Is technology a new asset class? February 23, 2021 | City Talk With Covid-19 accelerating digitalisation, the question facing many companies is no longer whether technology is important, but just how important? What percentage of their time should a bank or retailer’s top executives spend thinking about technology? How much investment should a company make in tech? What weighting should institutional and retail investors give the sector? [...]
Maybe analyst recommendations DO add value February 16, 2021 | City Talk This is something all investors know for a fact: following analyst buy or sell recommendations isn’t going to lead to outperformance in the long run. Or is it? A new study may cast some doubt on the conventional wisdom. In “Analyst Recommendations and Anomalies Across the Globe,” Vitor Azevedo and Sebastian Müller, CFA, examine 3.8 million analyst forecasts in [...]
Amundi CEO steps down on a high as fund manager reports record profit February 10, 2021 Yves Perrier is stepping down after more than a decade running Amundi, Europe’s largest asset manager. He will be succeeded by his deputy Valérie Baudson, the group said on Friday. Perrier, who has led the French firm since its creation in 2010, announced his departure as the group reported a record fourth-quarter profit. He will [...]
The truthiness of ESG criticism February 2, 2021 | City Talk There are two often-repeated critiques of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing that I really can’t stand. They have the quality of truthiness about them and are what academics sometimes call “as if” arguments. For my younger readers, the term truthiness is defined by Wikipedia as follows: “Truthiness is the belief or assertion that a particular statement [...]
EU securities watchdog calls for stricter regulation on greenwashing January 29, 2021 The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said today EU rules are needed to regulate ratings on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects of companies to avoid investors being deceived by “greenwashing”. Asset managers use ESG ratings to make “green” environmentally conscious investment decisions. Greenwashing refers to inaccurate claims that investments are sustainable and [...]
St James’s Place reports £2.3bn in inflows after ‘extraordinary’ year January 28, 2021 Wealth manager St James’s Place reported £2.3bn of net inflows after an “extraordinary” year which saw its funds under management soar. As of 31 December the firm’s funds under management stood at a record £129.3bn, an 11 per cent increase on the previous year. Despite the pandemic gross inflows of £14.33bn fell just five per [...]
Brewin Dolphin total funds exceed pre-pandemic levels January 27, 2021 Fund manager Brewin Dolphin reported record total funds as market sentiment rebounded off the back of the Brexit deal and vaccine rollout. Total funds increased eight per cent to a record £54.1bn in the first quarter with total inflows of £0.6bn Net inflows stood at £0.1bn in the three months to December. It represents an [...]
Ashmore assets rise 9 per cent but net outflows persist January 15, 2021 Wealth manager Ashmore Group’s (ASHM) assets under management (AUM) rose by $7.5bn in the second quarter as positive market movements helped to offset outflows. The investment manager, which focuses on emerging markets, said total AUM rose 9 per cent to $93bn as at 31 December, after a positive investment performance of $8.1bn. But Ashmore still [...]
Martin Gilbert snaps up stake in ESG boutique run by former colleague January 14, 2021 City veteran Martin Gilbert has bought a stake in his former Aberdeen Asset Management colleague’s ESG boutique, Alquity. Gilbert stood down from Standard Life Aberdeen in March 2019 to join challenger bank Revolut as its chairman, but he has started to move back into the wealth management space. The investor has taken on several board [...]
Carne Group bags €100m investment from London private equity firm January 13, 2021 Irish financial services firm Carne Group has secured funding from a London-based private equity firm that has backed the likes of Darktrace and Just Eat. Carne Group, which is the world’s largest third-party fund management company, announced it had received a €100m investment from Vitruvian Partners. The fresh funding will be used to expand the [...]