All articles and comments on the website of Gerle Financial Communications related to recent developments in the British fund market.
“We are in an era of great flux, and the next three years will bring big challenges in three key areas – all of which will have significant impact on…
Pacific Asset Management, the London-based asset manager and Coolabah Capital Investments, a leading global active credit fund manager, today announce the launch of the Pacific Coolabah Global Active Credit Fund.…
Pacific Asset Management (PAM), an independent asset manager based in London, has appointed Mary Murphy as Global Head of Institutional Sales. In this role, Ms Murphy will also be responsible…
When King Charles III is going to be crowned British King in London this Saturday, millions (not only Britons) will celebrate with him. Compared to the coronation of his mother…
Covid-19 or not, Brexit or not: the British financial industry is not letting the EU exit, which happened almost a year ago, get it down. New stock exchange rules, sustainability…
The UK government and the British financial industry are currently desperately looking for ways to keep the UK an attractive international financial centre post-Brexit. Indeed, since the EU referendum in…
The British financial industry post Brexit: Hoping for equivalence – or move to the EU straight away? That is the topic of the latest, 6th episode of GFC (not the…
The United Kingdom and the European Union want to sign a “Memorandum of Understanding” by the end of March, which should determine how the financial services industry will proceed after Brexit. While the UK hopes that its regulations will also be recognised as equivalent on the continent, a level playing field seems to be more important for the EU. Every day without an agreement drives more business, firms, and staff to Europe – and unsettles British investment managers increasingly.
Things are not looking good for the UK as an international financial hub. While the Brexit deal may have been an unexpected Christmas present for some Brits, for many it is turning into a national tragedy. Enervated hauliers, angry fishermen and ripped-off online shoppers from the United Kingdom (UK) may soon be joined by relocating employees in financial services firms. The sales manager of a London investment boutique put it succinctly in a phone call with me the other day: “Down the line, if you want to work in the EU, you need the local licence.” Ergo, his employer is intensively looking for a location on the European mainland.
Considerations, like those of this asset manager with its tens of billions in assets under management, are being made by more and more investment houses on the Thames that do not (yet) have a branch in the European Union (EU). The post-Brexit period is a grey area for many of them as long as there is no separate agreement between the UK and the EU. But that may be a long time coming. (more…)
The (for the time being) final curtain in the Brexit drama is rising these days, but it does not look like a good ending for the British financial and fund industry. Until recently, the biggest opportunity seemed to be “Fish for Finance“. But that is unlikely to happen. British financial firms are sitting on dry land if they do not have their own branch in the European Union by now (read the whole article as a PDF). Until the cancellation of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson last Friday, “Fish for Finance” – a possible trade between fishing rights for EU fishing boats in British waters on one hand and access for British financial products to the European Union on the other – looked quite promising. Haddock for funds or cod for derivatives, so to speak. (more…)
The impending collapse of the Woodford Equity Income Fund (WEIF) in the UK may not only cost (ex-)star fund manager Neil Woodford his company. The crisis also casts a shadow over the increasingly popular illiquid investments, especially among institutional investors, and their supervision.
The case of Neil Woodford, who is currently holding British investors, the media and financial regulators in suspense, can be told from three perspectives: as a drama of the rise and fall of a former star fund manager, as evidence of the carelessness of supervisors, or as a harbinger of the difficulties of active asset managers when they juggle illiquid investments. Above all, however, it is a warning of how reluctantly the key players in the affair communicate.
So, what happened? (more…)
