Fund Times: 28 July – 1 August

Scottish Widows to Lift Property Funds Sale Restrictions; HSBC Launch Taiwan Fund; Tohani Leaves First State; Equity Funds Hit by Outflows in June; NU Outsource Lifetime Wrap; and IMA Makes Changes to Fixed Income Sectors

Tom Whitelaw 1 August, 2008 | 9:23AM
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Scottish Widows to Lift Property Funds Sale Restrictions
Scottish Widows has announced that on 18 August 2008, they will lift the restrictions placed on certain transactions out of their Life and Pension Property Funds. The 180-day delay period, put in place on 21 January 2008, affected policyholders requesting full or partial redemptions, transfers or switches. The redemption restrictions were put in place as investors scrambled for the exit doors of property funds earlier in the year. As a result, liquidity levels in the funds reached dangerously low levels resulting in the need to off load properties within the funds. Due to the illiquid nature of commercial property, Scottish Widows therefore used the delay period

to get their house in order. The group are now confident that after a series of sales the liquidity position in the funds has been restored to a level where all requests can be transacted normally from 18 August onwards.

HSBC Launch Taiwan Fund
HSBC Global Asset Management has this week launched a Taiwan Equity fund. The fund will invest in between 20 and 40 names from around 1200 stocks available in the Taiwanese stock universe. Leilani Lam from HSBC's active management arm Halbis is to run the new product which aims to profit from the countries long term economic growth. Lam has run Taiwanese equities for HSBC for the last 14 years.

Tohani Leaves First State
After eight years with the company, Vijay Tohani has this week announced that he will leave First State’s Asia Pacific-Global Emerging Markets team. As a result of the departure Tohani’s co-manager on First State Indian Subcontinent, David Gait, will become lead manager of the fund. As is currently the case on First State Asia Pacific Sustainability, Angus Tulloch will act as Gait's co-manager.

NU Outsource Lifetime Wrap
Norwich Union this week announced that it has outsourced the back office administration for its troubled Lifetime Wrap to Scottish Friendly. As with Scottish Friendly’s Nucleus wrap, technology firm Bravura will power the software used. The Lifetime venture has been a tortuous journey for NU but it is hoped the deal will help improve the service experienced by both clients and advisers.

Equity Funds Hit by Outflows in June
The monthly statistical release from fund the IMA trade group shows that investors pulled money out of riskier asset classes in June. In all, investors yanked £364 million out of funds during the month. Retail investors put a net £139.5 million into funds, but this was more than offset by a net outflow of £503.5 from institutions. The June outflow marks a turn from May, when funds saw a small net inflow of £90 million. For the fuller picture see our Equity Funds Hit by Outflows in June article from earlier in the week.

IMA Makes Changes to Fixed Income Sectors
Following a recent review of its fixed income sectors, the Investment Management Association (IMA) has made a number of changes to its fixed income sectors. From 1st September 2008 the UK Gilts and UK Index Linked Gilts sectors will adopt revised definitions which bring convergence with ABI sector definitions, and the UK Corporate Bond and UK Other Bond sectors will be split in to three new sectors, to be named £ Corporate Bond, £ Strategic Bond and £ High Yield. Full breakdowns of the new definitions are listed below.

UK Gilts: Funds which invest at least 95% of their assets in Sterling denominated (or hedged back to Sterling) triple AAA rated, government backed securities, with at least 80% invested in UK government securities (Gilts).

UK Index Linked Gilts: Funds which invest at least 95% of their assets in Sterling denominated (or hedged back to Sterling) triple AAA rated government backed index linked securities, with at least 80% invested in UK Index Linked Gilts.

£ Corporate Bond: Funds which invest at least 80% of their assets in Sterling denominated (or hedged back to Sterling), Triple BBB minus or above corporate bond securities (as measured by Standard & Poors or an equivalent external rating agency). This excludes convertibles, preference shares and permanent interest bearing shares (PIBs).

£ Strategic Bond: Funds which invest at least 80% of their assets in Sterling denominated (or hedged back to Sterling) fixed interest securities. This includes convertibles, preference shares and permanent interest bearing shares (PIBs). At any point in time the asset allocation of these funds could theoretically place the fund in one of the other Fixed Interest sectors. The funds will remain in this sector on these occasions since it is the Manager's stated intention to retain the right to invest across the Sterling Fixed Interest credit risk spectrum.

£ High Yield: Funds which invest at least 80% of their assets in Sterling denominated (or hedged back to Sterling) fixed interest securities and at least 50% of their assets in below BBB minus fixed interest securities (as measured by Standard and Poors or an equivalent external rating agency), including convertibles, preference shares and permanent interest bearing shares (PIBs).

The information contained within is for educational and informational purposes ONLY. It is not intended nor should it be considered an invitation or inducement to buy or sell a security or securities noted within nor should it be viewed as a communication intended to persuade or incite you to buy or sell security or securities noted within. Any commentary provided is the opinion of the author and should not be considered a personalised recommendation. The information contained within should not be a person's sole basis for making an investment decision. Please contact your financial professional before making an investment decision.

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