Readings: Frontier Markets, Brazil outperforms, ULIPs suck
- Bloomberg: Frontier Investing Might Entice the Patient
Who’s on the frontier? Ukraine, Cyprus, Estonia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Ecuador, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Vietnam and perhaps two dozen more. Investment managers group them under acronyms: MENA, for Middle East North Africa; EMEA, for Europe (specifically, eastern Europe), Middle East and Africa.
Asset managers are pitching these markets as “uncorrelated” with those of the more developed world, meaning that stock prices there run on different tracks. They may rise when the more familiar markets are going down.
It’s an investment for crazies. But for money you’ll ignore for the next 15 years, well, why not?
- BCA Research: Brazil Makes The Grade
- Hindu Business Line: Public less enthusiastic to market-linked insurance plans
The sale of stock market investment-linked insurance policies has shown a sharp decline in growth in 2007-08. This has led to deceleration of growth of new business premium of the life insurance industry to 23 per cent last fiscal from 110 per cent in the earlier year.
The industry received Rs. 92,989 crore in new business premium in the fiscal currently ended.
The LIC Chairman said that in terms of the number of policies, ULIPs contributed 54 per cent of the business while traditional plans brought in the balance 45 per cent.
About time!
