Pressing property fund furore as German debate draws closer

The German market is currently absorbed by several key talking points. The most crucial is the crisis affecting open-ended real estate funds, some of the most widely held products among retail clients, and most popular among the bank salesmen who push them. Also affecting confidence among fund distributors has been a lack of interest in widely-hyped hedge products and a huge competition from certificates created by investment banks. A more on-going concern has been the efficiency of the guided architecture system pioneered in the German market by Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank.

All of these issues will be keenly debated at the third European Fund Series afternoon conference, to be held at Le Meridien Parkhotel in central Frankfurt on 22 February. The event, organised by PWM and our partner BNP Paribas Asset Management, will be held in German. There will be speakers from German regulator BaFin, from the mutual funds association, BVI, from major fund groups including DWS, from private bank Sal. Oppenheim, and from key retail branch operator Postbank.

The German event follows PWM’s hugely successful Italian and Spanish conferences held in Milan and Madrid. Any PWM readers interested in working with manufacturers or distributors in the German industry will be guaranteed free places, while there is still capacity. To register, please visit www.ftbusinessevents.com.