Selon L’Agefi suisse, le Wealth Management Americas d’UBS a engagé trois conseillers clientèle qui, à eux trois, gèrent une fortune clients de 2,1 milliards de dollars. Il s’agit de Roger Stephens, Dan Rothenberg et Theodore Fisher, qui travaillaient jusqu’ici pour Morgan Stanley Smith Barney. Les trois conseillers seront rattachés à Stephen McCashin, Los Angeles Compex Director. UBS précise employer, dans le sud de la Californie, 500 conseillers clientèle et un total de 875 collaborateurs, le tout pour des actifs sous gestion de 51 milliards de dollars.

HCA Inc, l’un des principaux opérateurs d’hôpitaux aux Etats-Unis a créé HCA Holdings, une société de l’Etat de Delaware, qui va émettre pour 1,5 milliard de dollars d’obligations 2021à haut rendement qui sont notées Caa1 par Moody’s, rapporte The Wall Street Journal. Le produit de l'émission sera destiné à servir un nouveau dividende de 2 milliards de dollars aux capital-investisseurs KKR et Bain Capital, le reliquat provenant de lignes de crédit. Au total, HCA aura ainsi servi cette année des dividendes de 4,25 milliards de dollars, alors que les capital-investisseurs avaient investi 5,5 milliards de fonds propres dans la société en 2006.Cette opération s’inscrit dans un cadre plus vaste : de grandes entreprises ont trouvé le moyen de désintéresser les capital-investisseurs avant que le redressement de leur activité ne porte ses fruits. En tout cas, les titres HCA seront très risqués et ils devraient être assortis d’un coupon de 7,75 %.

The Hartford Financial Services Group a déclaré pour le troisième trimestre 2010 un bénéfice net de 666 millions de dollars contre une perte de 220 millions pour la période correspondante de l’année dernière, ce qui porte le bénéfice net de janvier-septembre à 1,06 milliard contre une perte de 1,44 milliard.Dans le domaine de la gestion de fortune, le bénéfice net de juillet-septembre s’est inscrit à 320 millions d’euros contre une perte de 335 millions tandis que l’encours se situait à 301 milliards de dollars au 30 septembre, marquant ainsi une hausse de 6 % sur le deuxième trimestre et une progression de 3 % sur le troisième trimestre 2009.

L’offre secondaire de 43,57 millions d’actions ordinaries revendues par Bank of America Corporation (BoA) et de 7,5 millions d’actions ordinaires cédées par PNC (lire notre article du 4 novembre) s’effectuera sur la base de 163 dollars par actions, a annoncé lundi soir BlackRock. Le cours de clôture du 8 novembre était de 169,09 dollars.Le gestionnaire d’actifs précise que BoA a ménagé aux teneurs de livres (BoA Merrrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley et Barclays Capital) une option de surallocation (greenshoe) de 5,2 millions d’actions ordinaires.De plus, parallèlement au bouclage de cette transaction, BoA a l’intention de vendre directement 2,45 millions d’actions BlackRock à un investisseur institutionnel, au prix de l’offre secondaire. Les agents de placement pour cette seconde opération sont BoA Merrill Lynch et Morgan Stanley. Au total, les actions placées par BoA et PNC représenteront un montant de 8,33 milliards de dollars, ce à quoi s’ajouteront éventuellement les 849,2 millions de dollars correspondant à l’option de surallocation.

L’initiative Mutual Funds Against Cancer (MFAC) a adopté le nouveau nom de «Expect Miracles Foundation – Financial Services Against Cancer» à l’occasion de sa manifestation de charité de fin d’année (7th Annual Expect Miracles Wine & Spirits Charity Event à Boston).Ce changement s’explique selon le fondateur et président Frank Strauss par le fait que désormais, au bout de cinq ans, les mutual funds ne sont plus les seuls à financer l’initiative de lutte contre le cancer, qui est désormais plus largement portée par le secteur financier dans son ensemble.

Le groupe britannique de gestion d’actifs Schroders a dégagé sur les neuf premiers mois de l’année un résultat imposable de 282,7 millions de livres contre 79,9 millions de livres pour la période correspondante de 2009. La collecte nette s’est élevée à 21,5 milliards de livres contre 8,7 milliards un an plus tôt. Les actifs sous gestion s'élevaient au 30 septembre à 181,5 milliards de livres, soit plus de 210 milliards d’euros, contre 138,9 milliards de livres au 30 septembre 2009. La collecte s’est poursuivie depuis la fin du troisième trimestre, précise Schroders dans son communiqué sur les résultats intérimaires.Le résultat imposable du pôle gestion d’actifs s’est inscrit au troisième trimestre à 85,9 millions de livres contre 54 millions un an plus tôt, pour un chiffre d’affaires de 232,7 millions de livres contre 172,7 millions un an plus tôt. Sur neuf mois, le pôle gestion d’actifs a dégagé un résultat imposable de 263,2 millions de livres contre 108,1 millions de livres précédemment. La collecte nette sur neuf mois a totalisé 19,4 milliards de livres contre 8,6 milliards entre janvier et septembre 2009. Le bénéfice imposable du pôle private banking s’est élevé à 2,9 millions de livres au troisième trimestre 2010 contre 6,3 millions de livres au troisième trimestre 2009, pour un chiffre d’affaires de 24 millions de livres contre 23,6 millions. Sur neuf mois, le résultat imposable s’inscrit à 9,5 millions de livres contre 20,8 millions. La collecte nette des neuf premiers mois de l’année a totalisé 2,1 milliards de livres contre 0,1 milliard au 30 septembre 2009. Sur le trimestre au 30 septembre, la collecte nette s’est élevée à 5,4 milliards de livres, dont 3,7 milliards d’origine institutionnelle, 800 millions de collecte intermédiée et 900 millions émanant de la banque privée. Sur les 21,5 milliards de collecte nette enregistrés sur neuf mois, 79% ont pour origine la clientèle hors Royaume-Uni. En France, les souscriptions nettes se sont montées à environ 750 millions d’euros, pour un encours actuel voisin de 4 milliards d’euros.

Depuis la fin 2009, les actifs sous gestion de Barclays Wealth ont progressé de 5% pour s'établir à 158 milliards de livres. Le bénéfice avant impôts des neuf premiers mois de l’année s’est inscrit à 122 millions de livres, en hausse de 9 % par rapport à la période correspondante de 2009. Cette progression a été tirée par les activités sur le segment des «High Net Worth».Le résultat imposable du pôle Investment Management a, pour sa part, atteint 55 millions de livres contre 2 millions l’an dernier, en raison principalement des dividendes de la participation de 19,9% dans BlackRock. Au 30 septembre, la valeur de cette participation était enregistrée dans les comptes à 4,061 milliards de livres contre 3,60 milliards au 30 juin.

Mardi, on apprenait que Henderson Global Investors détenait une participation de 14,23 % dans Gartmore, la société de gestion cotée à la Bourse de Londres actuellement en difficulté après le départ de plusieurs gérants phare. Alors que de nombreuses rumeurs de rachat circulent autour d’un rachat de Gartmore, cette participation a en fait été acquise pour le compte de clients de Henderson GI. Ainsi, interrogée à ce sujet, la société de gestion britannique, qui a récemment acquis New Star, renvoie à un article d’Investment Week, dans lequel on lit que son gérant actions britanniques, Stephen Peak, a augmenté sa participation dans Gartmore à 14,23 % contre 11 % en juillet pour plusieurs de ses fonds long only. « Actuellement, la valorisation de Gartmore laisse entendre que la franchise est morte et qu’il n’y a aucun espoir de nouvelles souscriptions. Je pense que cela va s’avérer faux », indique le gérant au site internet.

Selon ICFA Online, le fonds de pension suédois Första AP-fonden (AP1) a déposé une plainte contre BNY Mellon auprès de la Commercial Court de Londres. Le fonds de pension accuse la banque d'être responsable d’une perte de 35,5 millions de dollars suite à des décisions d’investissements prises en 2008 et qui ne correspondaient pas, selon AP1, aux principes d’investissement définis par le fonds de pension. La banque a effectué des investissements dans des obligations émises par Sigma Finance, qui a été mis sous administration judiciaire en octobre 2008.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } A secondary offer of 43.57 million ordinary shares in BlackRock being resold by Bank of America Corporation (BofA) and 7.5 million ordinary shares held by PNC (see Newsmanagers of 4 November) will take place at a price of USD163 per share, BlackRock announced on Monday evening. The closing price of shares in the firm on 8 November was USD169.09.The asset management firm says that BofA has granted the market makers (BofA Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Barclays Capital) a greenshoe option of 5.2 million ordinary shares. In addition, in parallel with the completion of this transaction, BofA is planning to directly sell 2.45 million BlackRock shares to an institutional investor, at the secondary offer price. The placement agents for this second deal are BofA Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley. In total, the shares placed by BofA and PNC will represent a total of Usd8.33bn, in addition to which may come USD849.2m corresponding to the greenshoe option.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Skandia Investment Group (SIG) on 8 November announced its decision to award Tom Marsico and Marsico Capital Management a mandate for GBP46m in international equities, previously granted to Martin Currie. The decision to change the manager for the mandate from the Global Best Ideas Fund (GBP310m in assets) is not related to a loss of confidence in Martin Currie, but to better adaptation of Marsico’s approach to the current environment, SIG says in a statement. SIG has also parted with Roger Guy, who is leaving Gartmore (see Newsmanagers of 9 November), who was one of nine managers of the European Best Ideas Fund. The change will cost Gartmore a GBP32.8m mandate. In the same vein, Hargreaves Lansdown is recommending that its clients withdraw from the Gartmore absolute return fund, which was previously managed by Guy.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Since the end of 2009, assets under management at Barclays Wealth have gained 5%, to stabilise at GBP158bn, Pre-tax profits in the first nine months of the year totalled GBP122m, up 9% compared with the corresponding period of 2009. The increase was driven by activities in the high net worth segment. Pre-tax profits for the Investment Management unit, for their part, totalled GBP55m, compared with GBP2bn last year, largely due to dividends on its 19.9% stake in BlackRock. As of 30 September, the value of this stake was recorded on the books as GBP4.061bn, compared with GBP3.60bn as of 30 June.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to an analysis of MSCI data by Baring Asset Management, the proportion of global capitalisation in emerging markets has increased by one percentage point per year since 1999. It now accounts for 16% (as of 30 September 2010), compared with 14.06% twelve months previously, and 3.97% at the end of 1998. However, according to statistics from the Investment Management Association (IMA), British retail investors allocate only 1.9% of their portfolios to global emerging markets, compared with 1.6% at the end of June 2008. Exposure to Asia-Pacific ex Japan, for its part, has increased from 4% to 4.8%. James Syme, head of global emerging market equities at Barings, says that this shows that global emerging markets are “seriously” underrepresented in retail portfolios in the United Kingdom, despite robust fundamentals and valuations which remain highly attractive, even regardless of the fact that the MSCI emerging markets index has posted performance of 20.93% on one year, while the MSCI World Index Free in the same period gained only 9.03%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The British asset management group Schroders has earned pre-tax profits for the first nine months of the year of GBP282.7m, compared with GBP79.9m for the corresponding period of 2009. Net inflows totalled GBP21.5bn, compared with GBP8.7bn one year earlier. Assets under management as of 30 September totalled GBP1815bn, or over EUR210bn, compared with GBP138.9bn as of 30 September 2009. Inflows continued following the end of third quarter, Schroders says in a statement presenting the interim results. Pre-tax profits for the asset management unit in third quarter totalled GBP85.9m, compared with GBP54m one year earlier, on earnings of GBP232.7m, compared with GBP172.7m one year earlier. Over nine months, the asset managemetn unit earned pre-tax profits of GBP263.2m, compared with GBP108.1m previously. Net inflows totalled GBP19.4bn, compared with GBP8.6bn between January and September 2009. Pre-tax profits for the private banking unit totalled GBP2.9bn in third quarter 2010, compared with GBP6.3m in third quarter 2009, on earnings of GBP24m, compared with GBP23.6m. On nine months, pre-tax profits totalled GBP9.5m, compared with GBP20m. Net inflwos in the first nine months of the year totalled GBP2.1bn, compared with GBP0.1bn as of 30 September 2009. For the quarter to 30 September, net inflows totalled GBP5.4bn, of which GBP3.7bn were from institutional clients, GBP800m in intermediated inflows, and GBP900m from private banking. Of the GBP21.5bn in net inflows over the nine months, 79% came from clients outside the United Kingdom.

In January-October, net subscriptions to ETFs domiciled in Europe totalled USD38.9bn. iShares (BlackRock) continues to lead the pack, with inflows of USD10.4bn, followed by db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) with USD7.9bn, and Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale), with USD4bn. As of the end of September, third place was held by Source, according to monthly statistics from BlackRock.In other words, db x-trackers, which attracted USD2.5bn out of a total of USD7.9bn in October, still lags behind iShares (Usd2.8bn), but outstrips Lyxor for at least the third consecutive month. Third place in the rankings in terms of net inflows in October is Swiss & Global Asset Management (USD0.1bn).Assets at iShares remain the largest by far, with 181 products and USD98.2bn in assets as of the and of October, ahead of Lyxor with 148 funds and USd49.9bn, and db x-trackers with 139 ETFs and USD47bn.In general, assets under management in ETFs domiciled in Europe represented USD274.1bn, compared with USD256.2bn as of the end of September, and USD226.9bn as of the end of December 2009. Assets have increased 20.9% in the first ten months of the year. The number of ETFs as of the end of October totalled 1,048, listed 3,512 times, compared with 1,030 funds as of the end of September.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } iShares, the ETF platform from BlackRock, has listed the iShares JP Morgan $ Emerging Markets Bond fund on the Milan stock exchange, bringing the number of its ETFs listed in Italy to 98. The ETF, which provides investors with exposure to emerging market debts denominated in US dollars, has assets of over USD1bn.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The largest European companies are the most engaged worldwide in reporting and management of carbon emissions, according to the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Europe 300 list for 2010, published on 9 November. However, on the basis of annual projections for the 300 largest European companies, Europe will still not achieve the emission limits set out by the European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) for 2020. If these firms achieve their annual objectives, they may achieve a reduction in annual emissions of only 1.5% per year. These reductions are lower than the absolute reductions required by the EU-ETS of 1.9% per hear on average until 2013 and 2020, and up to 4.1% if the European Union decides to set an objective of a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas (GES) emissions throughout Europe. The analysis, undertaken by CA Cheuvreux, reveals that nearly 80% of businesses which responded to the CDP questionnaire have set emissions reduction targets, most of which will expire in 2012, and less than one quarter of businesses have set objectives beyond 2015. In order for businesses to extend these horizons and achieve the higher objectives required, the report recommends that a clear long-term regulatory framework be defined. For all activity sectors, nearly nine companies out of ten see regulatory opportunities emerging from climate change policy.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } For January-September, Munich Re has announced net profits of EUR1.955bn, compared with EUR1.784bn for the corresponding period of last year. The German group now projects net profits for the year 2010 as a whole of about EUR2.4bn, up from the “over EUR2bn” previously predicted.As of the end of September, the financial portfolio of Munich Re totalled EUR194bn, which represents an increase of EUR11.8bn compared with the end of 2009. The portfolio generated EUR7.28bn, compared with EUR5.79bn for the first nine months of 2009, which represents an annualised performance of 5%.Exposure to equities as of the end of September totalled 2.6%, compared with 2.8% as of the end of December, while EUR174bn were invested in bonds, with an allocation of over 46% to government or quasi-sovereign debt.The asset management firm of the group, MEAG Munich Ergo AssetManagement GmbH as of 30 September had external assets of EUR10.6bn in open-ended retail and institutional funds, compared with EUR7.9bn as of the end of 2009.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 10 November, Huashang announced that it has successfully raised CNY12bn (USD1.81bn) for its latest diversified fund, the Strategy Enhanced Balanced Fund, which is managed by Sun Jianbo, portfolio manager of the Prosperous Growth Fund and deputy CIO of Huashang. The new product, for which subscriptions were closed before the set date, is very flexible, as it may increase its equities exposure to 85%, and its bond exposure to 65%.Z-Ben Advisors reports that the success of the fundraising reveals that demand has returned, as all equities funds launched this year in China have attracted over CNY1.9bn. Huashang also has a very good track record: its three funds (one equities and two diversified funds) show average performance of 21.4% since the beginning of the year, compared with a 3.6% average for Chinese equities and diversified funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In third quarter 2010, the Intesa Sanpaolo group has posted net profits of EUR510m, compared with EUR1.002bn in April-June (which included EUR648m in net capital gains from sales of securities services activities). In the first nine months of the year, net profits are down 2.7% to EUR2.2bn, as retail activities in Italy were penalised by weak Euribor rates.Savings under management as of 30 September totalled EUR240bn, 1.4% more than at the end of June, 3.4% more than at the end of December, and 4.7% more than one year previously.The asset management affiliate Eurizon Capital posted net profits of EUR52m for January-September, of which EUR16m were in third quarter, compared with EUR41m in the first nine months of 2009.Banca Fideuram (private banking) earned net profits of EUR114m for the first three quarters (of which EUR41m were in third quarter), compared with EUR104m in January-September 2009.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Hong Kong-based management firm Quam Asset Management has appointed Richard Harris as chief executive officer, Asian Investor reports. Harris, previously chief executive of the consulting firm Port Shelter Investment Company, will be in charge of long/short strategy for China, Quan Greater China Fund, whose size he will endeavour to increase (currently USD50m). He will report directly to the president of the Guam group, Bernard Pouillot. Quam AM has recently launched a long-only fund dedicated to the Middle East, and is planning to put together an African team to launch a fund dedicated to Africa (Quam African Fund).

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Asian Investor reports that Credit Suisse Asset Management has signed an exclusive distribution agreement in Japan and elsewhere in the world with the Singapore-based alternative management firm Kimco International. The head of asset management at Credit Suisse Japan, Akira Takahashi, says that he is hoping to double or triple assets under management at Kimco in a short period of time; they currently total about USD200m. Kimco, founded in 2006, with 10 personnel in Japan, uses a long/short, bottom-up strategy on Japanese equities.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Janus Capital, known for its US equities management, is now seeking to make a name for itself in other assets classes, and to make its offerings more international. In Europe, the US-based asset management firm this year created five sub-funds reflecting this diversification. It has created two global bonds sub-funds, the Janus Global High Yield Fund and the Janus Global Investment Grade Bond Fund. Bond management is not unknown territory for Janus, which already manages over USD10bn in US bonds. The novelty is the opening to global management. The transition should not be too stressful, as the US market represents a large proportion of global bond indices. The two funds are managed by Gibson Smith and Darrell Watters, who are both co-managers of fixed income strategies from Janus. The firm has also added to tis research teams in London. Janus has also launched the Perkins Global Value Fund, a fund managed by its unit Perkins, a specialist in value management. The manager, Gregory Kolb, was transferred to the affiliate from Janus. At Janus, he managed a global fund, but in light of his value bias, he was moved to Perkins. Janus will also be releasing an emerging markets sub-fund, which will be managed by Wahid Chammas and Matt Hochstetler, in the same way as the Janus Global Research Fund, which brings together the best ideas of all of the asset management firm’s analysts. Although it is the first fund to specialise in emerging markets, Sylvain Agar, head of commercial development for Janus in France and French-speaking Europe, says that Janus has legitimacy in this area, as it already manages nearly USD10bn in these markets as part of its other products.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Compared with the end of September, global ETF assets increased by USD57.7bn for a total as of 31 October of USD1.239trn, according to BlackRock estimates. Assets have increased 19.6% since the beginning of the year (USD1.036trn). In October, net subscriptions to ETF and ETP funds totalled USD21bn.The number of ETFs has increased by 30 in one month, to 2,049 funds, which are listed 5,335 times, compared with 5,204 as of the end of September. Since the beginning of January, the number of ETF funds has increased 23.9%, with 504 launches and 50 funds removed from trading.Currently, there are plans to launch 1,038 ETF funds.The three major promoters of ETFs remain iShares, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) and Vanguard. iShares as of the end of October had 446 ETFs with assets of USD556.1bn, or a market share of 44.9%, compared with 45.3% one month earlier. SSgA, with 113 funds and Usd170.7bn, has a market share of 13.8%, compared with 13.9% at the end of September. Vanguard, with 64 products and USD135.2bn, has seen its market share increase to 10.9% from 10.6%.

Strong launch activity was seen in the first three quarters, with more than 600 hedge funds launched in 2010 so far, according to Eurekahedge. Global hedge fund assets crossed USD1.6 trillion. Hedge funds witnessed another month of strong gains in October amid a sustained rally in underlying global markets. The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index gained 2.26%1 for the month, bringing the year-to-date October returns to 7.31%. The MSCI World Index was up 3.65% in October.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Santander Pensiones, an affilaite of Santander specialised in pension funds, has become the most recent firm to sign the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UN PRI). Among the management firms which have recently signed the principles are three French firms: Activa Capital, Iris Capital and UFG-LFP. Other big names that have signed the charter are the German Union Investment (co-operative banks), the American Thomson Reuters, and the Canadian Alberta Investment Management Corp.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Lyxor Hedge Fund index posted gains of 1.44% in October, bringing its performance since the beginning of the year to 4.30%. The strategies which earned the best returns were the Lyxor STAs Long Term Index (+3.21%), Lyxor Global Macro Index (+3.03%), and the Lyxor L/S Credit Arbitrage Index (+2.16%). The worst-performing strategy in October was the Lyxor L/S Equity Short Bias Index, which lost 2.21%.

Currently, assets at Hugau Gestion total over EUR900m, which represents an increase of EUR220m, or 28% since the beginning of the year, of which about EUR200m are net subscriptions.99% of these funds come from French institutional investors, of whom none have contributed more than 6% of assets, while the management firm now has over 80 subscribers. “The next step,” explains Eric Le Maire, CEO, “will be to capture French corporates, and then to consider possibly exploring foreign markets.” The important thing for Hugau Gestion is to “find loyal clients, who understand what we are doing, which implies that we also need to understand what they are doing. That is the doctrine we have followed for three years.”Management of the six mutual funds from Hugau, overseen by Catherine Huguel (including the Hugau Moneterme fund, with EUR450m, and Hugau Obli 1-3, with EUR335m), is highly transparent: 40-45 positions of direct investment, with no leverage, on large caps. Funds in the bond range have virtually no positions on government bonds.The results are encouraging, at least for the two major products under the brand name, as the Moneterme fund shows returns as of the end of October of 1.56% since the beginning of the year, compared with 0.34% fo rthe benchmark index (capitalised Eonia), while Obli 1-3 has gained 3.27%, compared with 1.32% for the EuroMTS 1-3 years.

Lazard Frères Gestion announced on Tuesday, 9 November that it has added to its sales teams dedicated to the IFA market and private banking in France.In detail, in Paris, Grégory Maes, 38, joined the IFA sales development unit on 3 May this year, to develop inflows and relations with IFAs and insurance platforms. Previously, he was head of sales to IFA in the Distribution teams at AXA Investment Managers, since 2006.In Lyon, Sébastien Janin has joined the IFA and private management sales development unit. Janin, 38, was previously head of sales for Southern and Eastern France at UBS, since 2006.In Bordeaux, Anne Brouard, 26, has joined the private management, IFA and institutional management sales development unit. She was previously head of the Bordeaux office of the Banque Privée Neuflize OBC, since 2006. In the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) and Languedoc-Roussillon regions, Christian-Pierre Larnaudie on 1 April took up a position as senior advisor. His mission, according to a statement, will be to assist Lazard Frères Gestion in its development in private management and to study the attractiveness of opening a local office. Larnaudie, 61, spent the previous ten years as director of the UBS office in Marseille, and then regional director in Bordeaux.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Mutual Funds Against Cancer (MFAC) initiative has adopted the new name Expect Mircales Foundation – Financial Services Against Cancer, on the occasion of its end-of-year charity event (7th Annual Expect Miracles Wine & Spirits Charity Event in Boston). The founder and president of the foundation, Frank Strauss, says that the change comes because now, after five years, mutual funds are no longer the only ones to be contributing to the fight against cancer, which is now being taken on by the financial sector more broadly.