Asset Managers

Asset owners are going back to basics en masse. Institutional investors are writing large new mandates for global and developed-market equities, wrote bfinance in a quarterly report published this month. The agency, which advises more than 500 pension funds and other institutional investors worldwide, is also seeing increased interest in investment-grade strategies.

Luca Pesarini, founder and senior portfolio manager of Ethenea Independent Investors, does not mince his words, and so the management of the Ethna-AKTIV fund he helped found in 2002 is no nonsense. For instance, in a recent interview, he shows that he does not have a good word to say about European Central Bank policy and expects a return of inflation. He therefore preaches short-term paper for bonds. For equities, he is not negative but still quite cautious (Ethna-AKTIV fund). 

Switzerland-based investment house Lombard Odier has reported a 4% increase in assets under management since the end of December 2022, reaching 198 billion Swiss francs of assets at the end of June 2023. The result is due in part to “solid contributions” due to new net inflows in its private clientèle and asset management units, the firm stated.

At the same time, the firm says it is pursuing strategic investments in its operations. At the end of June 2023, the total assets of the Group’s clients reached 308 billion Swiss francs.

SFDR Article 8 has become a ragbag of investments that can be both green and grey, several experts say. Fund houses offering Article 8 products do not seem to set the bar very high.  

While Article 8 products promote environmental or social features, they do not have a sustainable investment objective. While this does not detract from the fact that such products can still be green, fund houses do not seem very ambitious in their sustainability goals for Article 8 funds.

Indosuez, the wealth management arm of French bank Credit Agricole, has agreed to acquire a majority stake in Degroof Petercam from six Belgian families that wanted to sell their shares in Belgium’s largest private bank. The transaction will create a European wealth and asset management firm with some 200 billion euro in assets under management.

Asset managers worldwide have made little notable progress in achieving their sustainability goals since 2021. Particularly in the United States, parties are becoming less inclined to persuade companies in their portfolios to move away from fossil fuels.

Investment managers are shifting fund investments towards Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) at the expense of traditional mutual funds. The shifts are clearly visible both in Ireland and Luxembourg, Europe’s two leading hubs for ETFs, according to insights from LSEG Lipper. BlackRock was the biggest-selling fund promoter in the first half, accounting for more than half of all European ETF inflows.

After a substantial rally, Artificial Intelligence (AI) stocks are still reasonably valued, according to Johannes Jacobi, an AI specialist at Allianz Global Investors. In a conversation with Investment Officer Belgium, Jacobi emphasized that from an investment perspective, the valuations remain favorable, while other sectors are yet to catch up.

In the wake of a sturdy first half characterised by ebbing inflation, stellar tech-driven stock market performance, and soaring bond yields, economists and investment strategists predict a reduced recession risk for the latter half of 2023, a survey by Natixis Investment Managers shows. “Recession is still a real possibility, but most expect a softer landing,” said Mabrouk Chetouane, head of global market strategy at Natixis IM.

As pressure mounts on investors to allocate larger portions of their portfolios to alternatives, Stuart Dunbar, a partner and director at Edinburgh-based investment manager Baillie Gifford, stresses the need for careful consideration. He highlights the limited supply of high-quality opportunities as a critical factor. “We can’t just rush into the alternatives.”