Distribution scaled back

SSgA did have a quick stab at the European fund distribution market, but this was scaled down in 2003, when a Brussels-based initiative known as European Investment Fund Solutions was shelved, due to the moribund state of the mutual funds industry at the time.

John Serhant, vice-chairman of SSgA in Boston, who retired last year, had called for 100 third party distribution agreements in Europe, with a E25bn target for retail money. Although Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and UBS had been secured as initial clients, the targets have since been quietly dropped.

Nigel Wightman, managing director of SSgA’s European operations, says the re-focus is merely a re-allocation of responsibilities. “Virtually everything we were doing, we are still doing, but it is now being run by people in our core business.” Distribution, in effect, is no longer a separate activity.

“Putting products on other people’s distribution platforms is an area in which we have seen a slowdown in the last couple of years,” says Mr Wightman. “Distributors are no longer pushing platforms and looking for products in the way they were two years ago.”

Any distribution activity in Europe now comes directly under the responsibility of Jean-Francois Schock, who runs SSgA’s Paris operation, encompassing the Balzac fund range. “However, we are still talking to other managers about using some of our products in their funds,” says Mr Wightman.