SSgA Institutional Sales Head Jumps to Rival Pyramis

Maureen Fitzgerald is leaving SSgA for Pyramis; Kristi Mitchem, who had been sharing responsibilities with Fitzgerald, will now take sole leadership of the firm’s Institutional Client Group.

(August 23, 2012)–Maureen Fitzgerald, State Street Global Advisors’ (SSgA) co-head of the Institutional Client Group for North America, has left the firm for rival asset manager Pyramis.

Kristi Mitchen, who has been sharing the role with Fitzgerald, will now take sole responsibility for the group.

“Since joining SSgA in 2010, Kristi Mitchem has made a significant impact on SSgA,” State Street told aiCIO. “Under Kristi’s leadership, SSgA has made substantial inroads in the global defined contribution business, increasing assets under management to more than $200 billion. At the beginning of this year, Kristi took on additional responsibilities managing our sub-advisory business and other aspects of our institutional business.”

“Kristi Mitchem will assume the role of head of the Institutional Client Group for North America,” the firm continued. “Maureen Fitzgerald, who previously led this group together with Kristi, is leaving to pursue other opportunities.”

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SSgA is the asset management business of Boston-based State Street. Rhode Island-based Pyramis is the institutional asset management arm of Fidelity, the $1.5 trillion financial services complex.

Fitzgerald will now take the newly-created role of head of North American institutional distribution, according to Pyramis. She will be “responsible for US and Canadian sales and global consulting relations,” the firm said.

Bonds Bring Good News to Ireland (and its Pension Funds)

Ireland has been beating most of the other struggling Eurozone nations and a bond sale today could help even more.

(August 23, 2012) — Ireland has issued a series of bonds this morning that should help the struggling Eurozone country find its financial footing, and assist its ailing pension funds.

The National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) this morning issued five bonds to fund its internal coffers with maturities of between 15 years to 35 years and yields from 5.72% to 5.92%.

What marks the bonds out from any other sovereign issuance is that they are ‘amortising’ bonds. This means instead of issuing interest payments along the life of the bond and repaying the initial capital at the end, the bonds begin to repay the principal outlay from the outset.

Guidance from investment consultant Redington said the bond could work out as a better deal than a straight issuance for investors. This is because £100 received over 10 years is worth more them today – which is useful for accounting purposes – than £100 received in 20 years as inflation eats away value over time.

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These bonds are also positive for issuer in that they do not have to refinance the whole bond at maturity as they can refund as the bond ‘amortises’.

The bonds are to be sold according to demand, so there is no official set level of issuance. However, market sources have said domestic pension funds have been interested in snapping up the securities as new funding standard regulations reward schemes that use sovereign bonds to match their pensioner liabilities.

Traders have estimated that up to €1 billion could be sold by the time the auction closes at 2pm GMT today.

Jerry Moriarty, chief executive of the Irish Association of Pension Funds, told aiCIO: “This is likely to be of interest to pension schemes as it is the first time the NTMA has issued bonds with a duration that allows them to match their pensioner liabilities.”

Due to the on-going financial uncertainty in Ireland, the yields on these bonds remain high compared to others being issued in the Eurozone – several ‘safe haven’ countries have seen their sovereign issuance sold with negative yields in recent months.

Moriarty said: “Many will also view the yield as being attractive, however the yield does reflect the risk the market is applying to Irish bonds and trustees will need to take that into account, as with all their investment decisions.”

Irish pension funds were hit by the quasi-collapse of the national economy in the height of the financial crash – this came barely months after massive slumps in its own stock market that had heavily relied on the construction sector.

Several of Ireland’s banks have been bailed out by the government, which is supported by the European Central Bank, but austerity and recovery plans seem to be working out better than other struggling nations within the Eurozone.

More information on the issuance can be found here.

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