SWISS PRECISION

UBS Global Asset Management (UBSGAM) has taken out the most prestigious prize in the funds management industry, winning the overall title in theMoney Management/Assirt Fund Manager of the Year awards, held in Melbourne last night.

The win in the overall award category comes on top of three wins in the sector classes of Australian fixed interest, multi-sector and property security funds, as well as a finalist nomination in the Australian equities class.

The other finalists were Credit Suisse Asset Management (CSAM) and Platinum Asset Management. CSAM took out the top place last year and was a finalist in the international equities sector for the second year in a row, as well as a finalist in the property securities sector.

Platinum Asset Management continued its stellar run in international equities, winning that category for the third consecutive year, and was for the first time a finalist in the overall award category as well.

Yet it was the two Swiss-owned managers, in a repeat performance of last year’s awards, which put their stamp on the evening, being nominated in five of six categories.

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The win for UBSGAM marks the second time in two years and the third in the 15 year history of the awards that a European-owned financial services business has taken out the top prize. Apart from CSAM, Mercantile Mutual, then owned by and now renamed as ING, is the only other European-ownedMoney Management/Assirt Fund Manager of the Year, grabbing the top place in 1997.

For UBSGAM, the win is a highlight in its time in Australia. Until last year it had not been named in any category in the awards but since then has been garnering more acclaim, including a five star rating from Assirt in Australian equities at the start of this year.

UBSGAM has been operating in Australia since 1985, but has been in the spotlight for about two years now as part of its push to gain retail business in Australia.

Much of this business has come through master trusts and wrap accounts, as the group’s traditional products are wholesale based with a number of retail products available. These resulted in inflows to the manager of $406 million in 2001.

This year’s awards also marked a departure from the ‘brand name’ managers, who, despite a sizeable presence in the finalist nominations, only won a single category — mortgage funds, taken out by Perpetual.

New names at this year’s awards include Investors Mutual and Barclays Global Investors, as well as the return of Tyndall and Advance which have not featured as finalists in some years.

Assirt head of research John Parrish says the reason for the partial shift away from some of the industry’s better known names has to do with a number of factors, among them the increasing sizes of flagship funds and changes, in some cases, of key staff within those funds.

“Potentially, size brings different challenges to these managers, including limiting flexibility in the area of investment performance, but that does not mean they can not do well in the future,” Parrish says.

Parrish says the finalists in the overall award category have continued, and refined, their processes from the past which, in the case of CSAM and UBSGAM, have strong pedigrees from the wholesale side of the industry.

“UBS remained a top performer in some categories but was also highly rated by Assirt in terms of future capabilities and performance,” Parrish says.

“It is this combination of positive ratings and past performance, which is important in judging the winners because it illustrates both historical performance and where the manager may be headed in the future.”