AMWatch

Passive investing is on the rise, but high-conviction stock picking is still valuable to Nordic investors, says Jake Halliday, CFA Halliday, head of Nordics at Baillie Gifford in our AMWatch International Managers Series.

The industry faces many present and oncoming challenges, Jan Erik Saugestad, CEO at Storebrand Asset Management tells AMWatch in our New Year’s series.

As AMWatch wishes our readers a happy new year, we have collected some of our most popular articles from 2024 for you to read or reread... 

Danish pension fund PBU - Pædagogernes Pension is in the process of eliminating external managers for its equity investments. The results are strong, CEO Sune Schackenfeldt tells AMWatch. “We are now operating a model that combines the best aspects of active management and what one might call benchmark-aligned investment management, and it has proven to be incredibly strong. By bringing previously outsourced management in-house, we can achieve significant savings while maintaining equal or even better quality,” Schackenfeldt tells AMWatch.

The security situation in the Nordics – and elsewhere – is getting worse, and there is no escape from it, says CIO Markus Aho of Finnish pension giant Varma in the latest installment of AMWatch’s New Year’s series. Aho highlights that the markets did not undergo major changes in 2024 – despite various forecasts. That in itself is a significant development. “US & big tech continued to be strong, other geographical areas more challenging. Rates were volatile, but on an annual level not that different. High geopolitical risk and regional crisis continued, but to little effect on the market,” the CIO notes. #assetmanager #assetmanagement #pensions #pensionfund #bankingindustry #financialmarkets #geopolitics #investments #Nordic

Five major developments in 2024 will set the agenda for the Nordic investment market and industry in the coming year, analyst Flemming Højbo writes in his latest article for AMWatch. The most significant changes this past year were: The boost for passive investments; the increasing pressure on the green investment agenda, symbolized by the troubled Swedish battery maker, Northvolt; the continued comeback for arms investments following Russia’s full-scale attack on Ukraine in 2022; regulation fatigue; and the consolidation trend in the Nordic asset management industry. #assetmanagement #assetmanager #investments #financialmarkets #bankingindustry #Nordic #sustainability #passiveinvestments #armsinvestments #regulation

Germany's Quoniam Asset Management sees a “strong fit” between its own approach to investing and the interests of Nordic clients, as institutional investors in the region are keen on adopting “innovative, data-driven strategies such as those offered by Quoniam.” According to Thomas Kieselstein, CFA, Senior Partner & Co-Founder of Quoniam Asset Management, the Nordic approach to sustainability and responsible investing aligns “perfectly” with Quoniam’s own integration of ESG targets into its strategies. The asset manager sees “strong shifts” in the characteristics of defense stocks from a somewhat “boring” type investment into a growth opportunity. However, this market is still small, and profitability remains an area of concern, Kieselstein tells AMWatch in our International Asset Managers series. #assetmanager #assetmanagement #investing #investments #bankingindustry #financialmarkets #Nordic #German #sustainability #responsibleinvestments #ESG

The consolidation trend within the Nordic fund management industry has been the “most transformative change" in 2024, Jessica Malmfors, CEO of fund company Lannebo, tells AMWatch in our New Year’s series. “This wave of mergers and acquisitions, such as our integration with Öhman Fonder, reflects both the growing operational demands and the strategic drive for scale in response to heightened regulatory requirements,” she notes. Malmfors adds that 2024 also marked a shift in investor expectations, including a reduced emphasis on sustainability in the short term. “However, at Lannebo, we believe that maintaining a long-term perspective is critical, as it is clear that companies with strong sustainability practices will ultimately come out as winners,” the CEO says. #fundmanagement #fundmanager #assetmanagement #assetmanager #sustainability #bankingindustry #financialmarkets #Nordic #investments

”We hope, of course, that we have managers who are aligned with our wishes and ambitions on climate. And if not, we will engage in a critical dialogue with them,” Christina Gordon Christiansen, head of ESG at P+, Pensionskassen for Akademikere tells AMWatch. #future #investing #sustainability #oilandgas #climatechange #esg #esginvesting

"This year will go down as the year of concentration,” C WorldWide Asset Management CEO Bo Almar Knudsen says in AMWatch’s New Year’s series. This year marked a real breakthrough for the DKK 141 bn – (EUR 18.9 bn) manager as over 12 months it went from managing a few millions to USD 1bn in US mandates. Founded in 1986 with the goal of finding the best 30 stocks globally, the company has a long track record and a stable investment team. #assetmanagement #assetmanager #institutionalinvestor #institutionalinvestment #portfoliomanagement #mandates #activeinvesting #passiveinvesting #nordic