Spy likes spending time with optimists. They tend to be right, after all. The old joke about economists predicting 7 of the last 3 recessions is on the money, says Spy. So what to make of the news report this week that featured Morningstar’s chief investment officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Dan Kemp. He claimed, according to Marketwatch, that “our expectation at the moment is that you won’t have any real return from US equities over the next 10 years”. Spy has no crystal ball, but somehow he reckons that even by Eeyore’s standards, that is a tad too gloomy. Spy has infinite faith in American companies to dream up products even the most ardent socialists want to buy. Cheers.
It may be the summer but that does not seem to stop people hopping around. Spy has stumbled across a few people moves this week.
News reaches Spy that Daisy Wong has joined Pinebridge in Hong Kong as marketing manager. Daisy joins from Old Mutual Global Investors, where she held a similar role. Daisy reports in to Lisa Wang, who is head of marketing and communications for the group. Old Mutual Global Investors recently became a separate company as Old Mutual Plc has split into four businesses. Pinebridge has had success in the last 12 months with its Japan Small & Mid Cap Equity Fund, which is up a healthy 16%.
Julius Baer has pinched Shawn Lim from Swiss rival Credit Suisse in Singapore. Shawn until recently was an associate vice president and portfolio specialist looking after clients in Southeast Asia. He has been made an associate director at Julius Baer and will continue to provide investment advice to clients in the region. Credit Suisse has just had to cough up $77m in fines for dodgy shenanigans in China, according to news reports out last night. Losing one adviser is probably not top concern this morning.
Spy understands that St James’s Place, the British FTSE 100 listed wealth manager, in Singapore is losing Sarah Ellis, who is stepping down from the business. Sarah has held the position of executive partnership development manager since 2015. Spy is not sure whether she is remaining in Singapore and who is replacing her. Spy reported a few months ago that Gary Harvey has taken over as local CEO.
If Spy’s sources are correct, the animal spirits are running fairly hard in Singapore – especially when discussing the favourite topic at every single Singaporean dinner party: property speculation. This week the government has again put “cooling measures” in place discouraging speculators from pushing prices too high. What is Spy’s advice to bankers? Invest in funds, they have no such restrictions and can hunt for bargains everywhere.
A truly staggering amount of trading takes place every day on world stock markets. In 2017, 76.5 million trades happened every day, to be exact. Those trades involved a daily value, on average, of $441bn, according to the World Federation of Exchanges. Spy is fairly convinced that more than 80% of that trading is totally unnecessary – unless you are a broker of course. Speaking to wealthy people, they almost never talk about accumulating their wealth through trading financial instruments but building companies and investments over time. Just sayin’.
Who would want to be in Theresa May’s shoes? The British prime minister is trying to get her warring cabinet to agree on a Brexit model while asset managers, banks and big manufacturers all scream for certainty. On top of that, she banned her ministers and senior officials from attending the football World Cup, only for England to defy the odds and make it beyond the group stages.
In a world awash in poor financial advice and dodgy money management, Spy overheard one man boasting that he had radically improved his chances of getting good money management. His solution? He had written his financial adviser into his will. Fair enough.
Allianz Global Investors is banging the drum for active investment in this advert spotted in Singapore. Spy is only happy to add that no index fund ever built a railroad or a bridge. Well, not to his knowledge anyway.
Spy was rushing through Hong Kong airport this week and spotted this advert from Chinese financial services firm Guotai Junan International. The advert, if Spy’s translation is accurate, says, “Together we grow with your wealth in the changing market”. Now where have I heard that claim before.
Until next week…
