Short term behaviour worrying

Fund managers’ bonuses are most commonly based on the short term performance of their funds according to the latest Morningstar European Fund Trends Survey.

Morningstar.co.uk Editors 1 October, 2004 | 4:31PM
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Some 37% of fund groups surveyed award their managers bonuses on the basis of their short term investment performance. Only 15% base it on long-term performance. The second most popular compensation method was risk-adjusted performance.

This focus on the short term extends to the average tenure of fund managers, defined here as the number of years that the same manager has been responsible for the same fund. Only 15% of fund managers have been running the same investment fund for more than six years. Some 39% have an average tenure of between two to four years while 43% were in the four to six year range.

Most groups said that

there has been some fund manager turnover at their companies over the past 12 months. Just over a quarter said there had been none while 4% said it had been higher – with more than 25% of the managers moving.

Managers leave their firms for an assortment of reasons but one of the most common was to make the transition to a smaller, or “boutique”, type of firm. Fund groups have moved to retain their staff by increasing salary or bonus payments and setting up boutique structures within the larger organisation.

Working style

According to those surveyed most managers work as part of an investment team. Some 63% work together to reach a group consensus while 30% have a lead manager for each fund with backup from a team of analysts.

Niklas Tell, the director of fund analysis for Morningstar in Europe, says: “With funds sold as long-term investments we would like to see fund manager tenure increasing rather than decreasing.

“We would also like to see remuneration packages made more consistent with the time horizon of the fund’s investors rather than the short term focus indicated in this survey’s results.”

Regional preferences

One of the biggest changes of manager opinion in this month’s survey was related to the outlook for regional performance over the coming year. Europe knocked Japan out of first place with 35% of the vote. Japan fell to third with 23% while Asia excluding Japan came in second with a quarter of managers backing it.

The euro-zone also made a comeback in terms of its currency. Almost half of managers said the euro would be the top-performing currency over the coming year. The yen fell into second place with 39%.

Overall managers said large companies would outperform their smaller counterparts. The industrial materials and healthcare sectors were expected to be the best performing while the consumer goods sector was expected to be the worst.

Morningstar’s European offices conducted the survey from September 17th-24th. Some 50 fund groups from 11 countries participated. On average they each managed €54billion (£37 billion) and offered 99 retail funds.

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