Asset Managers

Only one in five management companies in Europe are publishing a legally required statement detailing how investment decisions may negatively affect sustainability factors. This encompasses aspects like environmental, social, and employee matters, human rights, and anti-corruption.

The Bank of England (BoE) this week reiterated its concerns about the risks of higher interest rates and limited data disclosure in private credit markets. Harvey Schwartz, CEO of The Carlyle Group with some 380 billion dollars under management, believes those concerns are exaggerated.

Investment specialists are singing from a common hymn book in predicting the world is on a path to lower inflation and treasury yields, though they carefully call attention to possible transitional effects, Investment Officer heard while covering two recent investment events in Luxembourg hosted by J. Safra Sarasin and Capital Group.

This week’s overview of transfers, appointments, promotions and other people news includes updates from Fidelity, Alma LED Luxembourg, Fundcraft and Better Finance.

Christine Baalham and Tom Record

Christine Baalham and Tom Record have been appointed as co-portfolio managers in the global equity team at Fidelity International. Veteran portfolio manager Jeremy Podger will transition to a senior advisory role in March 2024. 

M&G Investments has appointed Emmanuel Deblanc as chief investment officer to lead its 86 billion euro private markets business. Deblanc, most recently at Allianz Global Investors, brings two decades of experience in investing in private credit, structured credit, impact and private equity, real estate and infrastructure.

Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global, the largest sovereign wealth fund globally, on Tuesday announced a record-breaking profit of 2.22 trillion Norwegian kronor (approximately  196 billion euro) for 2023. This achievement was primarily driven by substantial returns from investments in technology stocks.

The results marked a significant turnaround from its 1.64 trillion kronor (about 140 billion euro) loss in 2022, primarily due to a downturn in tech stocks.

A consortium led by French and Dutch asset managers is progressing towards setting a global industry benchmark for quantifying greenhouse gas emissions averted through low-carbon solutions.

Allianz Global Investors’ Franck Dixmier expects faster monetary easing in the US now that inflation there is now largely under control. But only later in the year. In terms of allocations he favours investment-grade credit, emerging debt and sovereigns with short maturities. 

Europe’s biggest asset manager Amundi calls on its peers in financial sector to better serve clients by stepping up efforts to bring greater clarity on the use of standards and regulations that govern responsible and sustainable investing. 

Edinburgh-based asset manager Abrdn on Wednesday said it plans to slash 500 jobs this year, or about 10% of its workforce, in a push to bring down costs and restore profitability as the industry continues to be plagued by a growing uptake of low-cost competitors and a broad switch among clients to passive investment strategies.