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— Gilbert Van Hassel, CEO Europe, ING Investment Management

With predictions that larger asset managers may lose out in future as the market becomes more specialised, should ING IM be worried? Not according to its CEO Europe, who tells Henry Smith how its multi-business structure will ensure it is one of the mega-players.

Large asset managers face a future as uncertain as present market conditions. Recent investment industry reports predict that they will lose out to a growing number of specialist fund groups over the next decade as institutional investors step up their search for products with the potential to generate alpha.

— Pierre Servant, Natixis Global Asset Management’s CEO

Natixis Global Asset Management’s CEO, Pierre Servant, talks to Henry Smith about its continued growth from Europe through to Asia and where it has set it sights for the future.

Despite the touted benefits, the merging of two companies is invariably an unsettling process, fraught with challenges and uncertainties. Staff morale can be affected, service standards can suffer and clients can become disenchanted and leave.

— Arne Lindman, CEO of ABN Amro Asset Management Asia

In the face of a consortium takeover, Arne Lindman, CEO of ABN Amro Asset Management Asia tells Henry Smith that his priority remains to provide clients with a high-quality service with a minimum of disruption.

The news that a consortium comprising Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Fortis and Banco Santander had won the battle with Barclays to take over ABN Amro marks just the end of the beginning of this long-running saga.

— Jon Little, BNY Mellon Asset Management

As BNY Mellon Asset Management celebrates an impressive partnership in China with Southern Fund Management, vice chairman Jon Little gives Henry Smith his insights on how to succeed in China and talks about the firm’s plans for European tie-ups.

BNY Mellon is in negotiation with a potential joint venture partner with a view to establishing a JV fund management business in mainland China.

— Elizabeth Corley, Allianz Global Investors, Europe

With numerous affiliate companies around the world, it comes as a surprise that Allianz Global Investors adopts a hands-off approach and lets its firms get on with it. In spite of performance blips, CEO Elizabeth Corley refuses to hear a bad word about any of them, writes Henry Smith.

Asset management firms, irrespective of size, should foster a “culture of investment” that benefits their clients. A focus on achieving sustainable performance will bring investor satisfaction and long-term profitability, according to Elizabeth Corley, CEO of Allianz Global Investors, Europe.

— Stan O’Neal, CEO Merrill Lynch

Stan O’Neal, Merrill Lynch’s CEO, is keen to focus on the positives when it comes to future prospects around the world, but he acknowledges that a buoyant market and an influx of liquidity can lead to a distortion in certain asset classes. Nat Mankelow reports.

The story behind the rise of Stan O’Neal, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Merrill Lynch, which boasted a net income of $7.5bn (€5.5bn) in 2006 from revenues of £70bn, is considerably more humble than the lofty position he finds himself in today.

Fortis is aiming to boost profit share from Asia over the next three years. It may seek partnerships to enter new markets, but, as CEO Richard Wohanka claims, Asia is viewed as a long-term strategy rather than a short-term opportunity. Henry Smith reports.

People can be such spoilsports with the press. When I caught up with Richard Wohanka, CEO of Fortis Investments at a recent asset management conference in Hong Kong, he was in no mood to play ball on that most pertinent question regarding his parent company at the present time.

— Andrew Lo, CEO of Invesco Asia Pacific

Fears over whether fund managers will be shut out of the mutual funds market in China by insurance and domestic banks are unfounded, claims Invesco Asia Pacific’s CEO Andrew Lo, who believes open architecture will prevail. He talks to Henry Smith.

Open architecture is “the way forward” in the Chinese mutual fund industry despite the distribution dominance of large domestic banks and new regulations allowing local insurance companies to set up wholly-owned asset management subsidiaries.

Nicholas Applegate’s CEO Marna Whittington delayed her retirement in an attempt to bring the firm out of dire straits after the 2000 market crash. A more streamlined company, with a three-pronged strategy, now exists, focusing on sustainable performance. Henry Smith reports.

— Lyster: climate of uncertainty in securities

The European arm of Principal Global Investors is building its physical presence as it bids to boost institutional assets. CEO Nick Lyster is looking to specialist products as part of a larger expansion into Germany and the UK. Henry Smith reports.

Core fixed income investment mandates, typically benchmarked to the Lehman Global Aggregate index, are “yesterday’s game” according to Nick Lyster, CEO of Principal Global Investors Europe (PGI).

— Robert Goodman, global head of insurance relationships at DeAM

After acquiring Zurich Scudder Investments, Deutsche Asset Management gained access to a template for insurance-specific outsourcing which it is now adapting to a global market. Paula Garrido reports on how the firm recognises four different investment approaches to target.

Deutsche Asset Management’s (DeAM) insurance asset management business received a huge boost with the acquisition of Zurich Scudder Investments in 2002.Although DeAM – which has total assets under management in excess of €540bn – was already managing assets for insurers before this move, the Scudder acquisition has put the firm at the forefront of the insurance outsourcing business.

— Herrera: pro-cyclical will destroy fortunes

Gabriel Herrera, head of EMEA at UBS Global Asset Management, is a man who likes to stick to his guns and believes that the pro-cyclical nature of the asset management industry is affecting long-term prospects and merely repeating past mistakes. Henry Smith reports.

Ted Sotir, head of business in Europe for Goldman Sachs Asset Management, has made inroads in the Netherlands with the firm’s brand of fiduciary management, but faces the challenge of breaking the consultant-driven UK market. He speaks to Henry Smith.

— Franklin: new every firm is quantitative

Churchill Franklin, co-founder and COO of Acadian Asset Management, believes that psychological prejudices cloud decisions over investment and that his quantitative strategies are far more likely to bring in bountiful returns. He speaks to Paula Garrido on the firm’s expansion plans.

The chairman of Société Générale Asset Management maintains that anything a niche player can do a large multi-specialist investment firm can do better. And as pension fund markets develop, he claims investors are also realising this, writes Henry Smith.

— Keith Skeoch, CEO Standard Life Investments

While Standard Life the insurer is no stranger to both positive and negative headlines, SLI goes largely unsung despite massive achievements. The relatively young organisation is now looking to shed its niche, Scottish-focused image and break on to the global stage.

When it comes to career highlights, it’s not difficult for Keith Skeoch, CEO at Standard Life Investments, to name his proudest moment.

Axa Investment Managers hopes that Framlington’s strong performance can boost institutional business. Henry Smith speaks to UK CEO Paul Griffiths about shake-ups, reviews and plans to ‘revitalise’ a modest hedge fund business.

NTGI’s Barry Sagraves is happy in a big organisation, as his doubling of the firm’s London AUM to €30bn indicates. The firm is now actively promoting multi-manager strategies and enhanced indexing, but prefers to test Chinese waters before diving in. Henry Smith reports.

Andrew Tong, president of SYWG BNP Paribas in Shanghai, believes his fund house can offer a competitive advantage by focusing on its speciality of equities. He is also eagerly anticipating regulatory reform to open the doors to foreign markets. Henry Smith reports.

— De Planta: benchmarks are broadening to include more peripheral mandates

Pictet & Cie partner, Renaud de Planta, is not worried about building assets but instead focuses on solid performance. The small firm which prides itself on strength, stability and independence also capitalises on clients’ perceptions of it offering something different, writes Yuri Bender.

Renaud de Planta, the partner at Swiss private bank Pictet & Cie responsible for asset management activities, looks out from his vantage point on the banks of Lake Geneva and smiles every time he hears about a new consolidation or acquisition in the investment world.

“Whenever I see a competitor entering into a consolidation exercise, then I am happy that I am not there,” says Mr de Planta, with an almost palpable sigh of relief, following the recent wave of mergers at Julius Baer, Citigroup and Nextra.

— Du Toit: we had our currency side right but our yield curve call wrong

Investec chief executive, Hendrik du Toit, insists that the mid-sized firm is less concerned about raising assets and more focused on perfecting the products it offers. He talks to Henry Smith about surging equity funds, poor bond performance and new projects in the pipeline.

The suggestion that medium-sized asset managers are an endangered species gets short shrift from Hendrik du Toit, Investec Asset Management’s, youthful-looking and feisty chief executive. Although he concedes that most medium-sized investment houses will not survive, he maintains that mid-sized firms can also be winners.

“Most will be losers, but I think that the majority at the bottom end of the scale are in that position, while at the top end a number of people have huge problems in managing their firms,” he says.

— Baxter: would like to reach £10bn, but primary aim is to do it profitably

Having built up third-party assets, Old Mutual Asset Managers is now seeking to use its boutique status to win specialist mandates from pension funds which have adopted a core satellite model. Their new CEO talks to Henry Smith about spearheading new products.

If you want to run high performance long-only investment products, start a hedge fund. Why? If all the best managers are busy running hedge funds, then the only way to woo them is to launch your own alternative investment strategies.

That’s what Peter Baxter believes and its just what he did soon after leaving Hill Samuel (following its merger with Scottish Widows in 2000) to start up a third-party fund management business for Old Mutual Asset Managers UK (OMAM), a specialist investment subsidiary of the South African-based insurer Old Mutual.

— Peña: we will continue to grow without the need for a sales or marketing department

While initiatives to boost the institutional investment market in Spain have failed to deliver, Fonditel – the country’s biggest independent pension fund – continues to attract the big names through its impressive track record. CEO Luis Peña Kaiser talks to Paula Garrido.

In the last few years there have been two developments in the Spanish pensions industry, which many believed would drive real growth in the sector. First came the legal requirement for companies with pension assets in their balance sheets to externalise them via a pension fund or insurance arrangement. Then the possibility arose of creating pension plans for civil servants that could open the door to the establishment of industry-wide occupational pensions.

So far, neither of these developments has translated into real growth in the still underdeveloped private pension markets.

— Kemna: institutional investors should be able to rely on their investment managers

ING Investment Management is channelling its energies into developing a quality international servicing model for its institutional clients before concentrating on gathering new business, CEO Europe Angelien Kemna tells Henry Smith.

A desire to provide a higher standard of service to existing institutional clients has superceded the traditional drive to amass assets under management at ING Investment Management.

According to Angelien Kemna, chief executive officer of ING IM’s European operation based in the Netherlands, institutional investors that lost money when the stockmarkets fell were badly let down by asset managers and consultants who “hid behind benchmarks” and failed to offer appropriate and timely investment advice.

— Romito: ‘a good multi-manager offering is an important option for investors, especially because the best managers probably do not have scalable platforms’

Nicola Romito, head of Monte Paschi Asset Management, tells Henry Smith of his firm’s plans to develop and diversify its institutional investment business internationally.

Monte Paschi Asset Management (MPSAM) might not be the biggest investment house in the world, but the Milan and Dublin-based subsidiary of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the world’s oldest bank, has been beefing up its arsenal of products in order to mount a targeted assault on the European institutional market.

Of the firm’s €37bn of assets under management, just over half is run for institutional investors. Some €10bn is insurance assets, €4bn is corporate and pension fund money and €6bn is managed for private clients.

MPSAM recently purchased a minority €25m stake in a new London-based institutional investment firm, TrinityCapM, which has just launched an institutional hedge fund – Global Target Plus - and an enhanced cash fund – Global Enhanced Liquidity.

— De Boeck: ‘threatened in our traditional core business of balanced mandates’

Edwin De Boeck, managing director of KBC Asset Management, tells Henry Smith how the Belgian firm is responding to the European trend towards specialist mandates.

KBC Asset Management is an established and recognised player in the European retail market. Through a bank branch network in its home country of Belgium and in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, KBCAM distributes mutual funds, money market funds and capital guaranteed products which account for the lion’s share of the €100.9bn of total assets under management.

The firm’s retail business has extended to south east Asia, where it has joined forces with HSBC and Hang Seng Bank to distribute products which last year brought in €600m from investors in Hong Kong.

Daniel Roy, CEO of Natexis Asset Management, tells Yuri Bender of his faith in the institutional market and of the firm’s prowess as a global balanced manager.
Natexis Asset Management (NAM), investment subsidiary of France’s sixth largest bank, Group Banque Populaire, has already put down its marker as one of the country’s fastest growing fund production units. Now it has received an extra shot in the arm with the addition of the bank’s self-selected pension fund business. The merger has boosted assets under management by €12bn to €83bn.

Gilles Glicenstein, CEO of BNP Paribas Asset Management, tells Yuri Bender how he intends to acquire another five decentralised units by the end of the decade.

Exasperation with the current state of French and Italian institutional markets is so strong that even global consultants who moved in with such verve during the last 10 years are having second thoughts, says Gilles Glicenstein, chief executive officer of the ?190bn investment operation at BNP Paribas Asset Management (BNP PAM).

Suzanne Donohoe, European co-head at Goldman Sachs Asset Management,tells Yuri Bender how wooing the consultants has paid dividends.

Every year, the investment teams at Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) make separate presentations in the plush 200-seat lecture theatre in the inner sanctum of Peterborough Court on London’s Fleet Street. One full day is slated in the calendar for this, generally in November.

Nathalie Boullefort-Fulconis, Axa IM’s head of global institutional business, tells Henry Smith how the insurer is benefiting from the expanding girth of individual French mandates.

Axa Investment Managers was among 21 fund houses to be awarded €16bn in investment mandates by the French Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR) in April. The French-based fund manager, which runs €329bn of total assets, won three equity mandates and a bond brief worth €2.12bn in the recent FRR public auction.

— Möller: ‘we cannot ignore international trends, we have to play the same game’

George Möller, Robeco Group’s newly installed chief executive officer, tells Henry Smith of his plans to pursue new institutional clients in Continental Europe and the US.

— Chairman and chief executive officer The Vanguard Group

Ignoring the herd and a client-centric focus are key to the maintenance of a successful business and avoidance of trading abuse scandals. Interview by Henry Smith.