John Gidman to Serve as SEG Chairman

John Gidman of Loomis, Sayles & Company L.P. has agreed to serve as Chairman of the Senior Executives Group (“SEG”) of The Asset Managers Forum. Mr. Gidman succeeds Thomas Hirschfeld in this role. Mr. Hirschfeld has recently become COO of Halcyon, a hedge fund located in New York City.

Mr. Gidman is currently Executive Vice President and a Director of Loomis, Sayles & Company, L.P., where he is responsible for operations and technology. He is also President of Loomis Sayles Solutions, L.L.C. Upon becoming SEG Chair, Mr. Gidman praised the accomplishments of Tom Hirschfeld and stated, "Tom's key leadership role in organizing SEG as an advocacy and best practices group for asset managers will have lasting beneficial effects in the investment management community. He has led our group with great skill and grace." SEG is the arm of The Bond Market Association that is run by professionals who serve at the chief operating officer level within their own asset management firms.

Mr. Gidman noted that more than 20 large asset managers, with almost $5 trillion in combined assets under management, now participate in the SEG’s initiatives which supplement the operations activities of the AMF. SEG participants met earlier this year in Washington, D.C. with decision-makers at a variety of federal agencies and on Capitol Hill. This Group’s current agenda includes efforts to clarify requirements relating to Sarbanes Oxley, development of SAS 70 standards for the asset management industry, formulation of responses to new SEC proposals, work with the sell side on issues effecting the management of bank loans, analysis of issues affecting counterparty risk, and educational programs concerning the use of derivative instruments by asset management firms.

SEG's Executive Director, Joseph Sack of The Bond Market Association, noted that Mr. Gidman has been an influential spokesman on behalf of SEG since its inception. Mr. Sack also stated, “the hundreds of industry volunteers directly engaged in SEG and the AMF provide outstanding opportunities to foster the integrity of the asset management business.” Mr. Sack expressed the appreciation of TBMA for the outstanding efforts of Messrs. Hirschfeld and Gidman in creating opportunities for joint activities in the securities industry involving both sellside and buyside firms.

Seven Reasons to Join the Senior Executives Group (SEG)

SEG was established in 2004 to provide asset management firms with additional professional resources necessary to foster the advocacy goals of the leading U.S. investment managers. The majority of SEG’s founders are chief operating officers or senior executives at their respective firms. SEG works closely with The Bond Market Association and has access to the Association’s resources in connection with implementing the buyside’s advocacy agenda.

The member firms which currently participate in SEG collectively have almost $5 trillion of assets under management. Here are the main reasons for their decision to participate in the Group:

  1. Advocacy Agenda in Washington Our experience is that Federal regulators are encouraged to hear that the COOs of asset management firms are willing to weigh in on how particular mutual fund proposals, for example, might affect the totality of the business of an asset manager. Whether it is SAS 70 best practices or a white paper on interest rate swaps or the FSA’s views on best execution standards in the European markets, the Senior Executives Group (through its own resources as well as with the help of TBMA) stands ready to articulate the unified views of asset managers to the highest level policy-makers in the U.S. and the global markets.
  2. Networking The Senior Executives Group enables chief operating officers and other senior executives to get to know each other better. These peer to peer business relationships constitute the basis for forging agreement on regulatory and legislative policies. But the opportunity to “compare notes” in between SEG meetings on ordinary non-competitive matters such as operations and technology, how to retain top performers and other industry trends is certainly an invaluable benefit that comes with SEG membership.
  3. Education/Information Flow Because the Senior Executives Group is connected to The Bond Market Association, SEG members are kept in the loop by TBMA’s Washington and other professional staff concerning fast breaking developments that affect the Administration’s latest policies. Moreover, the Association, whose reputation for quality events is beyond reproach, recognizes that in this era of transparency both buyside and sellside firms need to share their views openly on topics like risk management techniques and best practices concerning matching and settling derivatives transactions. SEG and TBMA are already partnering on these indispensable educational activities.
  4. Promoting Asset Management Firms It is, of course, very challenging to offer a single profile of a top 200 asset manager. While SEG realizes that buyside firms are made up of talented professionals whose combined abilities result in each firm’s own entrepreneurial skill set, we feel it is very important to underscore a public image of SEG members which illustrates that asset managers are dedicated to strict fiduciary standards in the interests of their “ultimate investor” clients. Accordingly, within the investment community, the Senior Executives Group is indeed open to finding appropriate opportunities to promote investment advisers and thereby generally uphold the first class reputation of asset management firms. We need the involvement and support of all leading asset management firms in this effort.
  5. Relationship with Sellside Firms As hedge funds and prime brokers and technology vendors, to name just a few, engage in more and more sophisticated financial transactions, all of the traditional market participants (including bulge bracket underwriters) find that keeping abreast of new pricing and processing practices becomes ever more taxing. The Senior Executives Group has access to the necessary resources, including its own professional staff, that can help you define your questions as new products emerge and then, most importantly, put you in direct contact with fellow Wall Street experts who can help answer your questions directly. SEG’s partnership with TBMA enables asset managers at the COO level to turn to relevant professionals at broker-dealers to jointly and efficiently resolve common concerns. SEG members, incidentally, will be developing their own dues budget by mid-2005 and then would be eligible to also become full members of TBMA.
  6. Ability to Mobilize Quickly The Senior Executives Group uses its extensive trade association resources to update and prioritize its goals on a regular basis. Relying on TBMA’s 30 years of experience, we have demonstrated our ability to deal with topics that regulators and market participants alike would classify as critical issues or situations. Industry-wide challenges such as Treasury fail-to-deliver situations or unexpected market closes clearly require the involvement of buyside leaders. Thus, with the formation of the Senior Executives Group, asset managers now have a very prominent seat at the table when these extremely important topics arise in the financial services industry. TBMA is striving to create a culture whereby all segments of the bond industry can cooperate concerning mutual goals.
  7. Complementing the Essential Work of Other Trade Groups New regulations and revised industry standards are proliferating at an unprecedented rate. Certainly, the founders of SEG believe that the Group offers a unique approach to achieving successful results in this challenging environment due to our access to TBMA’s resources. Nonetheless, we also feel that our mission is to use SEG’s strengths to complement the outstanding efforts of other groups such as ICAA, ICI, the CFA Institute, ISDA and ISITC. Equally relevant to our leadership is the work of The Asset Managers Forum; the AMF gives us a foundation in the operations area which in many instances tends to validate SEG’s advocacy positions.