Asset management

Woodford’s mea culpa fails to go far enough

7 Sep 2017

The UK fund manager has been hit by huge slumps in AstraZeneca and Provident Financial. Markets are faddish, as he points out. But blaming dud picks on the gap between what’s publicly disclosed and reality is hard to square with his fondness for making big bets on single firms.

Deutsche sets tone for painful analyst price war

24 Aug 2017

Deutsche Bank has halved the going rate for its fixed-income research, which clients must soon pay for separately under new European rules. Banks may have to give even more ground. Buyers will only get more demanding – and may want to pick which boffins they really need.

Lloyds has a good get-rich plan

15 Aug 2017

The lender is considering a push into wealth and savings products. A capital idea. Lloyds’ 2,000-strong branch network gives it a head start over rivals. And while CEO Antonio Horta Osorio has done a good job at cutting costs, it’s high time he did more to grow revenues.

Standard Life’s new start barely beats status quo

14 Aug 2017

Its merger with fellow fund manager Aberdeen seems to have created no value for shareholders since it was announced – maybe due to messy governance and the difficulty of combining teams. Investors may warm to it, but the case for more mega-deals in the sector has yet to be made.

Man Group’s growth push comes at a cost

1 Aug 2017

The UK fund manager’s assets under management leapt to $96 bln as it bought businesses and raised funds. Man’s broad range of business helps it resist some of the pressure from passive products. Even so, margins are falling. Active managers have to keep working harder.

Julius Baer rightly cautious about double windfall

24 Jul 2017

The Swiss private bank’s client funds grew 6 pct, thanks to its horde of new wealth managers and rising markets. Baer’s singular business model makes it happily exposed to these trends, but the big picture is that servicing the rich will remain challenging and competitive.

BlackRock opens new investment passivity front

13 Jul 2017

The firm that disrupted stock pickers with low-cost funds tracking equity benchmarks wants to do the same to bond managers. Larry Fink’s shop will sell ETFs using its own fixed-income indexes and slash fees. For an industry with no top-line growth, casualties may be widespread.

Britain’s fund manager probe takes horse to water

28 Jun 2017

The Financial Conduct Authority wants clearer fees, more care for investors and better value for money. Its conclusion, that asset management is uncompetitive and too profitable, hit harder than its prescriptions. The question is whether clients will become more demanding too.

Economics rather than ethics will harm big tobacco

21 Jun 2017

Aviva is the latest investor to quit cigarette stocks. The sector has yet to suffer any material harm. Nor does it lack capital. Yet there are good reasons to be nervous: growing regulatory risk and competition from electronic alternatives make current valuations unsustainable.

Carmaker emissions scandal finds exec pay sequel

14 Jun 2017

Advisers have designed a hidden scheme that would let Renault-Nissan secretly pay bonuses to Chairman Carlos Ghosn and others. It’s unthinkable that such a plan can be implemented. Recent scrutiny over exhaust emissions has already shown that exploiting loopholes doesn’t pay.

HNA sees Value in connecting East and West

23 May 2017

The deal-hungry Chinese conglomerate reportedly wants to buy into Value Partners. The $2 bln fund manager trades on a lofty percentage of assets under management, thanks partly to high fees. Still, if HNA wants to link Chinese investors with the wider world, this could be handy.

Active-passive battle will end in ceasefire

19 May 2017

Index-trackers are eating into traditional investment managers' business – and could soon own half of U.S. equities held in funds. Even so, managers can find refuge in some places, like emerging-country debt. Shrinking market share may also help active investors outperform.

Standard Life’s honey pot is a shrinking prize

10 May 2017

Even as the asset manager merges with rival Aberdeen, its flagship GARS fund is eroding. Some 2.8 bln pounds exited in the first quarter. That makes the tie-up look less sweet for Aberdeen shareholders. Fortunately, they were already getting better than might have been expected.

Money managers can’t dance to save themselves

2 May 2017

Fee pressure, passive investing and technology ought to spell big industry mergers. Yet those pressures, and the poor response to recent tie-ups, make such marriages hard. Deals to fill product and sales gaps, like Invesco’s Source bid, look like a more palatable option.

UK fund merger may tempt staff more than investors

2 May 2017

Aberdeen and Standard Life have set aside a reported 35 million pounds to retain star workers after they merge. The cost savings should be bigger and Aberdeen’s latest results support the strategic rationale for the deal. Yet market moves suggest shareholders are sceptical.

AllianceBernstein shakeup sends active sell signal

1 May 2017

The firing of CEO Peter Kraus is the latest wakeup call for Wall Street stock pickers. Diversification efforts at the AXA-controlled firm failed to offset a long decline in its once-potent equities business. The upheaval suggests other active managers also have nowhere to hide.

BlackRock’s evolution keeps fee pressures at bay

19 Apr 2017

The manager of $5.4 trln of assets boosted its top line and margins in the first quarter even as new cash flowed mostly into its low-cost ETF products. Larry Fink’s shop has the scale and capacity for reinvention – like ditching human stockpickers – to stay ahead of the curve.

Activism prods GAM in right direction

18 Apr 2017

The Swiss hedge fund group will review compensation and cap its CEO’s pay because of pressure from investor RBR. The activist’s more disruptive plans may not win backing from other investors. But it can claim credit for forcing change in an industry resistant to shakeups.

Goldman’s robo venture co-opts startup rivals

21 Mar 2017

The U.S. investment bank is the latest established player to build an automated private banking tool for clients. Standalone robo-advisory services are already struggling with lousy margins. Now, as more incumbents fight back, their best option may be to sell.

Aberdeen-StanLife offer thin gruel on two-CEO move

20 Mar 2017

The fund managers have spelled out how Chief Executives Keith Skeoch and Martin Gilbert will split the job after their planned merger. But it’s still a fudge, with too much room for discord. Judging by the share price, investors are giving the deal two thumbs down.