The pride of Hanseatic investing
A tradition which has its origins in the time of the medieval Hanseatic League still forms the basis of the investment strategy of investors in the north German city of Hamburg, argues Johannes Sahmland-Bowling.
A tradition which has its origins in the time of the medieval Hanseatic League still forms the basis of the investment strategy of investors in the north German city of Hamburg, argues Johannes Sahmland-Bowling.
Nowhere in Europe are US equities as popular as in Germany. More than half of local fund buyers plan to increase their allocation in the next 12 months. But it would be a terrible idea to do so, fund managers speaking at Expert Investor Deutschland warned.
Here you can see a selection of photos taken at Expert Investor Germany, held in Frankfurt on 28 April 2016.
Germans are known for their rather conservative attitude to investing. In defiance of this stereotype, the country’s fund buyers are now more bullish than the average European investor on all equity asset classes. At the same time, they are unwinding their fixed income positions.
Thomas Romig, formerly head of one of the largest multi-asset businesses in Germany at Union Investment, recently launched a multi-asset fund at his new employer Assenagon AM. Even though his new fund is focused on capital preservation, he included the Legg Mason Clearbridge US Aggressive Growth Fund in his portfolio.
Institutional investors in Germany forego return opportunities because of their short-termist attitudes to investing. That’s the conclusion of an analysis by Union Investment of €22bn worth of investment mandates. The analysis also found that the risk appetite of these (mainly German) investors has grown considerably since 2002.
German gatekeepers concentrate on performance rather than the investment philosophy of a fund to determine whether it is eligible for their white list, according to research by investment consultancy NMG.
We found fund buyers in Munich in an extremely buoyant mood at Expert Investor Germany last week. They expect markets to continue their upward trend for the rest of the year and firmly brush aside any worries about a new market correction.
See below for a slideshow of photos from Expert Investor Germany, held in Munich on 22 October 2015.
In these times of great macroeconomic uncertainty, Munich’s fund selectors are looking for a hiding place in Europe, a more popular investment destination than ever before.
Philipp Dirkx, portfolio manager at the private banking unit of BHF BANK, talks to Expert Investor Europe about his attitude to multi-asset investing, a true hit with investors in Germany, and reveals which ingredients make the ideal multi-asset portfolio to him.
Investors in Germany continue to increase their investments in multi-asset funds. According to the branch organisation for the German fund industry BVI, net inflows into multi-asset funds more than doubled in the first half of this year to a record €23.8bn. Total assets invested in mixed funds have now surpassed those in bond funds for…