Retail funds with under E50m are generally seen as unprofitable, but Rodney Williams discovers a surprisingly high number of them in Europe.

Confident that its product range can win over cross-border investors, Fortis gets to work on distribution agreements, writes Paula Garrido.
Having consolidated its position as one of the largest fund players in the Benelux countries, Fortis Investments is expanding its international exposure, establishing new agreements with a wide range of distribution partners across Europe.

Service is gaining the edge over performance in terms of what

private clients want, writes Yuri Bender, and wealth managers

are eager to take whatever steps are necessary to achieve

the perfect combination.

The future of European stock exchanges lies in consolidation and cooperation.
The European exchange industry is developing at breakneck speed.International orientation and transparency are the key drivers, as well as value added services for both domestic and international clients.

After significant initial interest followed by rapid progress in Europe, exchange-traded fund products are now being fine-tuned to fit the needs of a more sophisticated market.
In recent years, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have been one of the fastest growing areas in the European asset management industry. While these products have been available in the US since 1993, their introduction in Europe only started from 2000.
Since then, assets under management in this new and innovative investment vehicle have risen to almost US$20bn. (See Chart 1.) The largest ETFs in terms of assets are those concentrated on either the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 or local indices (FTSE100, DAX, SMI and CAC40), together accounting for approximately 60 per cent of the European ETF industry.

Whichever way they are put to work, and at whatever level, derivatives have an important role to play in any investment portfolio.
Equity derivatives are the multi-purpose tool for the high net worth investor. They can be used speculatively, for risk management or to provide an extra boost to income. They are cheaper to trade than stocks.
And they just got better. Thanks to changes at the exchange level, end users can reap the benefits of more efficient trading – bringing with it more cost effective products – as well as a standardisation and simplification that inevitably reduces risk.

There is still value to be had in Russia but fund managers are finding good deals in Venezuela and Brazil as well as China. Simon Hildrey reports:
Emerging markets are once more grabbing investors’ attention. While China has been the focus of most analysis, the broader asset class gained 55 per cent over the past year. And despite their inherent risk, one school of thought believes they offer more attractive valuations than developed countries.

In this section of PWM we test the performance and volatility of two investment strategies using model portfolios. Each month we look at two distinct approaches – one global and one European.