14/07/2010 Author: Tony Griffiths

Deutsche offers Map to US investors

Deutsche Bank’s highly successful X-markets managed account platform (Map) is being made available to US investors for the first time, HFMWeek can exclusively reveal, giving US clients full access to an offering currently ranked the world’s second largest by assets under management (AuM).      

According to industry sources, US access to the German bank’s X-markets platform – one of two managed account platforms Deutsche offers – went live at the end of June, offering the first of the platform’s funds – believed to be the product of a high-profile US manager – to US investors. The rest of X-market’s funds are to be extended to US clients in the next few months, the sources said, with the platform expected to house around 50 funds by the end of the year. Deutsche Bank declined to comment.   

Deutsche’s managed accounts offering, which oversees AuM of around $8bn, is divided into two separate entities: X-markets; which covers traditional hedge funds and manages $4.5bn in assets; and DB Select, an FX/CTA specialist, with $3.5bn in AuM. Both platforms are based on a similar structure and charge 50bps plus administration costs. As previously reported by HFMWeek, multiple prime brokerage relationships became available earlier this year.

The process of providing US access to the X-markets platform has been underway since early 2009, sources said. The DB Select platform is available in the US already and has daily liquidity, as opposed to X-market’s monthly liquidity.

Deutsche Bank has made no secret of its expectations for global managed accounts growth. In February it created a global sales force dedicated purely to managed accounts, hiring two senior sales people, Guillaume Mathais from Lyxor Asset Management and Francesca Guagnini from Neuberger Berman.

At the beginning of the year, the bank also revealed record inflows of $3bn for 2009 at its combined Map. “We have a strong global pipeline for 2010 and expect significant inflows,” Danny Caplan, head of the managed accounts sales team, told HFMWeek at the time. According to Caplan, over 20% of hedge fund inflows in 2010 will be via managed accounts.

After a strong 2009, activity in the managed accounts space has continued into 2010, with a number of high-profile Maps experiencing inflows. Deutsche Bank has added 12 funds since January and is expecting a further 15-20 by year-end, while last month, Innocap, a joint venture from National Bank of Canada and BNP Paribas, announced UK credit giant CQS as among a wave of new additions to its platform.

Last week, HFMWeek revealed that Natixis, the French banking titan, had re-launched its Map, which once held 30 managed accounts, as a Ucits platform.

In April, Butterfield Fulcrum became the first service provider to move into the managed account space, launching its Map with $1bn in AuM.