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I know what you missed this summer

22 September 2015 | Economy

Amid all the noise and panic in markets around the world during recent weeks—prompted in part by uncertainty over China’s economic path—it seems to have gone unremarked that the European fixed income sector has been relatively unaffected by the precipitous declines that have beset other parts of the investment landscape.

African Bank: “Just where did I put that side pocket?”

21 September 2015 | General

Although investors effectively forced African Bank Investment Limited (ABIL) into curatorship almost a year ago, there remains no concrete clarity on how debt financiers are to be treated going forward. This has financial ramifications to unit trust investors and although ABIL debt instruments were widely held across collective investment scheme (CIS) portfolios, the responses of the management companies (managers) varied. Some managers took a company-wide approach, while others allowed the portfolio manager, arguably the person with the broadest knowledge of the risk case at hand, to decide on the appropriateness of different responses. Perhaps the responses were correlated with the portfolios’ proportional exposure to ABIL, but responses, and subsequent treatment of those exposures, have varied considerably.

A Fed move could be good news for emerging markets

21 September 2015 | General

After months (if not years) of speculation and debate, the US Federal Reserve (Fed) has left the financial markets in a holding pattern once again, deciding to keep its benchmark short-term interest rate steady at near zero. In our view as investors in emerging markets, this isn’t necessarily positive news, because we are still left with the uncertainty that has been plaguing the market for some time. We know that the markets dislike uncertainty, so we could also be left with continued volatility through year-end.

Don’t panic. It’s expected

18 September 2015 | General

We are well aware that an adviser’s job is never done. No matter how thoroughly you explained to your clients what to expect from the equity market, when markets suddenly fall and alarmed investors start to call, the toughest part of your client journey starts: assuring investors that choppy waters too can lead to the right destination.

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