Latest Content » INTERVIEWS

— Simonet: working in a conservative environment

Anton Simonet, the German bank’s head of wealth management, talks to Yuri Bender about his love of derivatives and the culture changes brought about by Dresdner’s merger with insurance company Allianz. Now the group structure may change once more

— Cristobal Mendez de Vigo, F&C

Cristobal Mendez de Vigo tells Yuri Bender about F&C’s far-reaching global distribution plan to expand into a series of new markets, as the fund house undergoes a change in ownership status

— Grisay: far-thinking

F&C, short for Foreign & Colonial, made its name running the world’s oldest retail fund, launched in 1868, and was soon financing railway infrastructure in Egypt and throughout the Americas. By the mid 1990s, the asset management company, under the ownership of German bank HVB, was developing a deep footprint in European and UK institutional markets.

— David Solo, Julius Baer

The cosy old family structure of Julius Baer may have changed forever. But, writes Yuri Bender, bank bosses hope to boost profits by encouraging more co-operation between private bankers and product developers in the asset management division

— Dr. Sebastian Klein

Sebastian Klein has rolled out some fairly ambitious plans during his time as chief executive of Cominvest. Yuri Bender chats with the man behind the big ideas and asks whether his quick-change company strategy will ultimately deliver long-range, steady business expansion

When Danske Bank made the all-important decision to plump for open architecture, Danske Capital knew that some investment activities would inevitably have to be outsourced. Elisa Trovato investigates

Funds and private banking boss at SocGen, Philippe Collas, has thrived as an early player in Asia. While he expects good growth in Eastern Europe, it is the French market which can cause the biggest problems, writes Yuri Bender

— Gardavsky: wide range available

The financial market in the Czech Republic is starting to take off in a big way. Yuri Bender talks to Martin Gardavsky about OVB Allfinanz, a one-stop shop that is providing Czechs with valuable tools

Despite the commission-based nature of the OVB network, Mr Gardavsky insists that agents are not influenced by the fees attached to favoured products.

— Abou-Jaoudé: how do we tackle it?

Traditionally Dexia gained the majority of its asset management

business through its Belgian branches, but now it has set its sights on the exciting world of third-party distribution, writes Yuri Bender

In order to further increase profits, one of the key tasks for Mr Abou-Jaoudé, is to boost the size of funds. While he insists there is “no natural size in terms of assets under management” for a group such as Dexia AM, it is clear that his ideal size, to gain better returns on equity, is much higher than at present.

— Voisin: departmental autonomy

Now the merger of Ixis and Natexis is complete, the new company

is looking at expanding in the alternatives sector. Chief executive

Pascal Voisin talks to Yuri Bender about rationalisation and diversity

While the lion’s share of assets handled by Natixis Asset Management are overseen for institutional clients, with money market funds the most popular of all the products, it is the retail and third party distribution businesses which make a bigger impact on the bottom line.

— Fletcher: we are going more retail, since Ucits III changes the product

Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s head of European business development, Alex Fletcher, tells Yuri Bender about how Ucits III has encouraged the business to embrace a retail strategy

While it is difficult for GSAM to sell its equity and fixed income products in France, where outsourcing is seen as weakness, and there are many good-quality domestic funds houses, Mr Fletcher’s team is having more success there with hedge funds. They are believed to have $130m with Crédit Agricole Asset Management’s fund of hedge funds unit, and much larger amounts, perhaps more than half a billion each, with houses including AGF Alternative Asset Management and Olympia among others.

In order to further its presence in the high-net-worth arena, SEI has opted to woo partners and regions in various states of upheaval. Yuri Bender reports on the logic behind this strategy

Germany’s financial advisers are fighting back against bank distributors with a deeper, more holistic offering. DVAG’s Ralf Götz talks to Yuri Bender about products, partnerships and potential future growth

According to CEO Alain Clot, one of SGAM’s proudest achievements is its alternatives wing. He is now looking to capitalise on the inroads made by targeting institutions with a convergence between classic fund management and a boutique mentality. Yuri Bender reports

— Alain Papiasse: ‘the richer you are, the more diversified you want to be’

Alain Papiasse of BNP Paribas was brought in to pursue an aggressive growth approach and dust down some of the company’s forgotten corners. But the purchase of Italian chain BNL has given him an

exciting distribution opportunity. Yuri Bender reports

After getting its products on the shelves of fund selectors, Schroders believes the time is right to step up its marketing in order to get closer to consumers. Yuri Bender speaks to the group’s head of business expansion on his quest for a broader mix of European business

Schroders continues to lose institutional funds under management, yet profits continue to improve. This year saw £4.6bn (e6.2bn) in institutional outflow in the first six months, although Schroders also received £2.3bn in new retail money over the same period. Institutions withdrew another £1.8bn in the third quarter and retail investors redeemed £100m.

— Pinçon: Switzerland is our number one goal for fund distribution

CAAM may be the biggest player in the French market, but building its brand in other European countries has proven a challenge. Yuri Bender speaks to head of foreign distribution, Jean François Pinçon on how he aims to diversify the range of products on offer

— Vorndran: private clients have been quicker to embrace commodities

If anything has benefited from Credit Suisse’s ‘one bank’ policy, it is the asset management division, which has seen assets swell and

status soar. Yuri Bender speaks to Philipp Vorndran, the company’s influential investment strategist, about his allocation ideas

Investors should not be concerned about rampant commodity prices or temporary corrections, believes Philipp Vorndran. “I am calling on private clients not to reduce exposure to commodities. People who are talking about a bubble in commodities have not realised the underlying power of the commodities boom,” he says. “It is not a cyclical story, it’s a long to medium-term story of supply and demand mismatch.”

— Christiaan Sterckx: ‘with us, it’s blood, sweat and tears’

KBC Asset Management’s rapid assault on Central Europe, says its head of product development Christiaan Sterckx, is down to tailoring products for distribution through the group’s bank branches to retail clients. Yuri Bender reports

KBC is clearly one of the most admired names in Europe in terms of both product manufacturing and distribution. During an interview at the SocGen tower in Paris, Bernard Desforges, the French bank’s head of structuring equity derivatives, named KBC as “big players”, alongside a handful of other European banks such as BBVA and SCH in Spain, plus the Landesbanken and Deka in Germany.

After developing six key distribution criteria for its European

invasion, Pimco claims that it now has ambitions to become one of

the largest partners in guided architecture. Elisa Trovato reports

Pimco Europe offers a diversified range of Ucits III funds, which are available in a number of currency-hedged share classes. A growing percentage of this fund complex is now owned by the institutional remarketing segment.

The addition of 14 new Ucits III compliant funds for the fixed income market by GSAM has highlighted the firm’s intention to exploit exciting new opportunities, says its head of business Ted Sotir. Yuri Bender reports

With a humility not generally credited to Goldman Sachs – at least one continental bank is reluctant to go into deeper partnership with GSAM, because its representatives always claim to have the “perfect products” in every asset class – Mr Sotir admits that fixed income and quantitative equity products are currently being distributed because they are performing well.

— Blum: not a question of taking money from Deutsche Bank’s DWS

Yuri Bender talks to head of products for Deutsche’s branch banking network Dominic Blum about the decision to sell other providers’ funds through its retail outlets in Germany and across Europe

— Martini: provides investment themes

The lead in product and group selection always follows the views of Klaus Martini, CIO of Deutsche Bank’s Private Wealth Management business line. “Klaus and his teams bring in themes with investment strengths, but our responsibility is to translate this economic, sectoral, sometimes very abstract view into solutions,” says Dominic Blum, head of products for Deutshce Bank’s private and business clients branch banking division.

— Matthews: not all insurers have good investment management

Trevor Matthews, chief executive of life and pensions business at Standard Life, was responsible for the firm’s shift from protection to investment products, and believes the potential in private banking will boost sales. Yuri Bender reports

When Trevor Matthews was headhunted to run Standard Life’s loss-making operation in 2004, he did not feel the challenge he faced was insurmountable, after having re-shaped the Manulife insurance company in Canada and Japan.

Pierre Mathé, chief executive of Société Générale’s private banking division, holds court over claims of rivalry, while building the bank’s name abroad and applying an open architecture mindset to the advice process. Yuri Bender reports

US-based fixed income house Principal Global Investors has nearly doubled funds under management in the last three years and is now mounting a challenge to bigger competitors by attempting to amass third-party assets in Europe through its niche preferred securities products, writes Elisa Trovato

Assets under management at Principal Global Investors have grown from $80bn to $155bn over the last three years. “That makes us, over that period, one of the fastest growing active managers in the US market,”

— De Franssu: everything that had to be done in terms of addressing performance has been done

A freshening up of Invesco’s European capacity in equities, bonds and

alternatives is being promised by Jean Baptise de Franssu, while initial

successes in retail banking have been difficult to maintain. Yuri Bender reports

SocGen has set the standard for structured products that many have attempted to emulate, often through poaching key staff. Global head of equity derivatives, Bernard Desforges, shrugs off competitive threats and unveils plans for his latest creation to Yuri Bender

The type of underlying assets created by SocGen’s bankers has changed significantly during the last two years, and new asset classes are constantly being added. “There are some common specifics in European countries,” says Mr Desforges. “One major trend is multi-asset class products, using oil and other underlying assets. Products based on a basket of underlying assets are a good way to buy diversification.

HSBC may have a reputation for taking over boutique investment houses, but its head of asset management Alain Dromer says that it will only rebrand the acquired firm if it believes HSBC has a stronger presence in that market. And there is always room for compromise....He talks to Yuri Bender

One of the key planks behind the new HSBC structure is the development of a strong multi-management unit.

— ‘It raised some questions of course, but the idea was simply to promote this to some of our clients that need this kind of diversification’

When Jean-Luc Pararie approached the big wigs at Crédit Agricole with the idea of distributing third-party funds, he faced an uphill struggle. But now he runs an empire worth e6bn. He talks to Yuri Bender

— Jean-Claude Kaltenbach

Next to the thorough, yet mild-mannered due diligence conducted by Jean-Luc Paraire’s team, the probing of his sister group in alternatives can seem almost aggressive.

T. Rowe Price does not pander to faddish client wants if the product will affect profitability, nor will it work with distributors who go against the ethos of the firm and threaten its reputation. Yuri Bender talks to CEO Todd Ruppert about this very selective policy

— The imposing cubic headquarters of Nordea in Luxembourg

Nordea Investment Funds’ new MD, Bjørn Barbesgaard, has found himself in a ‘stick or twist’ scenario – looking to make his mark, but not wanting to shake up a successful model. He unveils his plans to Roxane McMeeken

— Hengster: ‘asset management is like the Tour de France: it is not just a short sprint’

Rupert Hengster, CEO of Oppenheim Asset Management, talks to

Yuri Bender about how a privately-owned bank can take on German giants

Volumes going into structured products in Germany are now so big that they can negatively affect the managed funds business, believes Rupert Hengster. He admits that structured products are not so transparent in terms of pricing and says banks must guard against the temptation of easy, but inappropriate sales. “We must really avoid structuring products first and then looking for markets.”

Joachim Faber, CEO of Allianz Global Investors, tells Paula Garrido about the firm’s expanding continental relationships and the need for a single registration process for funds being sold across Europe

— Varnholt: seeking to understand the client

Burkhard Varnholt, of Credit Suisse’s private banking arm, will do

everything to guarantee customer satisfaction. Yuri Bender reports

— ‘The view that we held after the market collapse in 2002 was that open architecture was just a fad’ - James Charrington, MLIM

Merrill Lynch Investment Managers is doing better business in Europe since cutting back the number of distributors. James Charrington, the firm’s head of non-US retail, explains why to Yuri Bender

At Merrill Lynch Investment Managers (MLIM) and its competitors, restructuring the sales force has been vital to address changing markets in Europe. At the same time as James Charrington was given responsibility for the European retail business in early 2004, all institutional business outside the UK was also outsourced to him. He then identified certain markets, such as Germany and the Netherlands, where he felt there was a greater opportunity to win assets from institutions and other key distributors.

— Collas: knew all about open architecture before the concept took off

Philippe Collas, CEO for asset gathering at Société Générale, talks to Yuri Bender about developing a factory-style approach to private banking and how he will revitalise rusty internal sales channels in the retail branch network

— Ellis: 10,000 funds

For private banking customers, fund selection is carried out through a specialist fund selection unit in Guernsey, constructed by James Ellis of the group’s SG Hambros subsidiary. The ability of this regularlyupdated electronic database of 10,000 products to pick mutual funds and construct portfolios for clients has been extensively demonstrated to PWM . There are few rival institutions with such an advanced fund selection tool.

Yuri Bender visits the famous Swiss bank as it celebrates its bicentenary and finds out that distributors are the key to a long-term plan designed by managing partner Rémy Best

— Luning: ‘people buying equity funds have gone through a terrifying experience’

ACM’s Mark Luning helped persuade his bosses in the US that the future would be about distributing funds through retail bank branches in Europe. With the prestigious, yet unproven, Deutsche deal under his belt he speaks to Yuri Bender

With responsibility for $112bn (e86bn) of Alliance’s $480bn total in assets under management, the non-US arm of ACM is a force to be reckoned with. Assets gathered from Europe are not disclosed, but received a shot in the arm when ACM International opened marketing offices in Germany, Spain and Switzerland in 2000. A Swedish office has opened in 2004.