Asset Management Marketing Focus #20

Kurtosys expresses their best wishes to all starting in their new positions.

Website Spotlight: Generali Investments

Happy New Year! Starting off 2018 with a bang is an extremely recent website revamp at the end of last year courtesy of Generali Investments, across their global dot com, Luxembourg and German retail sites.

The red-and-white design of the homepage is sleek and stylish, featuring an interactive carousel which doubles up as an investment advice search ahead function, as well as a house for their most recent video content regarding markets and asset class predictions for the year ahead.

In fact, much of the main page is a useful blend of regularly updated content and clear calls to action, arranged in a similarly smart and neat fashion for advanced user experience.

The fund discovery page benefits from having a more direct fund explorer (including a highly useful fund ‘watch list’ feature), but also a long-form table of funds, segmented by asset classes for the browsing website visitor. Each panel of fund information can be collapsed or expanded with intuitive toggle buttons. Amongst these sections are information of risk and reward profiles, annual reports and return information, which are displayed through downloadable .pdfs and interactive graphs.

As is customary for our favourite asset management sites, Generali Investments’  offering is responsively designed to be just as presentable and intuitive on mobile.

The fund page, which is already exemplary, is looking to be improved this year, but this site’s overall design features and its catering to multi-language, multi-country and multi-investor types has gained it a place on our 50 Best-Designed Asset Management Websites Gallery.

Fund(s) in Focus: Fidelity International China Funds

New year, new funds. New year, new fund opportunities? As we saw in our last AMMF of 2017, a hedge fund launch in China from Man Group was presented, and following similar suit right at the start of 2018 is the news that Fidelity International is expanding its product range in The Middle Kingdom too.

Based in Shanghai is its ‘wholly foreign-owned enterprise’ (WFOE), which has launched two brand new funds to add to its existing offering:

1. Fidelity China Equity No.1 Private Fund – primarily investing in the A-share market (the second-largest stock market in the world), managed by Lynda Zhou
2. Fidelity China Bond Opportunity No.1 Private Fund – a fixed-income fund, managed by Freddy Wong

Development in the Chinese market appears to be taking off, with many of the leading worldwide asset managers looking to leverage the capabilities of the local Chinese investing client base through long-term structural changes. 2018 could be the greatest year yet for China’s capital markets.

Further information: The Edge Singapore

Wealth Manager in Focus: BlackRock

…and in case that last assertion wasn’t enough…
In the manager spotlight this week is US asset management giant BlackRock, for the same reason; a foray into the Chinese market.

BlackRock’s Shanghai subsidiary has reportedly received a Private Fund Manager (PFM) licence which will enable the manager to sell its onshore investment products to investors in China. This follows a similar effort by Schroders who are also registered with the Asset Management Association of China (AMAC).

Many large foreign investors including UBS and Fullerton Fund Management have made an entry into the Chinese market, considered one of the most auspicious investment markets in the world. In order to obtain as wide a net of investment products as possible, it’s clear fund managers are increasing gaining a global state of mind.
Further information: Verdict | Deal Street Asia

MiFID II News

This week began, and the dreaded day has come and gone. What have we learned?

Well, the asset management world (including us here at AMMF) have kept a keen eye on MiFID II for a long while, specifically in the last couple of years. The directive – seven years in the making – has caused blood, sweat and tears, but the past few days have reported the relief and painlessness of it all rather than the grief, so there is indeed a plus.

However, whilst January 3^rd is but dust, the work is certainly not complete yet, as asset management companies, developers, regulators etc. will stress. Thus, as relief periods (up to 30 months of reprieve) carry on – it’s certainly worthwhile to remind oneself in a regimented way about what still needs to be achieved for full MiFID II-compliance.

Hence, this MiFID II guide specifically for financial advisers from Illuminate – beautifully named MiFID II… second album syndrome or regulatory game changer? – is the perfect companion to give a thorough run through of the fundamentals, and what may still need to checked off the list in the next few months.

Even with the clear intentions of increased transparency and competition, the ongoing MiFID II hell-ride is maintaining high levels of scrutiny, much like many of the sophomore albums featured on this well designed landing page. Plus, you have to doff your cap for the inclusions of Pixies’ Doolittle or Metallica’s Ride the Lightning, even though the latter’s third and fourth efforts were even greater…

Industry Insights

Podcast
In the same vein, 2018 brings with it further shifts in regulatory matters.
Pertaining to the US market, Investment News have released an informative 10-minute interview podcast with Investment Advisor Association (IAA) president and chief executive Karen Barr. The Securities and Exchange Commission is now complete with five members for the first time in over two years, so Barr runs through how the SEC is looking to progress the fiduciary rule, as well as reflecting on the last twelve month’s rather precarious time in terms of US politics and regulatory changes to investment advice.
Predictions 
End-of-year articles dwell on past events, whilst new year articles take a look at the exciting future prospects for the industry.

Most specifically for the asset management sector, Citywire Wealth Manager has collated a slideshow of 9 predictions from Kurtosys CEO and AM soothsayer Mash Patel, ranging from the impact of regtech on more stringent compliance matters, diversification through mergers and acquisitions and the continual influence of Brexit on jobs within the financial world.

Although still just in the chilly, pessimistic post-joyous period of January, it’s back to business for asset managers worldwide, so here are some salient thoughts on what we may have to deal with in the times ahead.

Events

GDPR and Cyber Security in Asset Management  JANUARY 30^TH 2018 | LONDON
Whilst the MiFID II matter is still an ongoing compliance issue, it will coincide this May with GDPR; data protection rules which will impact asset managers who keep records of their investors’ information.

Need help? Citywire luckily has an upcoming event offering assistance well in advance of the effective date – 25^th May – discussing challenges, opportunities and, importantly, how to avoid that horrendous €20 million fine.

All of the information you’ll need can be accessed here, with tickets available at this link.

And finally…

…to lighten up the end of 2018’s first AMMF, here’s a 2017 rundown of the financial services industry, all told through the medium of WealthManagement magazine’s monthly covers.

Artistic displays of technological prophecy, socially responsible investing, compliance relief and ETFs are all on show, in particularly creative ways. Although words can paint a thousand pictures, it’s these singular concept-based pieces which can really enhance our understanding of the asset management world’s most prevalent issues alongside the spread of intelligent insights out there.

That’s all for this week, but be sure to check back soon for more asset management marketing highlights and fintech snippets from Kurtosys.