Investment Adviser back issues from November 2008:
Choice: the pensions buzzword.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Mary Stewart In the past, the regulations for what was deemed acceptable saving were strict, but the new rules are more flexible A-Day may be fast retreating into history but its significance should not only be remembered for the detail of the changes to ...
BlackRock looks to absolute return fund.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Nick Rice BlackRock is considering launching an absolute return bond fund to complement its GBP1.4bn UK Absolute Alpha fund. Alex Hoctor-Duncan, head of UK retail, said the group would be taking a look at product development in its fixed income range following ...
BoE policy-makers face fierce scrutiny.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Mervyn King and the MPC are under fire as Bank of England tries to navigate choppy waters Criticism of Mervyn King and the interest-rate-setting monetary policy committee has grown as the Bank of England looks set to make further rate cuts ahead ...
Castlestone lifts Nordic presence.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Jim Robinson Castlestone Management is broadening its European presence by expanding into the Nordic region. The alternative investment specialist has appointed Peter Andersson as business development director for the region. Mr Andersson, who ...
Always look on the bright side of strife.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Philip Coggan 'Be greedy where others are fearful' - opportunities are out there, but access via funds In the midst of turmoil, we must try to look on the bright side. For years, it has been hard to find asset classes that looked cheap in historical terms ....
Multi-manager sales to grow quickly.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Nick Rice Multi-manager fund sales will grow faster than sales of single-manager products, according to Skandia Investment Group (SIG). A Skandia survey of 300 financial advisers revealed consumer demand was expected to drive this faster rate of growth. ...
Credit crisis severely impacting fixed interest funds.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Nick Rice The credit crunch had a severe impact on UK fixed interest funds in the third quarter, according to Standard & Poor's Fund Services. Irina Schoenberg, analyst at S&P Fund Services, said performance had been extremely varied over the period. ...
IMA calls for new passport scheme.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston The IMA has called on the European Commission to take affirmative action and establish a new passport scheme within the Ucits IV regime. The investment management trade body said proposals from the Committee of European Securities Regulators would ...
Friends appoints Phipps as director.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Jim Robinson Friends Provident has appointed Robin Phipps as an independent director, subject to regulatory approval by the FSA. Mr Phipps is currently a non-executive director at GE Money UK and Partnership Assurance, as well as an adviser to Ernst & ...
Keydata fund targets power-plant returns.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Keydata International has launched a new fund, offering investors access to returns generated by small-scale renewable energy power plants in Europe. The Keydata International Renewable Energy fund will invest in projects in the UK, Germany, ...
Keydata launches first energy fund.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Nick Rice Keydata International has launched its first fund, designed to invest in a portfolio of renewable energy power plants. The Cayman Islands-domiciled Keydata International Renewable Energy fund provides returns linked to the activities of small-scale ...
Matrix set to launch two FoHFs next year.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: James Kenny Chief investment officer maintains future products will be uncorrelated to equities Matrix Group is gearing up to launch two funds of hedge funds next year under the direction of Stuart Ratcliff. Mr Ratcliff was appointed chief ...
UBS angers advisers with closure of unit.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Daniel McAllister Closure of UK administration and custody business has financial advisers up in arms The move, which came as a bolt out of the blue for its clients, has angered many IFAs and sparked concerns of downsizing at its asset management outfit. ...
Distribution appoints new product manager.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Financial services technology provider Distribution Technology has appointed Alison Everett as its product manager for financial planning tools. Ms Everett joins from Skandia, where she worked for 18 years holding a variety of roles, most ...
Jupiter appoints four private client managers.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Jupiter Asset Management has appointed four new private client managers in its latest expansion of the division. Oliver Burns, William Day, David Blake and William Luttrell-Hunt all join from Bestinvest this month. The announcement ...
Business charity praises corporate responsibility.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Greater corporate responsibility can help improve financial performance, according to the latest research from Business in the Community. The business charity found listed companies that actively manage corporate responsibility outperformed the ...
OBSR announces new ratings.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Old Broad Street Research has announced a raft of new ratings for a number of funds run by Gartmore, Newton and Investec. The Gartmore Global Focus, Newton International Growth, Investec Global Energy and Gartmore US Opportunities funds have all ...
Registration open in JPM competition.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Registration for this year's JPMorgan Fantasy Fund Manager competition has now opened. A GBP35,000 grand prize will be awarded to the best-performing adviser, with monthly prizes for top performers. Entrants can register until 30 ...
AIC reports fewer new trusts.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston According to the AIC, there have been just nine new investment trust launches in 2008, raising just GBP1.1bn, compared with 19 new launches seen during the whole of 2007. Annabel Brodie-Smith, director of communications at the AIC, said there has ...
Investment dreams for memorial halls turn to ashes.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Anna Lawlor Desperate investors wooed by the promise of investing in an asset class "safer than banks" have been burnt by a pyramid scheme which ostensibly involved investing in life after death. Perhaps not an obvious realm for investors to reap(er) higher rewards. ...
Friends in F&C move.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Nick Rice Friends Provident said it will distribute its stake in F&C Asset Management to its own shareholders after it failed to find a suitable bidder for the company. It said giving the stake to its owners had become the default option after market turmoil ...
Jupiter appoints new non-executive director.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: James Kenny Jupiter Investment Management has appointed Matteo Perruccio as non-executive director. Mr Perruccio has worked in various European financial institutions and recently been appointed chief executive at Hermes Funds of Hedge Funds. ...
MM shake-ups 'come as shock'.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Nick Rice Replacement of manager the latest in a series of changes The latest in a line of multi-manager shake-ups will see Nick Pothier replace Cara MacGregor as lead manager of the GBP92.4m HSBC Open Global Return fund. Mr Pothier currently runs ...
Axa, Barclays launch new mirror fund.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Axa Isle of Man and Barclays Wealth have launched a new mirror fund that invests in the Barclays Wealth Defined Returns Plan (Annual Kick Out) October 2008. The new launch, marketed under Axa Isle of Man branding and available through offshore ...
IFAs eye 'third way'.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: James Kenny More than seven out of 10 IFAs expect to sell more retirement "third-way" products going forward, according to IFA support service provider Threesixty. In a survey of IFAs, Threesixty found 71 per cent expected to sell more of these products in ...
S&P ramps up downside protection for investors.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: James Kenny Standard & Poor's is expanding its Dividend Investor Index Series to include markets in Asia, Australia, Europe and Japan to give investors better downside protection. The Dividend Investor Series is designed to offer the most comprehensive range ...
Scottish Mortgage is top investor trust, says report.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: James Kenny Alliance Trusts's quarterly report shows last quarter's number one dropping two places Alliance Trust Savings has published its quarterly Alliance Trust Isa Ranking for the second quarter of the 2008-09 tax year with a number of changes. ...
Teaching's gain.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Hugo Greenhalgh It has become a common complaint for many an undergraduate: why do I have to miss out on the boom years? After over five years of a bull market, automatic entry jobs into the City at GBP40,000 are becoming rarer. Now to succeed during the milkround you ...
Diversity in sector no bar to success.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Laura Mossman Profusion of multi-manager funds need not cancel out active values For managers within the IMA Active Managed sector the main aim is proving that the funds they oversee are as far from closet trackers as possible. The name of the game in this ...
Cofunds named best fund platform.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Cofunds has been named "best fund platform" at the recent Adnitor UK Platform awards, seeing off competition from Fidelity FundsNetwork, following a recount of votes that revealed a one-vote lead for the platform. Meanwhile, Nucleus Financial ...
Fidelity to hold a series of volatility workshops.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Fidelity International will hold a series of volatility workshops for advisers across the UK in November. The workshops, which will analyse recent events in markets and identify ...
First London to roll out clean tech fund.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Firm will launch fund investing in sustainable energy research early next year First London has revealed plans to launch a new energy technology fund to invest in sustainable energy research and technology methods. The company ...
Akra eyes UK market.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: James Kenny Akra Investment Funds, the second-largest investment fund company in Poland, is exploring the possibility of breaking into the UK market on the back of a new Polish equity fund. The company, backed by Allied Irish Bank, is looking into launching a ...
Market turmoil delays Senhouse fund launch.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: James Kenny Senhouse Capital has delayed the launch of its second fund, citing recent market volatility. The investment boutique - set up by former Bedlam Asset Management fund managers Charles Scott Plummer, Julian Pendock and Matt Jones - had launched its ...
Credit crisis slashes companies' values.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Daniel McAllister DigitalLook says 'rash of cheap stocks' available to savvy investors The global credit crunch's sucker punch to the UK stock market has left nearly a third of FTSE100 companies trading at a discount to their book value, according to ...
Neptune boosts senior management.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Daniel McAllister Neptune Investment Management has promoted Richard Green to deputy managing director, starting in the role this week. Mr Green joined the Neptune board as corporate development director from Barclays Wealth in May this year. Robin ...
FSA takes steps to wind up Cameron Farley.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Sharon Flaherty The FSA has lodged a petition in the High Court to wind up Cameron Farley, a financial adviser firm based in Edinburgh. The High Court has also appointed Robert Caven and James Earp, of Grant Thornton, as provisional liquidators to take ...
Send this diary item to everyone you know on Facebook.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Daniel McAllister is a freelance journalist City bigwigs have got it totally wrong. Allowing staff to whittle away hours on end on social networking site Facebook is actually good for business, according to research from think-tank Demos. "Poking" an ...
Impressing Sharon in sails.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Diary was at the centre of its own yachting controversy recently, after becoming the lucky recipient of a 3ft-tall, remote-controlled yacht. The yacht was won in a raffle at the prestigious Skandia Sailability charity ball, with no thought for ...
Woolnough shifts to positive strategy on credit.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Stephen Wilmot Fixed income veteran Richard Woolnough last month overweighted credit risk in his GBP166m M&G Strategic Corporate Bond fund for the first time in over three years. He said: "The credit markets are expecting a repeat of the 1930s. They're ...
We need a dartboard for Brown's voodoo economics.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: James Kenny Diary recently read that French President Nicolas Sarkozy has threatened to sue a publishing company if it does not withdraw from shops a "voodoo doll" in his image. The doll comes with pins and a manual with instructions on how to put the evil ...
A look at the pit dwellers.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Chris Traulsen Active Managed funds appear not to have been terribly diligent in their efforts to protect shareholder capital, despite the IMA's sector definition permitting them wide leeway in their exposure to equities. That said, some funds have fared considerably ...
Barings boosts UK retails sales team.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Daniel McAllister Baring Asset Management has bolstered its UK retail sales team with the appointment of Carl Wilmore as account manager. Mr Wilmore will be responsible for sales to asset manager clients and starts in the post in November. He will ...
'Almost impossible' to pick winners: Cass.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Nick Rice Few UK equity funds with three-year-plus records show positive alpha, school finds It is almost impossible for investors to pick a UK equity fund that is very likely to outperform, according to Cass Business School. A report by academics ...
Materials sector lifts Neptune to top 10%.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Nick Rice Fund manager Jeremy Smith wins from playing trends in steel, fertilisers and paint The manager of the GBP18.1m Neptune UK Equity fund has said basic materials plays helped lift him from third quartile to top decile over one year. Jeremy ...
Retreating investors will lose out: RWC.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Nick Rice Underperformance is not a cue for investors to withdraw, says RWC Partners's Mannix Investors should not abandon absolute return funds just because many of them have periods of underperformance, RWC Partners has claimed. Dan Mannix, head ...
Think-tank predicts bleak jobs outlook for London.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: James Kenny Almost 200,000 jobs are set to be lost in the capital as the credit crunch settles in The London job market is set for a major blow next year with as many as 194,000 jobs set to be lost as the credit crunch takes its toll, according to Oxford ...
OBSR delists several funds.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Daniel McAllister Old Broad Street Research has removed a string of underperforming UK retail funds from its service. Following the OBSR's fund ratings meeting on 9 October, it has decided to scrap the ratings for the Legg Mason US Equity, Lazard European ...
Liquid muzak Merlot best savoured in menage a deux.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Feargus O'Sullivan The prestige of the Merlot grape variety has taken a nosedive since Paul Giamatti's character in the film Sideways memorably described it as "fucking Merlot". His scorn is not entirely unjustified: with its low acidity and mild tannins, the grape is ...
Insight replaces chiefs.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Nick Rice A dramatic shake-up at Insight Investment's multi-asset group has seen its co-heads replaced after a director of investment selection resigned last month. Patrick Armstrong and Ana Cukic Armstrong, co-heads of the multi-asset group and managers of ...
Wild markets are causing poor results: Credit Suisse.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Nick Rice Aidan Kearney says GBP39,3m fund's poor results are due to market volatility wiping out 'everything but cash' Wild and irrational markets are to blame for the underperformance of the GBP39.3m Credit Suisse Multi-Asset Distribution fund, according to ...
Schroders's profits hit by GBP3.1bn of outflows.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Outflows for nine months to September contrast with GBP5.1bn of inflows for the year before The company saw net retail outflows of GBP3.1bn for the nine months to 30 September, compared with net inflows of GBP5.1bn reported during the prior-year ...
Axa, Insynergy seal mutually beneficial deal.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Daniel McAllister Axa-backed investment firm Architas Multi-Manager has sealed an exclusive distribution partnership with new boutique fund manager Insynergy Investment Management. Insynergy was set up by chief executive Spike Hughes last month and is backed ...
UK indicators point to a 'post-Lehman train wreck'.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Jim Robinson Recent UK monetary indicators have pointed to a "post-Lehman train wreck", according to Simon Ward, chief economist at New Star. Mr Ward said the dramatic negative shift in the economic outlook resulting from the freezing of money and credit ...
Skandia appoints new investment consultant.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Jim Robinson Skandia has appointed Christopher Cade to the newly created position of investment consultant. Skandia said Mr Cade - who will report to Graham Bentley, head of investment marketing - would be responsible for explaining the company's investment ...
S&P downgrades New Star and Fortis in annual review.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: James Kenny Fortis and New Star Asset Management were among the funds downgraded by Standard & Poor's as part of its annual review into high-yield funds. The GBP191m New Star Extra High Yield fund was downgraded to A/V5. As the fund is managed in a long-only ...
More investors seek out advice: Unbiased.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: James Kenny Independent financial advice, especially on retirement planning, is in high demand More and more investors are seeking advice as the impact of the credit crisis is felt and recession looms, according to IFA website The site, which ...
FSA fines Sindicatum over systems failings.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston The FSA has fined London-based advisory firm Sindicatum Holdings and its money laundering reporting officer for having inadequate anti-money laundering systems. The fining of Michael Wheelhouse, money laundering reporting officer at Sindicatum, ...
Eaglet renamed Directors' Dealings.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Rob Langston Eaglet investment trust has written to shareholders outlining its proposals for the future strategy of the fund and its renaming as the Directors' Dealings investment trust. The trust's board and fund manager, Knox D'Arcy Investment Management, ...
Are Reits the elusive haven S&P claims?
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Anna Lawlor It is a sign of the times that performance producing 14% losses should merit a call to buy Investors should not overlook the potential of real estate investment trusts, an asset class that has outperformed direct property and other equity-based ...
US elections to shake up financial systems.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Daniel McAllister The outcome of the US election this week will have a far-reaching impact on the country's financial system and business sectors, according to fund managers Threadneedle. Cormac Weldon, head of US equities at Threadneedle, said whether ...
Stock prices 'at odds' with long-term prospects.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Jim Robinson A combination of weakening fundamentals, technical selling and sheer panic is producing stock prices that are "at extreme odds" with companies' long-term prospects, according to Schroders. Nicholas Kirrage, manager of the GBP130.1m Schroder ...
Rathbones launches online portfolio-valuation service.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Jim Robinson Rathbones has launched an online portfolio-valuation service for IFAs who use its discretionary fund management service for high net worth clients. Rathbones said the system would offer "wrap-type functionality" by grouping all an IFA's clients - ...
Insight appoints Colmn McDonagh as head of emerging markets.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Daniel McAllister Insight Investment has appointed Colm McDonagh as head of emerging markets on its fixed income team. Mr McDonagh, who will report to Adrian Grey, head of fixed income at Insight, has 12 years' experience in the asset class. He ...
FundsNetwork reports 'all asset classes' hit by crisis.
Nov 03, 2008 ... Byline: Daniel McAllister The whole gamut of asset classes took a pounding during September in the wake of the violent upheaval of the global banking system, according to Fidelity FundsNetwork. Funds across the board suffered in the face of the global credit crisis, ...