European investors did themselves a disservice in February. They sold out of pretty much all asset classes when markets hit (in some cases) multi-year lows before recovering their losses in the past couple of weeks. The outflows mainly hit active funds, as ETFs saw modest net inflows.
Worldwide assets in open-ended funds were €36.9trn (£29.2trn, $41.3trn) at the end of 2015, having outperformed every quarter in 2014, according to the European Fund and Asset Management Association (Efama).
More assets will be invested in alternative investment funds than in fixed income globally by year-end if the current fund flows trend persists. Net flows into alternative funds saw double-digit growth for the second year in a row, according to a Morningstar report.
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) wants Singapore to waive its bank secrecy laws and push UBS into releasing financial information of a US citizen.
Accounts held by the lawyers or notaries of clients in Switzerland are now exempt from the United States’ Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) following the signing of an agreement by the countries’ authorities in February.
Lombard International Assurance, a provider of wealth structuring solutions for high net worth clients, has launched a new wealth planning product designed to meet the needs of US taxpayers and prospective US residents currently residing in the UK.
MetLife, the largest life insurer in the US, confirmed on Thursday that it is in talks to sell its roughly 4,000-strong adviser force MetLife Premier Client Group to Massachusetts-based MassMutual Financial Group.
2015 was the weakest year for US equities since 2008, the exception being the technology sector that was buoyed by the ‘Fangs’ – Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google.
UK-based exchange traded fund provider Source launched two new US sector Ucits ETFs, providing targeted exposure to the financial services and real estate sectors of the S&P 500 equity index.
The scale of activity of US alternative fund managers in Europe has been barely affected by the introduction of the EU’s Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD).
The United States accounts for around half of the global equities index so whether you like the asset class or not you can never ignore it, or eliminate it from a portfolio.
Net revenue was down by a quarter at Canada’s third largest insurer by assets, Sun Life Financial, during the fourth quarter and full year of 2015. The company also incurred a C$63m (£31.1m, $45.3m, €40.2m) restructuring cost related to the closure of its US wealth business.
