Buy Side Meets on Best Ex, Valuation, Derivatives, Advocacy and More…

On January 23, 2008, more than 20 COOs and other senior executives of SIFMA's Asset Management Group met in Boston to discuss items that have particular relevance to the buy side business. At this quarterly Steering Committee meeting, the AMG:

-- Met with SIFMA's new President and CEO, T. Timothy Ryan, Jr.
-- Agreed to pursue the development of best execution guidelines that would apply to OTC derivatives. These guidelines would serve as a supplement to the AMG's recently-completed Best Execution Guidelines for Fixed Income Securities. Click here to read the Best Execution Guidelines.
-- Decided to continue to monitor the implementation of MiFID in Europe, especially in areas of best execution.
-- Identified 10 volunteer member firms to participate in staff interviews on the practice of valuing securities and derivatives for the purpose of developing industry-wide guidelines.
-- Adopted a plan to work with its operations group, The Asset Managers Forum, on developments within the Operations Management Group ("OMG") and the expansion of the industry's Trade Information Warehouse hosted by DTCC, thus involving additional buy side and custodians in the process.
-- Agreed to develop position papers under the direction of its Advocacy Committee with the Washington, D.C., office of SIFMA on policy matters in areas such as credit rating agency reform, the role of sovereign wealth funds and regulatory reform.
-- Proposed to arrange meetings involving buy side Chief Investment Officers with the leading rating agencies on policy matters and new trends in the investment industry.
-- Reviewed the "Asset Manager Guide to SAS 70," which was developed by AMG's SAS 70 Working Group. Click here to read the AMG SAS 70 Guide.

The Asset Management Group reports to the Board of Directors of SIFMA. David L. Murphy, CFA, President of Strategic Advisers at Fidelity Investments and Richard Weil, Managing Director and COO of PIMCO, serve as Chair and Vice Chair, respectively, of the AMG Steering Committee. In addition, Mr. Weil and fellow AMG Steering Committee member John R. Gidman, Executive Vice President of Loomis, Sayles & Company serve on the Board of Directors of SIFMA. Mr. Gidman is also a member of the Executive Committee of the SIFMA Board and serves as Treasurer of the Association.

The following are member firms of the Asset Management Group: AIG Investments; AllianceBernstein L.P.; Barclays Global Investors; BlackRock; The Capital Group Companies; D.E. Shaw; Deutsche Asset Management; Federated Investments; Fidelity Investments; Freddie Mac; GM Asset Management; Goldman Sachs Asset Management; J.P. Morgan Asset Management; Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P.; Lord, Abbett & Co. LLC; McKinley Capital Management, Inc.; Mellon Asset Management; MFS Investment Management; Morgan Stanley Investment Management; New York Life Investment Management; Northern Trust Global Investments; PIMCO; Principal Global Investors; Prudential Investment Management; Putnam Investment Management; Schroders; State Street Global Advisors; T. Rowe Price; The Vanguard Group; Wellington Management Company; Western Asset Management Company; Wilmington Trust Company.

For additional information on the activities of SIFMA's Asset Management Group and how your firm might become involved, please contact Joseph Sack, Managing Director of SIFMA, at 212.313.1165 or at jsack@sifma.org.

Asset Manager and Hedge Fund Join SIFMA's AMG

At the AMG Steering Committee meeting in Boston this week, AIG Investments and D.E. Shaw were unanimously approved as members of SIFMA's Asset Management Group. The approval marks a milestone in that D.E. Shaw is the first hedge fund member of SIFMA. With the addition of AIG Investments and D.E. Shaw, the AMG represents 32 buy side firms that manage in excess of $20 trillion in assets.

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