Foto cedidaSandro Pierri, CEO de BNP Paribas AM.. BNP Paribas AM nombra a Sandro Pierri CEO
BNP Paribas Asset Management has announced in a press release the appointment of Sandro Pierri as CEO, with effect from July 1st 2021. Based in Paris, he will report to Renaud Dumora, future Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the group, in charge of the Investment & Protection Services Division, which includes BNP Paribas AM, BNP Paribas Cardif, BNP Paribas Wealth Management and BNP Paribas Real Estate.
Pierri succeeds Frédéric Janbon, who will become Special Advisor to Dumora, to ensure the transition, before leaving the Group at the end of the year to pursue other professional opportunities.
“I would like to sincerely thank Frédéric Janbon for his overall contribution to the BNP Paribas Group, in which he spent most of his professional career. During his tenure at the head of Fixed Income and up until 2014, he successfully built and ran a powerful and recognized fixed income and debt capital market franchise. Since 2015, he has refocused and transformed our asset management activities into a fully integrated platform delivering solid investment performance to our clients. Under his leadership, BNP Paribas AM has become a global leader in sustainable investment”, said Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, CEO of BNP Paribas Group.
Meanwhile, Dumora believes that the appointment of Pierri, who has more than 30 years of experience in the asset management industry and has been Deputy CEO for BNP Paribas AM since January, demonstrates the capacity of their asset management business to organise “a seamless succession plan which will ensure consistency” with the strategy developed by Janbon.
He also pointed out that Pierri has transformed BNP Paribas AM’s Global Client Group into a client-centric distribution platform to support the growth strategy of the business. “This has proved successful with positive results in 2020, despite the impact of the pandemic”, he commented.
Lastly, he highlighted that, as CEO, Pierri “will uphold the strategy, philosophy and values of the firm within the framework of the Group business development plan and will reinforce the leadership of BNP Paribas AM in sustainable investment”.
Pixabay CC0 Public Domain. Los activos en fondos ESG alcanzan los 2 billones de dólares apoyados por los fuertes flujos de entrada en Europa
ESG investing continues to grow. According to the latest report by Morningstar, the global sustainable universe attracted 185.3 billion dollars in net inflows in the first quarter of 2021, up 17% from 158.3 billion in the previous quarter. Specially supported by strong inflows in Europe, global assets neared the 2 trillion mark, up 17.8% from the last quarter.
The universe of the Global Sustainable Fund Flows review encompasses open-end funds and exchange-traded funds that claim to have a sustainability objective and/or use binding ESG criteria for their investment selection. The report divides it into three segments by domicile: Europe, United States, and Rest of World.
Thus, it shows that Europe took in the bulk of the flows during the first quarter of the year (79.2%), while the U.S. accounted for 11.6% of them. In the rest of the world, they were considerably higher than in previous quarters, clocking in at 17.1 billion dollars for Canada, Australia and New Zealand, Japan, and Asia. This is compared with 13 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, a spike that can be largely attributed to an uptick in flows in Japan and China combined.
Europe accounts for 83% of global assets, followed by the United States with 12%. The past three years have seen a steady increase in assets in sustainable funds globally. “With currently 4,523 sustainable funds available and many more that now formally consider ESG factors in a nonconstraining way to better manage risks and improve returns, Europe is by far the most developed and diverse ESG market“, highlights the report.
Furthermore, product launches globally remained strong in the first quarter, with 169 new ones entering the market. This is down from the all-time record set in fourth-quarter 2020 with 215 launches but up from the first quarter of 2020. Morningstar explains that product development always slows down in the first quarter relative to the fourth one. The majority of the launches (65.6%) took place in Europe, while Canada and Asia ex-Japan both saw new 17 products, followed by Japan with 13 and U.S. with 11.
U.S. market
The analysis shows that, once again, sustainable funds in the United States attracted an all-time record level of flows in the first three months of 2021. In that period, U.S. sustainable funds saw nearly 21.5 billion dollars in net inflows. That’s slightly more than the previous record, USD 20.5 billion, set in the fourth quarter of 2020, and more than double the 10.4 billion seen one year ago, in the first quarter of 2020. It was also about 5 times greater than first-quarter flows in 2019.
Also, sustainable passive funds dominated their active peers in attracting flows. During the first quarter, passive funds claimed nearly 15 billion dollars, or 70% of all U.S. sustainable flows. In this sense, the five funds attracting the most flows in the first quarter of 2021 were all passive equity funds.
Meanwhile, assets in U.S. sustainable funds have stayed on “a steady growth trajectory”, says Morningstar. As of March 2021, assets totaled nearly 266 billion dollars. That’s a 12% increase over the previous quarter and a 123% increase year over year. Active funds retained the majority (60%) of assets, but their market share is shrinking because, as the report highlights, three years ago, they held 82% of all U.S. sustainable assets.
European market
Europe was the key to the good figures registered in the first quarter of 2021. European sustainable funds attracted inflows of 120 billion euros in the first quarter of 2021. This is 18% higher than in the previous quarter, and it represents 51% of overall European fund flows. Besides, sustainable fund assets increased by 17.5% over the quarter, reaching a record high of 1.3 trillion euros.
The report also shows that index funds and ETFs garnered 36.5 billion euros in sustainable fund flows, accounting for 30% of first quarter flows, up from 32.8 billion euros in the previous quarter.
As for product development, in the first quarter of 2021 it remained high in Europe, with 111 new sustainable fund launches identified by Morningstar. The firm expects this high level of sustainable product development to continue to be spurred by the Sustainable Finance Action Plan of the European.
Foto cedidaBhaven Patel, responsable global de ETF Capital Markets de HSBC AM.. HSBC AM nombra a Bhaven Patel responsable global de ETF Capital Markets
HSBC Asset Management continues to reinforce its team with the appointment of Bhaven Patel as Global Head of ETF Capital Markets. Patel, who joined the firm on April 6, will be based in London reporting to Carmen Gonzalez-Calatayud, Head of ETF Capability.
In his new role, he will be responsible for running the firm’s ETF Capital Markets function and driving the liquidity strategy for its ETF platform. The asset manager explained in a press release that Patel will work closely with the ETF sales team to help clients with their ETF trading and execution requirements, and with the ETF operations and product development teams to help design best-in-class primary market infrastructure to support the firm’s existing product range.
Commenting on the appointment, Carmen Gonzalez-Calatayud said that Patel’s experience in designing and launching asset class-specific ETF platforms will enable them to continue expanding their “growing range of ETF products and capabilities”.
Patel highlighted that HSBC Asset Management’s ETF business has seen “momentous growth” over the past year and it is “an exciting time” to join the firm. “I am looking forward to helping the company bring innovative products to the market”, he added.
Patel brings over 16 years’ experience within the ETF industry in managing the primary and secondary ETF markets and also an ETF trader. He joins from DWS Xtrackers where he was Director, ETF Capital Markets for six years. Prior to that, he was part of the iShares ETF Capital Markets team and also worked for the ETF and delta one trading teams at Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley.
In 2020, HSBC AM set out its strategy to re-position the business as a core solutions and specialist emerging markets, Asia and alternatives focused asset manager, with client centricity, investment excellence and sustainable investing as key enablers. Growing its ETF range, particularly in areas such as ESG, Asia and fixed income, is one of the firms’ strategic growth initiatives. HSBC AM currently manages USD93.9 billion in passive and systematic strategies and USD 15.5 billion in ETF strategies.
Allfunds, the leading independent wealthtech and fund distribution platform, has developed Allsolutions, a new platform that aims to provide fund of fund and discretionary portfolio managers with a different set of building blocks to optimize their portfolios. It will open its operations during the course of May.
The firm revealed in a press release that Allsolutions will give banks and wealth managers “a solution for running their open architecture programs through mandates”. They also pointed out that, true to their business model, this is a B2B solution not available to a final investor offering.
Allfunds will onboard the first iteration of strategies for its B2B sub-advisory platform following approval from the Luxembourg regulator (CSSF). The offer will initially consist of twelve mandates covering the primary asset classes and managed by some of the largest fund houses. Seven of these strategies will have an ESG focus, which is consistent with the firm’s commitment to sustainability which includes adhering the Principles for Responsibility Investing, a United Nations initiative to foster the development of a more sustainable global financial system.
Following the initial launch, Allfunds will introduce 18 complementary strategies to the platform in the third quarter of 2021. Of these strategies, a further 14 will also focus strongly on sustainability. Their introduction will bring the total number of available strategies to 30.
“We are pleased to extend our services, offering clients access to a selection of exclusive mandates expertly managed by some of the world’s largest fund houses. Through Allsolutions, our aim is to continue to evolve the Allfunds infrastructure allowing for efficient access to open architecture whilst sticking to our B2B business model and never selling to end clients”, Juan Alcaraz, CEO, said.
Pixabay CC0 Public Domain. NN Group revisa su estrategia en búsqueda de alternativas de crecimiento para su negocio de gestión de activos
As part of its periodic assessments, NN Group has announced this week that it is reviewing strategic options for its asset management business. The firm is evaluating a broad range of options including a merger, joint venture, or (partial) divestment.
The group explained in a press release that the process is part of its “regular and thorough” assessment of its individual businesses, in line with their aim to pursue “long-term value creation that is beneficial to all stakeholders”.
The current review is aimed at assessing the opportunities to create a broader platform that enables NN Investment Partners (NN IP) to accelerate its growth. “In considering different strategic alternatives, particular focus will be given to how NN IP can continue to provide the best investment offering and service to NN’s insurance business and asset management clients in a rapidly evolving industry”, they added.
With around 300 billion euros (362 billion dollars) of assets under management, NN IP is a leader in responsible investing and has strong capabilities in fixed income, private debt, equity and multi asset solutions.
Pixabay CC0 Public DomainOportunidades en renta fija. Oportunidades en renta fija
Fixed Income can still provide protection on the downside and some benefits on the upside, but it is notably harder of late. You have to be opportunistic. You have to be nimble and you have to be solutions oriented.
In our view as active managers, the benchmark is not a starting place for asset allocation, but a proxy for risk. It’s how much risk a manager should be taking in order to achieve whatever solution is mandated. Ultimately, the first thing is to give active management a range around that benchmark. The aim doesn’t always have to be perfectly neutral. In times like COVID, you want your fixed income managers to be taking on a little bit more risk, and in periods perhaps like today or in a period where the manager doesn’t believe the risk is well-compensated, you want less.
The risk/reward isn’t skewed in an investor’s favor today. Becoming more defensive in building a portfolio that has a lower potential volatility and looking forward to areas of the market that may not sell off is important to protect against downside potential.
Risk and Reward: How to Play Defense
1) Be cautious on duration
Our advice is to remain cautious on duration. We continue to look for opportunities to take down credit duration given the move in spreads over the last 12 months. The investment grade spreads are now tighter than early 2020 (pre-COVID sell off) despite corporate leverage having increased over 2020 from already high levels. Fiscal and monetary stimulus should continue to support the economy and ultimately corporate earnings and cash flows. Therefore, we aren’t concerned about the exposure; however, prices do seem to already reflect a lot of the economic healing. As always, we search for interesting opportunities no matter what the market environment. Recently these have been higher quality in the 2- to 5-year maturity range.
2) Move up the capital stack to securitized assets where possible
The reality is that sometimes markets are mispriced across silos, and one of those mispricings was actually global airlines pre-COVID where the corporate unsecured debt and a secured position in that exact same corporate airline were priced on top of each other. Going through COVID they diverged rather significantly. One of them went down 70 percent, and another went down around 40 percent, so 30 cents on the dollar versus 60 cents on the dollar. Today, it’s actually relatively easy to make those gift trades when you give up 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 basis points of yield, but you take on a lot of protection by moving back up the capital stack spectrum and to securitized assets.
Secured credit is another area where we can do that, by just taking out credit duration, through both defensive posturing within individual assets, but also pulling back and being more defensive across the board.
Some agency mortgage-backed securities (MBS) continue to look reasonably attractive, especially relative to high-quality corporates. There are specific stories such as low coupon and low loan balance mortgages that have reasonably stable payment profiles such that we believe we are getting paid to take on the convexity risk (i.e., prepayment/extension).
3) The consumer story still resonates and has more runway
We still believe in the consumer story given the long-term improving job market and stimulus payments. Consumers entered the COVID recession in good financial shape, and while the immediate impact of the recession was quite harsh, direct stimulus payment and the overall economic rebound have allowed them to regain/maintain a good financial profile.
The places where investors should be looking today are where central banks have intervened notably less, and that is the world of securitized products.
While spreads in senior tranches of Asset-Backed Securities (ABS) and non-agency Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities (RMBS) have tightened along with corporates, we continue to think some asset types and programs remain interesting. Senior ABS are particularly interesting because spreads are relatively attractive, and the durations are short. Additionally, most of those bonds are amortizing so we get cash flow each month.
The non-agency RMBS market remains attractive because of the consumer financials as well as the strong housing market which provide collateral for these bonds (underwriting remains quite good with income/asset documentation requirements, low Loan-to-Values (LTVs), no low rate promo periods where there could be payment shocks, etc).
Structuring Portfolios for Economic Shifts, Volatility and New Opportunities
In some of our portfolios, we are moving toward a more conservative position. Spread compensation has decreased notably over last 12 months. Fiscal and monetary stimulus provide good economic support for credit (much already reflected in prices), but it also provides a basis for potential inflationary and policy rate move scares which could create volatility along the yield curve and in credit spreads. We want to be positioned to take advantage of those opportunities. Thus, we continue to preserve liquidity in the form of cash, Treasuries, agency mortgages, monthly amortizing ABS and short, high quality corporates.
Coming out of the global financial crisis a decade ago, there were structural shifts as to how the global economy was going to work. Central banks around the world shifted the regulatory environment. They became almost commoditized utilities, and to be fair, that’s being tested now with the winddown of a hedge fund in Asia that we all read about recently.
Coming out of the COVID crisis, we are seeing structural shifts again. There has been a shakeout of some of the levered players. To move up in quality as measured by rating agency grades, investors need to look across silos for relative value.
In sum, as active fixed income managers, we take risks when it makes sense to take risks, and we focus on downside protection when our view is that the markets aren’t well suited to reward risk-taking. In fixed income we are playing defense roughly 80 percent of the time, and that’s certainly true today.
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The views expressed are subject to change and do not necessarily reflect the views of Thornburg Investment Management, Inc. This information should not be relied upon as a recommendation or investment advice and is not intended to predict the performance of any investment or market.
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Founded in 1982, Thornburg Investment Management is a privately-owned global investment firm that offers a range of multi-strategy solutions for institutions and financial advisors around the world. A recognized leader in fixed income, equity, and alternatives investing, the firm oversees US$45 billion ($43.3 billion in assets under management and $1.8 billion in assets under advisement) as of 31 December 2020 across mutual funds, institutional accounts, separate accounts for high-net-worth investors, and UCITS funds for non-U.S. investors. Thornburg is headquartered in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA, with additional offices in London, Hong Kong and Shanghai.
Foto cedidaPaul Griffiths, director global de negocio institucional de HSBC AM. . HSBC AM nombra a Paul Griffiths director global de negocio institucional
HSBC Asset Management has announced in a press release the appointment of Paul Griffiths as its new Global Head of Institutional Business. Based in London, Griffiths will start on May 5 and report to Nicolas Moreau, CEO.
With over 30 years’ experience in the industry, he will be responsible for the commercial development of the firm’s Institutional Business and leading its institutional sales and client management teams. He takes over from Brian Heyworth who left the firm last year.
Griffiths joins from First Sentier Investments where he was Chief Investment Officer for Fixed Income & Multi Asset Solutions. Prior to that, he held senior roles with firms including Aberdeen Asset Management, Credit Suisse, Axa and lnvestec. He is also the founder investor of the UK’s first student run investment portfolio based at the University of York.
“Paul’s extensive investment management experience and deep knowledge of the needs of institutional clients will prove invaluable as we continue to develop our proposition and differentiate our offering in the market. I look forward to welcoming him to the team”, Moreau has commented.
Meanwhile, Griffiths has highlighted that HSBC AM has seen significant growth in its institutional business over the past year: “This has been driven by bringing a strong set of innovative products to the market and I am thrilled to be part of its future development.”
In 2020, HSBC Asset Management set out its strategy to re-position the business and focus it on core solutions, emerging markets -specially Asia- and alternatives, with client centricity, investment excellence and sustainable investing as key enablers. The firm restructured its business to establish a more market competitive and client-centric operational model. As part of this, it changed its distribution model to operate with a global approach with the creation of Institutional and Wholesale client businesses.
Pixabay CC0 Public Domain. Santander se convierte en miembro fundador de la Net Zero Banking Alliance
Santander has announced in a press release that it has become a founding member of the Net Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA), which has been convened by the United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEPFI).
Its goal is to help mobilise the financial support necessary to build a global zero emissions economy and deliver the goals of the Paris Agreement, besides providing a forum for strategic coordination among financial institutions to accelerate the transition to a net zero economy.
The NZBA brings together an initial cohort of 43 of the world’s leading banks, which also includeBBVA, Bank of America, HSBC or BNP Paribas. Santander has highlighted that they focus on delivering the banking sector’s ambition to align its climate commitments with the Paris Agreement goals with collaboration, rigour, and transparency, acknowledging the necessity for governments to follow through on their own commitments.
The commitments that have been reached by all of them include transitioning all operational and attributable greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their lending and investment portfolios to align with pathways to net-zero by mid-century, or sooner. They have also decided to set intermediate targets for 2030, or sooner, for priority GHG-intensive and GHG-emitting sectors; and to facilitate the necessary transition in the real economy through prioritising client engagement and offering products and services to support clients’ transition.
“If we are to green the world’s economy, we need a truly global effort: banks, companies, governments, regulators and civil society working together at pace. At Santander we are proud to be part of the founding members of this new alliance, and to accelerate progress towards net zero”, has commented Ana Botín, executive chairman at Banco Santander.
Santander has pointed out that is already playing a major role in helping to tackle climate change and enable the transition to the green economy. In February 2021 it announced its ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. The bank also published its first decarbonization targets with the ambition that, by 2030, it will have stopped providing financial services to power generation clients with more than 10% of revenues dependent on thermal coal, as well as eliminating all exposure to thermal coal mining worldwide and aligning its power generation portfolio with the Paris Agreement. At the end of 2020, Santander CIB was the world leader in renewable financing, according to Dealogic.
Foto cedidaAlex Bernhardt, nuevo director global de análisis sostenible de BNP Paribas AM.. BNP Paribas AM nombra ficha a Alex Bernhardt como director global de análisis sostenible
BNP Paribas Asset Management has announced the appointment of Alex Bernhardt as Global Head of Sustainability Research within its Sustainability Centre. Bernhardt has joined on April 21st and will report to Jane Ambachtsheer, Global Head of Sustainability.
In his new role, he will be responsible for BNP Paribas AM’s Sustainability research agenda and ESG scoring platform. Bernhardt will manage the team of ESG analysts. and will work closely with the Quantitative Research Group, which plays an increasingly important role in developing and delivering the asset manager’s sustainability research agenda.
BNP Paribas AM has highlighted Bernhardt’s acknowledged role within sustainable finance, as he has received multiple awards for his work within insurance and investment across topics including climate risk management, disaster resilience and impact investing.
He joins from Marsh McLennan, where he was Director of Innovations, helping clients to address systemic issues including climate resilience, the catastrophe protection gap, diversity and sustainable infrastructure financing. Previously, he was Principal and US Responsible Investment Leader at Mercer, helping institutional investors to manage sustainability challenges in their portfolios, particularly related to climate change.
Bernhardt also worked at reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter where he devised bespoke risk transfer solutions for insurance brokers. He holds a BA in English and Philosophy from the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.
“Alex will play an important role in driving our research agenda, thought leadership and thematic fund development. His extensive experience in sustainable investment and climate risk management will bring new insights to support our investment teams in generating long term sustainable returns for our clients”, has commented Jane Ambachtsheer, Global Head of Sustainability.
UBS Private Wealth Management announced this week that three experts formerly in Wells Fargo have joined the firm in its South Florida market. The team manages over 1.8 billion dollars in assets.
Based in Miami, it is led by Financial Advisors Doris Neyra and Melissa Van Putten-Henderson, and also includes Relationship Manager Gina Jamurath. They will report to Karl Ruppert, South Florida Complex Director at UBS Private Wealth Management.
“It’s important that our advisors reflect the clients and communities they serve and we’re delighted that Doris, Melissa and Gina are very active in the local community. We know the team will bring to bear the full breadth of UBS’s global offering to clients, understanding their complex needs and helping them to achieve their goals”, said Ruppert.
Neyra has been working with ultra-high-net-worth clients for more than two decades. She holds the Certified Financial Planner® designation and has Series 7, 66, Variable Annuities and Life & Health licenses. Before joining UBS, she was a Managing Director and Wealth Advisor at Wells Fargo Private Bank in Miami for 15 years. Prior to that she worked at Northern Trust and Merrill Lynch.
Van Putten-Henderson has worked in the financial services industry for over 20 years. Before joining UBS, she was a Managing Director and Senior Investment Strategist at Wells Fargo Private Bank in Miami, where she specialized in creating tax efficient custom portfolios to meet clients’ needs and objectives. Prior to that she worked at U.S. Trust as a Senior Portfolio Manager. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® and Chartered Alternative Analyst (CAIA ®) designations.
They will both be supported by Jamurath, who was formerly a Wealth Advisor Associate at Wells Fargo Private Bank in Miami.
