CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Funds Society. BBVA Bancomer Becomes the First Asset Management Company in Mexico to Adopt the CFA Institute's Code
Mexico’s largest banking institution is latest global firm to pledge ethical behavior to shape a more trustworthy financial industry. CFA Institute, the global association of investment professionals that sets the standard for professional excellence, has added BBVA Bancomer Asset Management to the growing list of investment firms that claim compliance with its Asset Manager Code. BBVA Bancomer Asset Management, with 20% market share in Mexico, is now one of the more than 1,400 companies around the world that claim compliance with the code.
The Asset Manager Code clearly outlines the ethical and professional responsibilities of firms that manage assets on behalf of their clients. For investors, the code provides a benchmark for the behavior that should be expected from asset managers and offers a higher level of confidence in the firms that adopt the code. The initiative was started by Jorge Unda, CIO at BBVA Bancomer and one of the first CFA’s in the country. Currently 40% of his team holds the designation and the rest is working towards getting it.
“Investors should expect and receive the highest level of professional conduct in the firms and individuals with whom they entrust their investments” said Jaime Lázaro, CFA, director of BBVA Bancomer Asset Management. “BBVA Bancomer once again shows its leadership in the Mexican financial system and the adoption of the Asset Manager Code reinforces our commitment to make the customer our priority in every decision.”
When Unda and Lázaro first started the program, 15 years ago, there were 30 CFAs in Mexico, nowadays, over 200.
The Asset Manager Code is grounded in the ethical principles of CFA Institute and the CFA® Program, and requires that managers commit to the following professional standards:
To act in a professional and ethical manner at all times
To act for the benefit of clients
To act with independence and objectivity
To act with skill, competence, and diligence
To communicate with clients in a timely and accurate manner
To uphold the rules governing capital markets
“Building trust in the investment profession is central to the CFA Institute mission, and to strengthen and ensure the future vitality of the global financial system,” said Bjorn Forfang, deputy CEO at CFA Institute. “We applaud BBVA Bancomer Asset Management, and all firms that have adopted the code, for displaying a resolute and tangible commitment to professional ethics and helping to build a better world for investors.”
BBVA Bancomer Asset Management is the largest asset management firm in Mexico, and the first asset manager and second company after Tempest Capital to adopt the CFA Institute Asset Manager Code in Mexico.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Twitter. Denise Desaulniers Joins Bulltick's Wealth Management Team in Miami
Bulltick confirmed to Funds Society that Denise Desaulniers, has officially joined the firm this week as Head of Structured Products.
She will be based out of the Miami office. Bulltick’s team has seven bankers and close to 1 billion dollars in AUM.
According to the firm: “Denise brings extensive experience, know-how and relationships in both the production and buy sides of structured notes and derivatives, along with a broad securities trading and advising career. She was most recently with Banco Santander International (Miami) where she spent over 15 years, serving UHNWI clients with a focus on assisting in meeting their exposure demands through structured products. Denise worked previously with Banco de Sabadell in Miami and Societe Generale in New York. She holds various FINRA licenses, including general securities and options principals licenses, among others. She is a graduate of New York University, is fluent in Spanish and French and has been a serious competitor in triathlon and Ironman competitions.”
Humberto Bañuelos, managing director at Bulltick Capital Markets, added: “Bulltick is at a very interesting fgrowth stage and Denise is a key piece in this process.”
On 9 February, President Trump signed a two-year budget deal that funds the US federal government up to 23 March and suspends the debt ceiling for one year. The agreement averts another government shutdown, which has now happened nine times since 1990. The solution has been a boost to spending that adds to the growing deficit in order to finance operations and governmental agencies.
The above is just an example of how debt is increasing. In January 2018, the Institute of International Finance (IIF) calculated that in the third quarter of 2017, the debt of households, businesses, banks and governments all over the world soared to a record total of €193.3 trillion. With this figure, the debt-to-GDP ratio is 318%. Broken down by economies, 74% of the debt corresponds to developed countries and the remaining 26% belongs to emerging economies. And in terms of sectors, the distribution is as follows: Households 18.70%; non-financial corporates 29.53%; financial sector 24.82%; and governments 26.95%.
There is a growing trend over the last few years, and the expansive monetary policies of the main central banks (that have brought interest rates down to zero or lower) has a lot to do with it. It has allowed for cheap financing, which has been exploited mainly by businesses, and investors, in the context of excess liquidity and a low default rate, have taken on these new issues, which have generally been very oversubscribed.
As for the public deficit, how can it be reduced? Let us examine some of the main options:
Increase revenue through increased taxes and reduced spending. For example, by eliminating benefits. Governments do not like the sound of this option due to the political cost involved. Some countries may have room to manoeuvre when it comes to implementing expansive fiscal policies, as is the case in the US, but these policies mean added pressure on the debt and the sustainability of public finances.
Reduce interest rates which reduce financial cost. Up until now, this has been the case, but it could come to an end, because it seems that several of the main central banks are currently moving in synch towards toughening monetary policies. An increase in interest rates could hinder the solvency of those more indebted governments. For example, in China, where there a high level of debt with regards to the real estate sector and shadow banking and there is a risk that it will end up affecting sovereign solvency. Or Japan, with a government debt-to-GDP ratio of 223.8% (estimated total debt is 400%). With 10-year rates below 0.10% and savers who are continuously repurchasing the maturities, Japan so far does not seem to be causing too much concern.
Generate inflation. Central banks’ prime objective. Even if it remains low, the chance of surprise increased inflation is higher than in previous years, particularly within the context of more dynamic economic expansion that influences an acceleration in salary growth.
Economic growth is the most desirable scenario. Without a doubt, this is the healthiest option, which allows for an increase in tax revenue and, therefore, a reduction in debt and an increase in financial sustainability. In this regard, the positive outlook of international institutions like the IMF and the OECD, or the early data from business confidence indicators, which are often at all-time highs, allows us to believe that economic growth will contribute to this necessary debt reduction.
But if everything fails, in the event that we are unable to meet obligations, we are faced with the dreaded default, but we hope that debt is used prudently and that it does not reach this extreme.
It has taken us almost a decade to get over the last financial crisis caused by excessive leveraging. The combined action of the main central banks has played a fundamental role in restoring normality to economic activity. However, if history repeats itself, will they have enough margin to apply the same policies? Investors must be very aware of the indebtedness variable when selecting investments and demanding adequate return on each risk they assume.
At the time of writing, global public debt according to https://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/ is at $69,623,405,723,931. I suggest you visit the website and check the current figure.
Pixabay CC0 Public DomainPhoto: Tom Mansley, investment director at GAM. GAM's Tom Mansley will discuss MBS and ABS at the Funds Society Investments & Golf Summit in Miami
On April 12th and 13th Funds Society will host its fifth Investments & Golf Summit 2018. Sponsors include Janus Henderson Investors, RWC Partners, Thornburg Investment Management, Vontobel Asset Management, GAM Investments and AXA Investment Managers. The event will take place at the Blue Monster in Trump National Doral Club Golf, host of the prestigious PGA TOUR events for the past 55 years.
On April 12th, at the Investment day, sponsored also by Schroders Investment Management, Columbia Threadneedle Investments and MFS Investment Management, participants will be able to take the opportunity to discuss about Global Markets as well as the latest portfolio management strategies and investment ideas from top-performing Asset Managers from the nine sponsors, such as GAM’s Tom Mansley.
MBS and ABS
Mansley is an Investment Director specializing in the analysis and management of mortgage and asset backed securities (MBS and ABS). On the first day of the event, he will talk about how MBS may offer a differentiated fixed income proposition for investors. Given that the market is large, liquid and offers a diverse range of instruments, with securities that may be suited to virtually every stage of the economic cycle, risk/return objectives and appetites, Mansley will provide an overview of the market and discuss his team’s active management approach to this low duration strategy.
He joined GAM in June 2014 from specialist MBS and ABS manager Singleterry Mansley Asset Management, which he joined in 2008 and at which he was CIO. Prior to that, he headed the structured products division at Seix Advisors, an asset management subsidiary of SunTrust. Previously, he held a wide range of MBS-related roles including fixed income portfolio management, proprietary trading and risk management at several global and European banks such as JP Morgan and Credit Suisse First Boston.
Tom Mansley holds an MBA from Pace University, an MS in mathematics from the Courant Institute at New York University, a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science from Pace University, and is a CFA charterholder. He is based in New York.
You can register for the Investments & Golf Summit 2018 by following this link.
Pixabay CC0 Public DomainRitz-Carlton Cancún. LatAm's Family Offices and the Sell-Side Gather at the Latin Private Wealth Management Summit in Cancún
The Latin Private Wealth Management Summit will take place on May 3-4 at The Ritz Carlton in Cancun. The event is the premium forum that brings together solution providers with the most recognized single and multi-family offices in LATAM in a private luxurious venue, destined to explore topics and issues, create business and debate about solutions for the private wealth industry in the region.
Along with the content, there will be formal networking opportunities between investors and money managers, thanks to Marcus Evans’ “one on one” model of pre-schedule business meetings. Between the presentations and meetings, attendees can network during the coffee breaks, meals and cocktail hours!
Attendees have included:
Alfonso Carrillo, Partner, Family Office Mexico SC
Antonio Gastelum, Presidente, Antonio Gastelum Inc.
Javier Mtanous Arocha, Partner, MG Capital
The event is directed to CIO’s, VP’s, Directors, Founders and Investment Leaders from: Multi Family Offices, Single Family Offices, and/or Investment Advisors.
For more information, please contact Deborah Sacal +52 55 4170 5555 ext. 2437 or visit this link.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Banco de México
. Carstens: “Authorities Should be Prepared to Act on Cryptocurrencies”
Authorities must be prepared to act against the invasive spread of cryptocurrencies to protect consumers and investors, Bank for International Settlements (BIS) General Manager Agustín Carstens said.
In a lecture “Money in the digital age: what role for central banks?”, Carstens said that for money to keep its value, it must be backed by accountable institutions which enjoy public trust. Here, central banks are key.
“The meteoric rise of cryptocurrencies should not make us forget the important role central banks play as stewards of public trust,” Carstens said in the lecture in Frankfurt, organised by Sustainable Architecture for Finance in Europe (SAFE), the Center for Financial Studies and the Deutsche Bundesbank. “Private digital tokens masquerading as currencies must not subvert this trust.”
New technologies hold great promise, for example in making payment systems more efficient. But new currencies are not required for that promise to be realised. Authorities have a duty to make sure technological advances are not used to legitimise the profits from illegal activities, and to educate and protect investors and consumers, Carstens said. They must also ensure cryptocurrencies do not become entrenched and pose a risk to financial stability.
“Novel technology is not the same as better technology or better economics,” Carstens said.
“That is clearly the case with Bitcoin: while perhaps intended as an alternative payment system with no government involvement, it has become a combination of a bubble, a Ponzi scheme and an environmental disaster.”
Large price swings, high transaction costs and a lack of consumer and investor protection make cryptocurrencies unsafe and unsuited to fill money’s role as a shared means of payment, store of value and unit of account, he said.
Central banks and financial authorities should pay particular attention to the ties linking cryptocurrencies to real currencies, and ensure they do not become parasites on the institutional infrastructure of the wider financial system. To ensure a level playing field for all participants in financial markets, access to legitimate banking and payment services should be limited to those exchanges and products that meet accepted high standards, Carstens said.
“This means ‘same risk, same regulation’. And no exceptions allowed,” he said.
Foto cedida. Funds Society Launches the Second Edition of its Asset Manager’s Guide NRI
After a very warm welcome of its first edition, Funds Society has launched the second edition of its Asset Manager’s Guide NRI, which was launched along with the 13th edition of its in Spanish offshore magazine.
In a year in which the industry has undergone major changes, including mergers between prominent players in the market and a lot of movement among sales team professionals from one firm to another, Funds Society has created a guide with 42 pages that include general information of about 60 international asset managers that are dedicated to the investment business for individuals not residing in the United States through its range of UCITS products.
Among the most noteworthy developments are, the changes made by Aberdeen Standard Investments, Amundi Pioneer Asset Management and Janus Henderson Investors after their respective mergers along with the reinforced team at GAM Investments.
Additional information is provided on those managers that are beginning their business proposal in the Americas region. Managers with a long history in the United States that have decided to enter the offshore business in the United States, such as Double Line, an independent management firm based in Los Angeles, California, Muzinich and Co, based in New York, and other managers that, based in London, decided to expand their business with non-resident clients in the United States, as is the case with RWC Partners and Jupiter Asset Management, which comes hand in hand with Unicorn Strategic Partners.
For the complete information, visit the online guide.
Foto cedidaMariano Belinky, courtesy photo. Mariano Belinky, New Head at Santander Asset Management
Banco Santander appointed Mariano Belinky as Head of Santander Asset Management (‘SAM’). Belinky joins SAM from Santander InnoVentures, the Bank’s $200 million fintech investment fund, which he has led successfully for the past three years.
Before joining Santander InnoVentures, Mariano Belinky was an Associate Principal at McKinsey where he advised global banks and asset managers across Europe and the Americas. He also worked in the research technology team at Bridgewater Associates in the United States, and as a trader in equity derivatives markets in his native Buenos Aires. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and philosophy from New York University.
Víctor Matarranz, Head of Wealth Management, which comprises private banking and asset management, said: “By combining Santander’s experience and expertise in asset management with the Group’s technological capabilities, we can transform the services we offer our clients. Mariano has an outstanding track record in driving innovation and delivering for customers and I am confident he will help Santander Asset Management achieve its full potential.”
Santander Asset Management has a history spanning more than 45 years and a presence in 11 countries in Europe and Latin America. It manages €182 billion in assets across all types of investment vehicles, from mutual and pension funds to discretionary portfolios and alternative investments. SAM’s investment solutions include bespoke Latin American and European fixed income and equity mandates. The company employs more than 700 professionals around the world.
Belinky replaces Juan Manuel San Román who is leaving the Group for personal reasons. Victor Matarranz said, “I’d like to thank Juanma for his service to the Group and his support during the transition.”
Manuel Silva will continue to head the Santander Innoventures investment team and Mario Aransay will continue to lead portfolio partnerships for the fund.
Photo: U.S. Department of State. The politics of NAFTA: we now see elections in Mexico and US first and NAFTA in 2019
The slow pace of NAFTA negotiations so far, suggests that politics will come into play pushing negotiations to 2019. The sixth round of NAFTA negotiations ended in Canada with slight progress, but without addressing any of the controversial topics raised previously by the US delegation. Stands out also that the US has not changed a bit the metric it uses to evaluate the fairness of the trade deal: the goods trade deficit. Even though we don’t agree with such a metric as it puts trade deals as a zero sum game (and the US has an overall trade deficit with the world as a consequence of consuming more goods and services than the ones produced in the US), when the real benefits are in higher employment, lower prices, higher profits on both sides of the border. Nevertheless, the fact remains that the US has a trade deficit with Mexico.
The US cannot close a deal before its November elections that does not seem clearly advantageous to them, when Republican are expected to lose the House. Trump campaign on the premise that NAFTA is a bad deal to US workers and it has to be changed or terminated. By the same token, Mexico cannot accept a deal that seems at a disadvantage to Mexico, as the Government can be severely questioned and affect its candidate going into the presidential elections. We believed Trump doesn´t want to withdrawal from the agreement before the Mexican elections as several US studies suggest that it will favor the left party in the Mexican elections and it would be preferable for the US to deal with the right for other issues like immigration border security and drugs. We also believed that Trump has listened to the Republican states like Texas, the auto industry and agriculture organizations that favor NAFTA.
After the Mexican elections, the US might try to force a deal advantageous to the US with a real threat of withdrawal. In our view, the issues and the likelihood of democrats advancing in both houses will set the tone for the aggressiveness of the US stance regarding NAFTA. In any case, we believed that there will also be pressured from the president elect in Mexico to postpone the negotiations until he sits in office. In that case, the most likely scenario is that the deal will be negotiated in 2019, either with (or without) the US already withdrawn from the deal and coming back to the table before the six month notice expires.
The silver lining of the politics of NAFTA adds new risks to the equation as we don´t know who in Mexico will end up negotiating the deal and its priorities. Also, as now the elections of Mexico go before we have a NAFTA deal, the electorate will be actually choosing the President that will negotiate NAFTA and define the foreign policy of the next six years. In this scenario, the elections become even more important than before when the expectation was for a NAFTA deal before the elections. Also, we don’t know at this point what the mandate from the electorate the next Mexican president will have. It is important to consider at this point, that Trump won the election in the US as he was able to capture the anguish of the US population against the widening of the distribution of income by blaming the political class and promising to “drain the swamp”, and against lost and better jobs by halting immigration and an America first policy of nationalism. These concerns are global, as seen defining other elections like Brexit and Mexico certainly is no exception. The time has come for Mexico to define its future.
Foto cedidaCourtesy photo. Exan Capital Starts the Year Buying a 144 Million Trophy Property
900 G Street NW, a trophy 112,635-square- foot office building in the East End submarket of Washington, DC, has new owners. The property sold for $144 million to an affiliate of Masaveu Real Estate US that was advised by EXAN Capital. The strategic acquisition of 900 G will grow Masaveu’s footprint in the U.S. with a portfolio value of more than $720 million. ASB completed the transaction on behalf of the Allegiance Fund, its $6.2 billion core investment vehicle that owned the property.
ASB developed 900 G Street in partnership with MRP Realty and subsequently acquired MRP’s interest after the project reached stabilization in 2016. The property is now 95% leased to high profile and blue-chip legal and government affairs tenants including Simpson Thacher, Swiss RE, Rio Tinto, Herman Miller, Truth Initiative, and BMW.
The project was designed by Gensler and earned NAIOP’s award for Best Urban Office Building up to 150,000 square feet in 2016.
Larry Braithwaite, Senior Vice President and Portfolio Manager of ASB’s Allegiance Fund, said: “We saw a strategic, and somewhat unique, opportunity to take advantage of domestic and international capital demand for new Class A product after successfully leasing up this one of a kind trophy project.” “Given current supply/demand dynamics in the market, and the strong interest in assets of this caliber, the sale facilitated our plan for prudently managing the Fund’s overall portfolio,” Braithwaite said.
At about about $1,270/sf, This is a record per-foot price for a Washington office building. Last June, Norges Bank Investment of Norway and Oxford Properties of Toronto paid $1,180/sf, or $151 million, for the 128,000-sf building at 900 16th Street NW from a JBG Cos. partnership in a deal handled by JLL.
