Fund Times: 2 - 6 February
Aberdeen to replace global fixed-income ahead on completion of Credit Suisse acquisition; Vanguard to expand into the UK; Morningstar launches new fund ratings and reports; Threadneedle partners with Standard Chartered Bank and acquires their Lux funds; Standard Life launches Strategic Bond fund; M&G shuffles fund lineup.
Aberdeen to replace global fixed-income ahead on completion of Credit Suisse acquisition
Aberdeen has announced it will appoint Credit Suisse’s Paul Griffiths to replace Gary Bartlett as head of fixed-income operations globally, on completion of its acquisition by June 2009. Bartlett will be leaving the company. Griffiths will also become a member of the firm’s Management Board. He currently holds this role at Credit Suisse and is responsible for thirteen teams across London, Zurich, Singapore, Sydney and New York, running £120 billion in assets under management. Although he has recently joined Credit Suisse, Griffiths was global head of fixed income and CEO at AXA Investment Managers and head of fixed income at Investec prior to that.
The Group has also announced that Warren Davis III, who is a senior portfolio manager in the fixed income team based in Philadelphia, has stepped down and will be leaving the firm. Aberdeen plans to add a senior specialist in residential credit research to the team.
Vanguard to expand into the UK
Vanguard Group, a house that rates extremely highly with Morningstar's team of qualitative analysts in the US, is seeking approval from the FSA to launch equity and fixed income funds targeted mainly at independent financial advisors, but will also service institutions. Vanguard is known for its low cost mutual funds in the US and is expected to influence the current fee structures in the UK as it breaks through the industry with significantly lower fees than those commonly charged. To shed some light, the TER of Vanguard’s Dublin-based European Stock Index Tracker is currently at 0.5%, while a similar tracker in the UK can charge as much as 1.27%. Tom Rampulla, who is director of sales for Vanguard Advisor Services in the US, will be heading this initiative.
Morningstar launches new fund ratings and reports
Morningstar has this week launched two groundbreaking new tools to help fund investors and their advisers: The Morningstar® Fund Research Report and the Morningstar Qualitative RatingTM for funds. The Report and Rating are in-depth and transparent, and most importantly, they are also completely independent: Morningstar does not seek or accept payment from fund houses for issuing ratings or reports on funds. We believe investors have the right to unbiased research conducted solely on their behalf, and that need is never more apparent than now. With uncertainty roiling global markets, it's paramount that investors and advisers have access to objective research they can trust. You can read more on this and view the reports here.
Threadneedle partners with Standard Chartered Bank and acquires their Lux funds
Threadneedle has announced this week its strategic partnership with Standard Chartered Bank as it becomes its global fund provider. The partnership is aimed at combining Threadneedle’s investment resources with Standard Chartered’s retail and private bank distribution network, extending Theadneedle’s reach into Asia and Europe. Threadneedle has also acquired World Express, the bank’s asset management arm, adding some 35 funds and £1.9 billion in assets to the £51 billion already in its coffers.
Standard Life launches Strategic Bond fund
Standard Life has launched a Strategic Bond fund for long-serving manager Andrew Sutherland who is also head of credit at the firm. The fund will invest across the fixed income spectrum, delving into government bonds, investment grade credit, high yield and index-linked bonds in the UK and overseas. The fund could also invest in derivatives such as inflation or interest-rate swaps, credit default swaps and futures. Sutherland has run Standard Life Corporate Bond since it launched in July 1995. That fund outperformed its average rival in the Morningstar Sterling Corporate Bond category by 138 basis points per year annualised since inception, however, it also exhibited above-average volatility relative to its peers in the period.
M&G shuffles fund lineup
M&G plans to merge several of its funds of funds next month. M&G Balanced Portfolio will be merged into M&G Managed and M&G Cautious Managed into M&G Cautious Multi-Asset, both run by David Jane. M&G Growth Portfolio will merge into M&G Managed Growth and will be managed by Graham French. The firm will also close M&G UK Growth Portfolio next month given its shrinking asset base – currently at £5 million – and anticipated low levels of inflows. M&G is said to have considered other options including merging the fund but failed to find a similar remit that is suitable.
