The Thomson Reuters Lipper Alpha Expert Forum has earned a reputation as a one of the mutual fund industry’s premier thought leadership events.
On this, our tenth anniversary, we secured some of the most senior industry executives in Europe to share their views with us. Once again, we welcomed the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment, the leading professional investment body in the U.K as our co-hosts and a full house ensured a lively debate.
Challenges Facing Active Fund Houses
The morning’s first panel session moderated by Lipper Head of UK & Ireland Research, Jake Moeller, who welcomed Steve Kenny, Director of Wholesale – Kames Capital, Robin Stoakley, MD & Head of U.K. Intermediary – Schroders and Tony Stenning, MD & Head of UK Retail – BlackRock to discuss current issues in active fund distribution. Active fund groups have had to adapt to a number of regulatory and market challenges recently but appear to be in good shape. They don’t see passive investments or “robo” advice as a threat, rather as a complimentary solution in a fragmented advice market.
(L-R) Jake Moeller interviews Robin Stoakley, Tony Stenning & Steve Kenny. (PHILIP KALUS)
Much of the regulatory work initiated under RDR and MiFID II has been completed and respective Compliance teams have been boosted. The panel recognised that they have to offer good performing “components” to allow investors to build up the right portfolios but they concluded that they are well positioned to innovate, educate and provide quality solutions for investors and advisers.
The European Flows Environment
Lipper’s Head of EMEA Research, Detlef Glow outlined key patterns of flows into mutual funds noting reasonably robust European fund sales of nearly €300 billion year to date. He noted the €30 billion trend of flows into global bond funds in response to the summer “wobble” in markets.
Detlef Glow discusses European fund flows. (JAKE MOELLER)
Detlef also outlined a decline in 2015 of fund mergers and launches – a trend starting in 2010, and expects further consolidation. He also argued that the threat of ETF and passive investments to the active fund market may be overstated showing that ETFs and Index trackers only constitute 10% of overall market share in Europe.
Innovations in ETFs
Detlef Glow moderated a panel session with Hector McNeil, Co-CEO – WisdomTree, Matthieu Mouly, European Head of Sales – Lyxor, Ursula Marchioni, Chief Strategist EMEA – BlackRock and Andrew Walsh, Executive Director, Head of EFT Sales UK & Ireland – UBS. Passive investments and ETFs have built an increasingly higher profile as investors have become more price savvy.
2015 Macro Review and Outlook for 2016
(L-R) Detlef Glow interviews Hector McNeil, Ursula Marchioni, Matthieu Mouly & Andrew Walsh. (JAKE MOELLER)
The panel cautioned against the use of “buzz” phrases such as “smart beta” which could cause confusion among investors. There was a high degree of competition in the market but the panel believed that constant innovation was one of the hallmarks of the enduring success and rising profile of ETF investing.
The final session saw Jake Moeller moderate the popular macroeconomic outlook session with Stephen Jones, CIO – Kames Capital, James Dowey, CIO & Chief Economist – Neptune and Andrew Parry, Head of Equities- Hermes Sourcecap. In painting an outlook for markets in 2016, the panelists were largely sanguine on the outlook for markets without being overly exuberant. They felt that there were opportunities in the markets for stock pickers and that value could still be found in pockets of the market.
(L-R) Jake Moeller interviews James Dowey, Andrew Parry & Stephen Jones. (ADRIAN CAMMIDGE)
All of the sessions experienced a high level of audience engagement with some lively questions and debate contributing to the success of the event. The three hours of Continuing Professional Development allocated to the event by the CISI was well earned.
A Twitter feed went live during the event with considerable comment and photos being posted via #LAEF15.
It is a tribute to the reputation of Thomson Reuters Lipper that we are able to gather such an acclaimed list of panellists to this annual event. Our considerable gratitude is extended to all those panellists who generously provided their time and thought leadership. It is vital to the industry that experience and knowledge is shared. Special thanks to BlackRock, Kames, WisdomTree, Lyxor, UBS, Neptune,Hermes and Schroders.
