Maria Eugenia Cordova. Maria Eugenia Cordova Appointed US Offshore Sales Manager for Miami at Henderson
Maria Eugenia Cordova has been appointed as the new Sales Manager with Henderson Global Investors for the US offshore market. She will be based in Miami, Florida, with immediate effect.
Henderson Global Investors’ has a strong commitment to these markets, with US $6 billion assets under management in the Iberian & Latin American region combined.
Maria Eugenia will report to Ignacio de la Maza, Head of Sales Iberia & Latin America, and she will be responsible for thewholesaleside of US Offshore markets.
Maria makes a welcome new addition to the team, and brings the headcount to a total of six sales people looking after Iberia & Latin America region. There are plans to further grow the sales team in Miami over the next 12 months.
Bilingual in both Spanish and English, Maria has a ten year career in asset management. Most recently she worked at Aberdeen Asset Management. Previously she was employed by Franklin Templeton, Pioneer and Chase Investment Services. She graduated from University of Florida with a BA in Economics and Finance.
Commenting on the appointment, Ignacio de la Maza, said, “Maria has an excellent blend of skills both in the asset management sector and the US Offshore market. She has spent a number of years fostering relationships with clients, and she understands their investment priorities. She adds great value to the growing presence that Henderson has in the US Offshore market.”
Photo: Pedro Ribeiro. Nikko Asset Management Expands UCITS Range
EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) investors’ strong appetite for gaining exposure to specialist investment strategies is driving Nikko Asset Management to expand its range of UCITS funds.
“UCITS funds are an excellent way for clients in EMEA and other regions to access global investments in an easily accessible and efficient manner,” said Takuya Koyama, executive vice president and global head of sales at Nikko Asset Management. “The launch of more UCITS funds is central to our strategic effort to significantly expand our business in EMEA.”
Nikko Asset Management is launching two new UCITS funds this month that invest in global equities and multi-asset. These institutional quality strategies will allow sophisticated global investors access to a broad range of exposures across developed and emerging markets.
“As we position ourselves as Asia’s premier global asset manager, we are eager to leverage our expanded investment capabilities and expertise,” said Yu-Ming Wang, global head of investment at Nikko Asset Management. “We have a first-rate team of investment professionals, and now we are making their skills available to an even broader range of global clients.”
Over the past two years, Nikko Asset Management has been expanding its existing investment capabilities. The most recent addition was the highly experienced UK-based global active equity team led by William Low in August 2014. The global multi-asset team headed by Al Clark joined the company in March 2014 and the Asia ex-Japan equity team headed by Peter Sartori joined in October 2013.
The Tokyo-based asset manager has plans to launch more UCITS funds in the coming months in order to meet global investors’ evolving demand for exposure to more markets and strategies.
Photo: A Guy Taking Pictures. Aberdeen Launches Multi-Asset Fund
Aberdeen Asset Management has launched the Aberdeen Global – Multi-Asset Income Fund to be managed by its Edinburgh-based Multi-Asset Income Team. Share classes of the Luxembourg-domiciled UCITS fund are registered for public distribution to investors in Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland and Singapore (restricted to Qualified Investors).
The Fund is designed to address the increased demand for multi-asset investment products and the challenges that investors are facing when they seek income in the current low rate environment. It combines a broad range of high quality income-generating assets with the aim of producing a high, but sustainable, annual yield while maintaining the real value of capital over the medium term.
The eight-strong Multi-Asset Income team will manage the fund. The team will also draw on knowledge and research from the broader 60-strong Investments Solutions division.
The Fund’s strategic asset allocation is determined by the yield expectations of a range of assets and reviewed on a regular basis. Throughout this process, the focus is on creating a diversified portfolio of high quality income-generating assets.
Mike Turner, Head of Multi-Asset at Aberdeen Asset Management, comments: “In the post-financial crisis world, income is harder to come by. Using our team’s extensive experience in multi-asset investment, we aim to provide a product which can deliver a sustainable annual yield while maintaining the real value of investors’ capital over the medium term.”
Aberdeen’s Investment Solutions division currently manages over €129 billion in multi-asset portfolios on behalf of clients around the world.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Daniel Lobo. Greek Mattress Stash Up to 30% of GDP
The stock of banknotes put into circulation by the Bank of Greece rose by a further €5.3 billion in June to a record €50.5 billion – see chart. The central bank’s liability to the rest of the Eurosystem related to the supply of notes is now €22.8 billion, on top of a €107.7 billion TARGET2 deficit.
The stock of notes is equivalent to 30% of forecast GDP in 2015 and 37% of bank deposits of Eurozone residents in Greek banks at end-May. For comparison, the Eurozone-wide stock equals 10% of GDP and 9% of bank deposits.
The ECB has accommodated a huge shift in Greek liquidity preference caused by the confidence-wrecking manoeuvres of the former finance minister and associated “Grexit” fears. His claim of deliberate “liquidity asphyxiation” is surreal.
Kevin Choy, Portfolio Manager. Pioneer Investments Strengthens Alternative Fixed Income Team
Pioneer Investments announced the enhancement of its Alternative Fixed Income team with the appointment of Kevin Choy as Portfolio Manager. Based in Boston, Kevin will report directly to Thomas Swaney, Head of Alternative Fixed Income, U.S.
In his role, Kevin will work alongside Thomas to support the management of Pioneer Investments’ liquid alternative strategies, including the Long/Short Bond strategy and Long/Short Opportunistic Credit strategy.
Ken Taubes, Head of Investment Management U.S., commented: ‘’In an environment of lower expected returns from bonds, combined with a potential rise in volatility, we need to consider a different way of investing that targets new sources of returns, downside risk mitigation, and volatility management. Liquid alternative strategies aim to provide diversification, improve risk-adjusted returns, and act as shock absorbers during times of market stress,’’ he continued. “They’re potentially also a way to reduce correlations versus traditional asset classes.’’
Taubes added: ‘’We are pleased to welcome Kevin to the team and his appointment represents a further commitment to our capabilities in the growing alternative fixed income area.’’
Kevin joins Pioneer Investments from Hartford Investment Management, where he was a Senior Analyst covering a variety of sectors, including telecom, media and technology. Before joining Hartford he was a Senior Analyst at OFI Global Asset Management, where he generated long and short investment ideas for both retail and institutional investment mandates. Kevin also held positions at NEC Corp. in Tokyo, Japan and the U.S. Kevin has a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Accounting from San Jose State University. Kevin also has an M.B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a CFA charterholder.
As a more unique insight to their Liquid Alts efforts, Thomas Swaney will be a key presenter speaking on Long / Short Opportunistic Credit when he visits Miami for a due diligence event Pioneer is hosting in early October. For more detail on this upcoming event, please post the contact: US.Offshore@pioneerinvestments.com.
Photo: -Gio -Iab. Moody's: Chile's Resilient Economy Will Weather Slowdown in Investment and Consumption
Despite the Chile’s strong credit profile, slowing growth will strain profitability and demand for companies that rely on consumption, while weak commodities prices and rising production costs will weigh on Chile’s mining sector, says Moody’s Investors Service.
“A series of fiscal reforms in 2014 strengthened Chile’s fiscal policy and commitment to debt reduction, but in the process also led to a temporary reduction in investment and consumer spending,” says Moody’s Vice President and Senior Credit Officer, Barbara Mattos.
“Weaker investment has had a particularly negative effect on Chile’s economic growth. Commodities producers, especially copper, which represents over half of Chile’s exports and about 12% of its GDP, have delayed some investments in a time of narrow profits,” says Mattos in the report “Corporate Credit Quality in Chile: Investment, Consumption Will Slow Briefly in Otherwise Resilient Economy.”
The weakness of Chile’s peso against the US dollar further strains companies that derive most of their revenue from domestic consumption and have significant dollar-denominated debt on their balance sheets coming due in 2015.
However, the weak peso benefits producers of chemicals, metals, and paper and forest products, which are export-dependent.
Moody’s also notes that sectors that already have global exposure or can expand globally will be better able to weather this period of slower economic growth and lower consumer spending.
Five of the 11 rated Chilean companies had negative outlooks at the end of June 2015, which reflect company-specific conditions, such as tight liquidity, debt-financed expansions or weaker demand for commodities, rather than Chile’s macroeconomic environment.
“Chile’s economy is recovering from a growth rate of 1.9% in 2014, its weakest growth rate in five years,” says Mattos. “As the economy continues to recover in 2015 and 2016, companies will continue to benefit from Chile’s solid financial system.”
Photo: Santi Villamarin. Where Are the Most Interesting Opportunities in Equity Markets?
There are several reasons why we think upward momentum on equity markets will continue. US growth is set to continue, Europe is recovering, both the ECB and BoJ are deploying ultra accommodating policy, large groups are once again looking to do deals and European company margins are expected to continue improving.
But index gains are likely to be slower than at the beginning of 2015 and the road ahead will be rocky due to persistent volatility over events like the Greek talks, Fed policy and the crisis between Russia and Ukraine. We are maintaining our preference for developed country equities, especially in Europe and Japan, as earnings upgrades are set to continue and likely to underpin equity market advances.
Absolute European valuations may look testing but they are not excessive in cyclically adjusted terms. And compared to bond markets, equities still look attractive. We prefer the Eurozone, cyclical and banks. Japanese equity valuations are not yet in expensive territory and recent regulatory developments and the resulting boost to ROE should provide additional support for equity prices.
In the US, however, valuations and historically high profit margins suggest we should be more cautious. We prefer financials and cyclicals. Financials are trading at attractive valuations and should gain from any Fed action while cyclicals, especially in the consumer sector, stand to benefit from lower unemployment and future wage increases.
Finally, we remain selective in emerging markets which remain just as disparate as far as fundamentals and valuations are concerned.
Philippe Uzan is CIO at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (France)
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrFoto: José María Silveira Neto. El S&P 500 en 2.250 puntos, la apuesta de Fidelity para los próximos 12 meses
Bloomberg has introduced the first tool in the marketplace to help banks and other financial institutions identify covered funds under the provisions of the Volcker Rule. More than a dozen banks are using Bloomberg’s Covered Funds Identification (CFID) tool to automate the process of detecting and tagging covered funds ahead of an upcoming compliance deadline.
Beginning on July 21 of this year, most U.S. banks and foreign banks with U.S. operations must divest ownership interest in, and sponsorship of, covered funds, which include CLOs, CDOs, CMBS and other securitizations. Classifying which third-party instruments are considered covered funds is a challenging and often manual process. While the overarching rule is straightforward, there are many nuances and exceptions that must be considered. In most cases, making the right determination involves a review of prospectuses and deal documents, many of which are not readily available to individual institutions.
CFID uses nearly 30 data fields to automatically extract relevant details from offering documents to classify securities against the requirements of the Volcker Rule covered funds regulations. CFID also provides details about ownership structure, deal type, tranche type, and collateral, as well as an industry-defined decision tree that addresses the Volcker Rule covered fund requirements. When one of more than 200,000 securities incorporated in the tool is viewed on the Bloomberg Professional service, a tag appears indicating whether the security “is a covered fund,” “is not a covered fund” or “legal review required.”
The tool can also help buy-side firms discover market liquidity and price discrepancies for covered funds.
“Banks and other financial institutions are still struggling with the requirements to identify and monitor instruments affected by the Volcker Rule,” said Ilaria Vigano, Head of Regulatory and Accounting Products at Bloomberg. “Working directly with industry stakeholders, Bloomberg developed a way for traders and back office teams to eliminate the need to conduct lengthy manual reviews of portfolios. Now, more than a dozen banks are using our tool to verify which investments are covered and build a compliance program that helps ensure covered funds are not reacquired.”
. Allianz Global Investors Names Global Head of Fixed Income
Allianz Global Investors has recently promoted Franck Dixmier as global head of Fixed Income. He has also joined the global executive committee.
In addition to his new duties, Dixmier remains chief investment officer Fixed Income Europe and CEO of Allianz Global Investors France. Dixmier joined Allianz Group in 1995 as fixed income portfolio manager.
He became head of Fixed Income at AGF Asset Management (former AllianzGI France) in 1998. In 2008, Dixmier became a member of the executive committee and chief investment officer of Allianz Global Investors France.
He started his career at MACSF as fixed income manager.
Allianz Gl has €454bn of assets under management as at 31 March 2015.
CC-BY-SA-2.0, FlickrPhoto: Paul Falardeau. BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey Finds Investors Hiking Cash Holdings in the Face of Lowered Confidence in China
Global investors have raised their holdings of cash significantly in response to a weaker global economic outlook, particularly in China, according to the BofA Merrill Lynch Fund Manager Survey for July. Overall, equity allocations are unaffected by the higher risk aversion, however.
Main findings:
Confidence in the global economy falls sharply: 42 percent of investors expect strengthening over next year, down from 55 percent a month ago.
China heads concerns: net 62 percent expect economy to weaken in next 12 months; eight out of 10 see GDP below 6 percent by 2018.
Cash levels soar to highest level since 2008 crisis – 5.5 percent of portfolios; gold judged undervalued for first time in five years.
Increased pessimism on China led further weakness in assets linked to China: Commodity allocation drops to six-month low, and Global Emerging Market equities stays as most unloved region with allocations at 16-month low.
Bonds still seen as much more overvalued than equities and more at risk of volatility-driven crash; equity overweights rise to net 42 percent.
U.S. dollar bullishness strengthens despite postponing of expected U.S. rate rise to Q4 2015 or later, replacing June consensus of Q3.
Appetite to overweight European stocks rises, although potential eurozone breakdown now biggest “tail risk.”
“Rising risk aversion and stretched cash levels provide a contrarian buy signal for risk assets in Q3,” said Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research.
“Despite the Greek newsflow, intention to own European assets is high and rising, though global growth remains vitally important for European stocks,” said Manish Kabra, European equity strategist.
