Managers
By Fannie Wurtz, Amundi – The development of Smart Beta solutions has become a major field of innovation in the ETF industry: the wide range of both mono and multi-strategy ETFs allows investors to benefit from a broad choice of tools to meet different investment needs and weather changing market conditions. In the case of ETFs which track Buyback indices, investors may be able to access significant yield through a return-oriented filter to the underlying investment universe. Furthermore, stock selection can be improved with an equal-weighting scheme applied by the index provider to ensure unbiased exposure to the underlying theme.
Swiss bank UBS, headquartered in Zurich has been offering ETFs for some time across continental Europe but it was only in the last few years that they entered the UK market from which point their business has been gaining strong momentum ever since.
Andrew Walsh (pictured), head of UBS ETFs sales in the UK, explains that the long history of active fund use in the UK had held back the demand for ETFs for a number of years, but since 2013 usage has continued to increase at a steady pace.
"Increasingly, wealth managers and independent financial advisers are using ETFs
There are convincing signs, including the recent 18-year high of the Nikkei share index, that Abenomics is reinvigorating the world's third largest economy. The Japanese ETF industry too has enjoyed tremendous growth under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's economic reforms and now some leading Japanese ETF providers are courting Western investors.
Nikko Asset Management, one of the pioneers of the ETF business in Japan, launched their first ETF back in 2001. Tokyo-based Koei Imai (pictured), head of the firm's ETF Centre, explains that the Japanese ETF market underwent significant deregulation in 2007 in an effort to encourage greater product innovation. Nikko
Boutique asset managers favour ETFs was one of the findings of a recent survey conducted by research firm TABB Group for software company SunGard. Some 48 per cent saw ETFs as an area of significant demand from investors, with many boutique managers using ETFs as a low cost way of investing in an asset class and bolstering performance through stock picking and direct investment.
Commenting on the research, Trevor Headley, head of product management of SunGard's boutique asset management business, says that ETFs are increasingly being used as by this group as an efficient base for focused portfolio construction.
Wealth
Finvex Group, the Brussels based independent financial consulting boutique, has acquired 100 per cent of LuxHedge, the Luxembourg-based alternative UCITS funds data provider.
Finvex Group specialises in risk based investment solutions. The company advises institutional investors on optimal portfolio construction and balanced investing, using its advanced proprietary risk technology and framework. Finvex Group also owns a successful range of sustainable index solutions that are used for public and private offers throughout Europe and Asia.
LuxHedge is a Luxembourg data provider on funds that offer an easy access to alternative investment strategies within a UCITS framework. Today, there are more
TPG Software, the portfolio accounting, performance management, and analytics software provider, has added S&P Capital IQ’s enterprise data solutions to its client service offering.
S&P Capital IQ’s data includes Global Fixed Income Terms & Conditions, Evaluated Pricing and credit ratings from Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services. TPG clients will be able to integrate S&P Capital IQ’s content to analyse their portfolio holdings for performance evaluation, accounting, compliance, and reporting purposes.
According to Slavek Rotkiewicz (pictured), President and Chief Technology Officer of TPG Software: “Adding a world-class data source to TPG will enhance quality and quantity of available reports, especially in
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has officially launched JSE Eris Interest Rate Swap (IRS) Futures, which will be based on the Johannesburg Interbank Agreed Rate (JIBAR) and denominated in South African Rand (ZAR).
The product will follow the standard South African swap market conventions while using the Eris MethodologyTM, allowing the contracts to replicate the cash flows of over the counter (OTC) swaps. The new product offering will be available for trading by all registered Interest Rate market members and their clients and will be cleared through JSE Clear.
"Bringing this product to market has been a collaborative effort between
The ALTIN portfolio generated positive returns over the first half of 2015, according to the Swiss Alternative investment company’s results statement for the six months ended 30 June.
The period was characterised by seesaw markets, unstable correlations and no clear trends as well as a renewed focus on central banks’ actions and the Greek crisis. Despite this difficult context, the relatively good level of securities’ dispersion and corporate activity led most hedge fund styles to post positive returns for the period, with Equity Hedge leading the pack. The only exception was Macro, which was affected by trend reversals as well
The deflation and growth scares morphed into a vicious cycle last week. Multiple trading anomalies were observed, especially on Monday, suggesting that systematic and algorithmic trading amplified the sell-off.
Aberdeen Asset Management has launched the Aberdeen Alternative Strategies Fund (AASF) offering access to a portfolio of alternative strategies intended to provide diversifying returns against traditional asset classes.
The Fund’s launch establishes Aberdeen as one of the world’s largest multi-manager liquid alternatives managers.
The Fund offers investors access to high quality alternative investment talent in a more liquid and regulated vehicle. It is designed to provide returns that are not dependent on the direction of traditional asset markets, thereby providing positive diversification and improved risk-adjusted returns in a multi-asset portfolio. This style of investment is becoming more popular among investors
