Regional briefs

Janus names Rox Hansen for Nordic market push

Janus Capital Group has launched a bid to expand distribution of its funds in northern Europe. Henrik Rox Hansen, a Dutch national previously working for the now defunct European Fund Solutions division at State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), has been named institutional sales director for the region. Sources at SSgA said Mr Rox Hansen had been successful in “opening the door to Nordic markets”. The move means he can remain in his Brussels base. At Janus, he will be charged with developing distribution channels for the 15-strong family of World Funds. The Nordic countries are favoured by Janus due to healthy fund flows. Sweden saw the highest flows into mutual funds for over three years this summer. In July Swedes invested Skr8bn (e862m), the highest amount for a single month since February 2000, according to the Swedish Investment Fund Association. While bond products took the greater share, with Skr4.1bn, equities are catching up, taking Skr3.4bn.

Alfi offers a chance to learn lessons from the US Europe’s progress towards implementing the Ucits III directive, facilitating pan-European sales of instruments including money market funds, is set to top the agenda of the forthcoming Alfi conference on September 16 and 17. The event, being hosted for the 12th year by Alfi (the Luxembourg investment funds association), is designed to foster the exchange of information between European and US players, according to Alfi director Jean-Jacques Picard. “Most of the trends in the US funds industry come to Europe, so we have much to learn from our US counterparts,” he said. More information can be found at www.alfi.lu/alfi_conference.html