in the portfolio. Portfolios with high turnover require greater market liquidity and therefore have less capacity than portfolios with lower turnover that can patiently trade over longer holding periods. According to the whitepaper, one should bear in mind that all these parameters interact with one another and market conditions change over time, so portfolio characteristics must be fully examined before applying generalizations about capacity.
In this white paper, MFS outlines its approach to managing capacity in equity portfolios in some detail to illustrate the firm’s philosophy and considered methodology. They also provide information on the product restriction decisions made with regards to the Global Equity strategy as a case study. The way capacity is considered from a fixed-income portfolio perspective is also addressed.
BNY Mellon Investment Management announced today that Ryland Pruett has been named national sales manager for The Dreyfus Corporation and its mutual fund complex, with responsibility for leading the sales effort through broker dealers. Ryland brings over 22 years of field sales and leadership experience to the Dreyfus organization and is charged with building out the newly expanded sales force and to create efficiencies in total distribution.
In this newly created position, Pruett reports to Andrew Provencher, BNY Mellon executive vice president and head of U.S. retail sales.
“Ryland has a strong track record in building momentum for mutual fund strategies through broker dealers,” said Provencher. “He has led programs that significantly grew fund sales while diversifying distribution channels and products. He also has demonstrated an ability to identify new business opportunities and take advantage of them.”
Provencher added, “Ryland has an acute sense for driving better client interactions and promoting sales efficiencies through the extensive use of data, customer segmentation, predictive analytics, and other ‘intelligent distribution’ tools and techniques.”
Pruett joins BNY Mellon from Neuberger Berman, where he was national sales manager for the wire house channel. While at Neuberger, he played a key role in building the sales force through two major expansions as well as raising and diversifying revenues within broker dealer distribution. Prior to joining Neuberger Berman, he held field sales and leadership roles at Invesco.
Pruett received his bachelor’s degree in finance from Georgia State University.
Wikimedia CommonsErnesto Leme, the partner responsible for Claritas Investments’ Wealth Management division.. Brazilian Investors Beginning to Whet their Appetites for Diversifying Abroad
This year marks Claritas’ fifteenth anniversary in Brazil. What started as a hedge fund firm, evolved into one of Brazil’s pioneer independent management companies, as well as becoming one of the pioneers of the country’s alternative industry; a path which the company has consolidated into a multi strategy approach offering multi-asset products, long/short and equity funds. In 2001, two years after its founding, the firm launched its equity strategy to then leap into the fund of funds industry in 2004, and then in 2007 as asset managers in private equity. It was in 2008 when the company embarked onto the development of the wealth management business, and in 2012 joined Principal, as was explained to Fund Society by Ernesto Leme, the partner responsible for Claritas Investments’ Wealth Management division.
As regards Claritas Wealth Management, Leme explained that the company mainly targets the ultra-high-net-worth (UHNW) Brazilian clients. In order to protect and grow these clients’ wealth, the best approach is to offer diversification, remembering that “we are not here to make them rich. Our job is to keep them rich for generations, but not make them rich,” he added.
International diversification is not a strong trend in Brazilian investors, as safeguarded as they are by the country’s extremely high interest rates and its stability derived from a consistent growth in recent years, they have not leaped into exterior markets. However, Leme has found that in the last 12 months an appetite for international diversification has developed, and it is aimed primarily at the U.S. and Europe. “Diversification is no longer exclusively targeted towards emerging markets, although there is still interest in some countries within the region such as Chile, Peru and Mexico, it is no longer concentrated only in those markets,” he added.
As for the asset class trend among Claritas clients, Leme said that the investor currently tends more toward equities, followed by fixed income, where there is also substantial interest.
The executive explained that, in response to the Brazilian investor’s growing appetite for international diversification, the firm has recently launched three strategies: a global equities fund, with 60% positioning in the United States, and which is also its first global shares’ fund, a high yield American fund, and a preferred securities fund, which invests in large international companies such as banks, insurance and reinsurance companies, telecommunications, energy and transportation, among others. The team of this last fund is in the United States and consists of 14 people. These new products are made in Brazil, but they have all been allowed to invest abroad. The three funds are: Claritas Global Equity, Claritas Preferred Securities and Claritas Global High Yield.
Finally, when asked about his participation in the upcoming Private Wealth Brazil Forum, to be held in Brazil next May 13 th, Leme, who will participate in the panel discussion on current trends and expected returns in the hedge fund space, said his commitment to hedge funds was placed in the macro space because the achievements are measured independently of traditional markets.
Private Wealth Brazil Forum, organized by Latin Markets, is a meeting point for private bankers, UHNWI, asset managers, family businesses and family offices. The forum brings together more than 300 professionals and industry leaders of Brazilian wealth management for a day of lectures, in which strategies to protect, preserve and grow wealth are addressed.
Photo: Henrickson . RBC Wealth Management Closes Down in Chile after Six Years in the Market
RBC Wealth Management has decided to close down its office in Santiago de Chile after six years in the country “as part of a strategic review of our business in Latin America.” As RBC Wealth Management confirmed to Funds Society, the closure will take place later this year.
Similarly, RBC Wealth Management pointed out during a brief statement that “more than 95% of our Latin American customers are now served through our highly experienced offices in the Caribbean, Europe and North America. We will continue to grow through this successful business model.” Richard Diego is at the helm of RBC Wealth Management business for Latin America.
The Chilean newspaper “Pulso” was the first to report the news, informing that RBC WM clients in Chile have already begun to be notified of the office closure via email.
RBC Wealth Management arrived in Santiago in early April 2008, setting up office in Nueva Las Condes, the financial heart of the Chilean capital. At that time, RBC’s objective for Chile was to provide financial advisory services with a global vision for high net worth individuals (HNWIs), which as the firm explained at the time, was an activity which supplemented “the strong presence in Latin America through the continued expansion of the company in the region.”A week earlier, RBC WM also opened offices in Mexico.
Two months prior to RBC notifying its departure from Uruguay, its premises were raided by Argentine Judge Norberto Oyarbide, amid an enquiry into alleged tax crimes for a “Mega Cause” investigation into asset laundering maneuvers through million dollar transfers of dozens of football players. At the time, however, RBC denied that this fact was related to the closure of its business in the country.
Photo: Ed Schipul from Houston, TX, US (running with the seagulls) . Brave New World
The major themes driving markets in Q1 were all negative: disappointing economic and corporate data, recurrent problems in emerging markets, and the political crisis in Crimea. Still, the resilience of markets (global equities +1.4%; emerging markets -0.4%[1]) against such a challenging backdrop suggests underlying market strength and the promise of better returns in the months ahead if the news flow does improve.
While we have some sympathy for this theme, we’d be wary of getting carried away with it. One reason is that market resilience in recent months seems partly due to the fact that our positive outlook for growth in the major economies has now become a consensus view. Investors have probably disregarded weak data because they expect a rebound in the next few months. If that’s right, then risk assets might need good data just to validate current expectations. Also, it’s possible that any positive growth news in the UK and the US will shift investors to a more bearish view on monetary policy.
Monetary policy really matters – it has been the key driver of financial markets in the post-crisis era. Q2 2013 was a high point for investor confidence in central bank liquidity provision. Since then, markets have begun to accept that US quantitative easing is ending and have begun to focus on the timing of the first interest rate hike. The imprint of this theme on markets is clear. While global equities and high-yield bonds have recently made new highs, every other asset class is still trading below its 2013 peak.
The broader theme here is that markets are in the midst of a transition away from a world in which central bank liquidity boosted all assets, to a world of more limited policy support. In the major economies, the expansion of central bank balance sheets has peaked. In China, policymakers are now focused on restraining the credit boom. In other emerging markets there has been more policy tightening than easing. As markets confront the limits to policy support, the growth outlook becomes increasingly important. In gloomy emerging markets, positive growth surprises would be unambiguously welcomed. In the UK and the US, market reaction to positive growth surprises will be somewhat tempered by concerns about the impact on monetary policy.
Liquidity-driven markets are powerful and straightforward: everything goes up. We are now in transition to a more complex environment in which market reaction to news will be more nuanced and less predictable. That’s a world in which we’d expect asset performance to remain quite widely dispersed. A world with more volatility, more challenges and more opportunities.
Fernando Borges, Managing Director and Co-head of Carlyle Group operations in Brazil has just been elected new president of the Brazilian Association of Private Equity & Venture Capital (ABVCAP) for the period of two years (2014-2016). The voting of the new president by the members of the ABVCAP boards occurred before the opening of “ABVCAP Conference 2014”, hold last week in Rio de Janeiro. The new vice presidents are elected Clovis Meurer, Partner and Superintendent Executive at CRP, and Luiz Eugenio Figueiredo of ABVCAP.
“The perspective for the industry to participate in the country is promising and positive, as we believe the resumption of economic growth, the recovery of the capital market and the strength of the Brazilian productive sector,” said Borges , during the press conference.
According to Clovis Meurer, former president of ABVCAP, the market for private equity funds and venture capital in Brazil is experiencing an extraordinary moment with immense opportunities in various fields like education, infrastructure, consumer and retail.
“Increasingly, the private equity industry sees Brazil as a country with endless possibilities, with increasingly high wages, natural resources and a wonderful industrial park. Brazil is a natural destination in world affairs,” he says.
ABVCAP Conference is the largest gathering of industry interests in Latin America, bringing together major players of the national and international scene. The event has featured names like David Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group; Gustavo Franco, a founding partner of Bravo Investments; Clovis Meurer, vice-president of ABVCAP and superintendent of CRP – Companhia de Participações, among other industry experts, local and international managers. The Congress of ABVCAP is sponsored by the BNDES, FINEP, KPMG, BM&FBovespa, Guernsey, Thomson Reuters, Bradesco BBI, Merril Datasite, RR Donnelley, CAF, Deloitte, PWC, IBM and UOL Diveo, beyond institutional partnership ABDI, Apex-Brasil and the IDB / MIF.
See the members of the deliberative council elected for 2014-2016:
François Gobron, gestor del fondo Generali IS European Recovery Equity, lanzado recientemente. "El tema de la recuperación es más acusado en Portugal y Grecia que en España e Italia"
François Gobron, fund manager of the recently launched Generali IS European Recovery Equity Fund, expains in this interview with Funds Society that there is a lot to earn in Greece and Portugal as these markets were the most impacted by the financial crisis.
Although the fund intended to play the current economic recovery, is it a good idea in the long term, although countries may not always be in “recovery” mode? Why?
The recovery theme we are managing with our fund is focused on Southern Europe, on the peripheral countries, that is Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece. Indeed, we see lots of opportunities in Southern Europe, mainly in companies with a large domestic exposure.
We are taking into account three major drivers which will have a strong positive impact on South European companies. These are: firstly, the economic recovery itself of these countries, with a focus on leading private companies focused on their domestic markets; secondly, the re-rating by major rating agencies, which will reduce the cost of these companies’ debt and facilitate their access to the debt markets; and thirdly the ongoing restructuring of many public or para-public companies and new regulations, in many cases imposed by the Troika (IMF, ECB and EC), especially in Greece.
We are convinced there is a lot to earn in Greece and Portugal as these markets were the most impacted by the financial crisis. We have thus a stronger focus on these two countries. It is also a bit unfair, from my point of view, to put Italy and Spain in the same bag of Portugal and Greece. Although it is true that some of these countries will not always be in “recovery” mode, there are always good opportunities and special situations that can make good investment cases, especially by capable stock-pickers with a clear focus on strategic analysis.
It is true that the peripheral economies’ recovery it is not priced in their respective stock markets? How do you see the current valuations? Is it currently a good entry point?
If you only look to P/E 2014, it is correct that valuations in Southern Europe do not look particularly attractive: at around 15x they are on line with the rest of Europe. But if you do a strategic analysis, trying to understand what could be normalized margins once volumes are going back to normal (or even just increasing a bit), you will see that you have a lot of opportunities in some companies with a large, underutilized asset base.
On top of that, there’s a huge variance in stocks performance and valuation, so there’s a need to be particularly selective and cautious on stocks we include in our portfolio. As an example, we are not exposed to the Spanish media market as the media stocks (TVs…) look too expensive to us given the kind of recovery we can expect in the short to medium term in this industry. For this fund, we avoid companies not enough focused on their home markets, meaning we prefer to not invest in companies with a strong international presence (large blue chips); we also avoid regulated business when regulation can be at risk, like energy in Spain; and finally we try to stay away from value traps like companies with overvalued assets, such as the Spanish real estate sector, in our opinion.
What kind of opportunities in the periphery still have an interesting potential?
We see a lot of opportunities in companies listed in Southern Europe, as all these countries will benefit from re-rating from the major rating agencies. We usually prefer companies having a strong footprint on their local market, that will benefit the most from the local recovery; still having a potential to restructure (para-public companies pushed to make strong cost cutting by the Troika); in the near future, we believe there will be interesting opportunities in the Italian financial sector.
Which recovering country could provide more benefits to investors? Spain / Italy / Portugal / Greece?
The recovery theme is more present in Portugal and Greece than in Spain and Italy. We chose not to include Ireland in our fund because the Irish stock market has already more than doubled since the 2009 lows.
In which sectors can there be the greatest recovery? What about the financial sector?
Heavy industries (cement metal), infrastructures (water, energy, telecom). The financial sector has a huge leverage on activity, with ROTE that could go as high as 15% in the long run in Greece and Portugal (on a normalized 9% CT1). In Italy ROTE could normalize from 7% today to 10% in a few years and we expect some sort of consolidation in the coming quarters/years in the Italian banking sector.
Is the recovery fully on the way? What risks do you see that could affect economic recovery in southern Europe ? How could these risks impact your portfolio?
Recovery is now a reality, at least we can now see that the worst is behind us, but it is still a very early phase of economic recovery in South European markets. The main risk I would like to underline is not an exit of Greece from the eurozone. Instead it is more a slower recovery than expected that could take 5 years instead of 3 to materialize.
Do you believe that deflation will occur ?
We think we are not in a deflation mode and that political institutions will take measures to avoid it. We are quite immune from deflation coming from emerging countries, as stocks included in the European Recovery Equity Fund are not exposed to anything else then their domestic market. For instance, the crisis of emerging currencies back in January had no specific impact on our fund.
It is true that with the euro area headline inflation marking a new cyclical low of 0.5% yoy in March and Spain even recording falling prices by -0.2% yoy, deflation concerns have heightened recently. However, deflation is a situation in which prices fall on a broad scale and consumers as well as firms believe that this situation will continue. This is to be distinguished from disinflation where price increases come down but there is no wide-spread expectation regarding falling prices on a sustained basis. In the euro area disinflation is the name of the game. Looking ahead, we do not expect the euro area falling into deflation for the following reasons: First, the latest data were strongly influenced by technical factors. Base effects from energy prices and an early Easter compared to this year turned to be substantially disinflationary. Second, the economic recovery is on track. Output has started to expand in most of the Southern countries. This should at least stabilize price increases. Moreover, also in these economies the price pressure excluding volatile goods and government effects (tax hikes, administered prices etc.) has stabilized. Third, inflation expectations have come down over the last months but are still at reasonably high levels.
All in all, while low inflation rates will persist for the time being, we do not see the euro area falling into deflation. That said, deflation is a risk that has to be closely watched. For instance, a geopolitically induced negative supply shock has the potential to initiate a process that in the end pushes the euro area into a deflationary environment.
Should the ECB do more … or is it enough?
The ECB has brought down its policy rate close to zero already and implemented a number of unconventional policy options in order to stimulate activity and cushion risks. Most importantly, the OMT program and the forward guidance to “leave interest rates at present or lower levels for an extended period of time” is a clear signal that monetary policy will continue to support activity. However, the major problem of the current recovery is missing credit growth. For instance, loans to the private sector continued to shrink at an unabated pace of slightly above two percent year-on-year. Here, tailored measures to facilitate credit creation especially in the peripheral economies are likely to be adopted. The acceptance of Asset Backed Securities based on credit given to small and medium sized firms or the creation of a Funding for Lending Scheme à la Bank of England are promising possibilities in our view. We do not expect the euro area to fall into deflation. However, a clear and credible emergency plan would help to stabilize expectations. In this respect, it helps that the chorus of policy makers are loudly thinking about quantitative easing, including the President of the Bundesbank. Moreover, should the euro continue to strengthen and become a threat to the recovery we think the ECB will not hesitate to introduce a negative deposit rate.
J.P. Morgan Private Bank has revealed the expectations of Ultra High Net Worth and High Net Worth European investors on market conditions, risk appetite and investment sentiment for 2014, as part of the Bank’s latest Private Client Survey. Conducted as part of the Private Bank’s latest Investment Insights series between January and February 2014, held in 15 cities across Europe amongst more than 900 UHNW and HNW investors, the survey polled participants on their market outlook, including investment views on the key risks for the next 12 months, as well as investment sentiment and their anticipated portfolio positioning.
When asked about European economic growth, almost all investors (95%) are convinced that Europe will grow in 2014. The majority (49%) believe Europe will grow at a rate of 1% in the next twelve months, and a quarter (23%) say a 1.5% growth rate is achievable, while 3.5% of investors think the region will grow by 2% in 2014. Some investors were slightly more cautious, with 20% predicting a lower 0.5% growth rate. Only 5% of investors believe Europe will not grow at all.
More than half (54%) of investors believe equities will be the best-performing asset class in 2014 – with Spanish (70%), German (59%) and Greek (54%) investors being the most bullish. A further third (31%) of investors consider alternative investments and hedge funds to be the other asset class winner for 2014, with respondents in the Netherlands (67%) and Switzerland (32%) particularly supportive. Investors generally agree that fixed income will not deliver the performance of the past 20 years, and less than 5% expect the asset class to be a good performer in 2014.
Europe is expected to be the best performing equity market in 2014, leading the way with 39% of investors’ votes. However, other markets are also listed: 35% believe the US will be the strongest performing equity market; 15% say Emerging Markets will outperform other regions; and 12% believe Japan could perform the best.
For fixed income investments, well over half (59%) of investors consider extended credit (high yield, loans, peripheral debt) to be the best performer for 2014. This was followed by Emerging Markets debt (18%), core/traditional fixed income (12%) and finally, cash (11%).
The survey also asked investors whether they plan to commit additional cash to investing in 2014. More than half (52%) revealed they plan to do so through additions to equities, while 18% are willing to commit more cash to alternatives. Roughly one in five (18%) investors would rather hold cash at current levels, while 8% are willing to increase cash positions and even reduce market exposure. “Given the outlook for 2014, it is reasonable that investors are willing to commit additional cash to investing this year, and as 2014 progresses, we expect consensus to be proven right: Stocks will beat bonds. Many investors have carried large cash positions over the past few years and have missed out on strong returns for risk assets, especially equities. We believe 2014 will be another year in which it pays to be invested”, César Pérez, Chief Investment Strategist for J.P. Morgan Private Bank in EMEA, comments.
Slower growth in China was the key concern for investors last autumn. This perception, however, has now shifted. According to the study, the geopolitical/political environment is now the key risk for markets for 33% of European investors in 2014.. Other concerns include the Fed’s exit from quantitative easing (30%), Europe turning to deflation (21%), and equity valuations being too high (17%).
Photo: Sphilbrick. Venture Capital Culture in South Florida, under Analysis in Miami
Miami Finance Forum (MFF), in the framework of Power Breakfast Discussions, will celebrate an event to speak about venture capital in South Florida. On Wednesday, April 23rd, 7.30-10 am at Conrad Hotel, Miami.
The Moderator will be Scott M. Moss, CPA, Managing Partner at Cherry Bekaert Advisory Services. Scott’s client service activities are focused on providing Transaction Advisory Services and numerous domestic and multinational companies and private equity funds have benefitted from Scott’s guidance in all areas of mergers, acquisitions and due diligence. Scott has successfully advised clients on transactions with cumulative transaction values of more than $3 billion.
The speakers will be:
Greg Baty is a principal at the Florida-based company Hamilton Lane and is primarily focused on the activities of the Florida Growth Fund. Prior to joining Hamilton Lane in 2009, Greg hadinvestment positions within the private equity marketplace and previous experience with venture finance at Sand Hill Capital and Garage.com (Garage Technology Ventures).
Thomas “Tigre” Wenrich is a Director at Open English Holdings, Inc., and from 2009 to 2013 served as the COO and CFO, growing the company from commercial launch to over $50M in annual revenues. Today Open English is the leading on-line language school in the Americas, helping more than 100,000 active students to learn English over the internet. Under his leadership, Open English raised over $120M of Venture Capital in four rounds of investment from firms including Redpoint, Insight, and Technology Crossover Ventures.
Susan Amat is the founder of Venture Hive, an entrepreneurship education company that help governments and municipalities develop innovation ecosystems through K-12, university, and incubator/accelerator programs. A serial entrepreneur, she built businesses in the entertainment industry for over a decade, including the first CD-Rom magazine and a national television show on the E! Network.
Albert Santalo is the Chairman, CEO, and President of CareCloud. He founded the Miami-based company in 2009 with the goal of enhancing healthcare delivery through user-friendly, cloud-based technologies that connect physicians to their patients and each other. CareCloud has since become a leading provider of cloud-based health IT software and services, attracting physicians across 50 specialties in 48 states.
Marco Giberti is a successful entrepreneur and angel investor with more than 20 years of intensive experience in marketing and communications with focus on the media, internet and events industry. After several years in a successful career as a corporate executive at Apple computers, Mr. Giberti decided to give free rein to his entrepreneurial spirit and became Co-founder and Board Member of Mind Opener, a leading publishing group in Latin America that was later sold to British Pearson Media Grou, and Co-founder and Board Member of e-mind, an internet and media communications company that was sold to Liberty Medi, among others.
The event will take place at Hotel Conrad in Brickell Avenue. For more information or registration use this link.
Ossiam, an affiliate of Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM), has today announced the signing of a cooperation agreement with China Securities Index Company, Ltd. (“CSI”), the largest Chinese index provider, based in Shanghai. Ossiam will provide expertise in minimum variance index construction to CSI, which is developing a minimum variance index based on CSI’s own CSI 300 benchmark.
CSI 300 aims to reflect the price fluctuation and performance of the China A shares market. It is widely used as a performance benchmark and a basis for indexing and derivative products. The first index future contract in mainland China is based on CSI 300.
CSI has selected Ossiam as the proven alternative-weighted index asset management expert to provide guidance and research in the design of the new CSI minimum variance index.
The Ossiam research team has extensive experience in the design and management of rule-based, transparent minimum variance portfolios based on various equity investment universes, including those in Europe, the US, global and emerging markets. It has also proven its capability of providing superior research content and analysis of its alternative-weighted smart beta processes to investors. Ossiam’s strategies are consistent in volatility reduction and their ability to outperform peers, thanks to predictable and transparent processes.
Ossiam manages more than USD 1.29 billion in minimum variance strategies in exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and segregated mandates.
Ma Zhigang, chief executive officer of CSI, said: “CSI calculates nearly 2000 end of day and real time indices covering equity, fixed income, commodities and other alternative assets in mainland China, Great China and other global markets. The cooperation with Ossiam helps to provide more valuable solutions to market participants.”
Bruno Poulin, chief executive of Ossiam, welcomed the announcement, saying: “We are delighted to work with CSI on this exciting project. As the first asset manager in the world to launch minimum variance ETFs in 2011, we have a track record that strongly backs our approach. We believe rigour, consistency and transparency of our own minimum variance process were the reasons why CSI selected Ossiam as a partner to assist in the construction of their minimum variance index. This cooperation also shows our ability to innovate and partner on the global stage, sharing our strengths and capabilities through cooperation with a leading index provider in Asia.”
