Time Is Running Out For WABBO

Regular readers will be aware of Z/Yen’s involvement in the national Payroll Giving Grants campaign since its launch in January 2005. Payroll Giving gives businesses the chance to offer their employees a tax-effective way of donating to their favourite good causes.

Helen Davies, Ian Harris and Linda Cook have been running the information service, undertaking research and providing analytic data.

The Government funded programme, tagged “We’ll All Be Better Off” (abbreviated to WABBO) provides grants of up to £500 to organizations employing fewer than 500 people to help them set up payroll giving schemes. When you factor in tax relief, a monthly Payroll Giving donation of £10 costs a higher rate taxpayer only £6. In addition, for the first six months of an employee’s Payroll Giving, the Government will match up to £10 per month pound for pound, making the donation worth £20 to the charity.

December 2006 marks the end of the programme, and the last chance for small businesses to receive this cash payment simply for establishing a Payroll Giving scheme. It’s quick and easy to set up and run, if you haven’t already done so, now is the time.

We suggest that you give Helen Davies a call on the dedicated enquiry line number, 0845 602 6786 (or indeed the regular Z/Yen number) if you want further information or help putting this into action before the end of the year.

Cash In – Carbon Out

The London Accord is a cooperative research programme to assess investment in climate change initiatives. The distinguishing feature of The London Accord is its use of mainstream investment research houses to assess current investment opportunities in carbon reduction. The results of The London Accord should be of immense interest to anyone who believes that economics and investment in mitigation initiatives is central to solving the climate change challenge, whether they be governments, economists, environmentalists, investors or pensioners.

During 2007 the key sponsors, BP and the City of London Corporation, supported by Z/Yen, Forum for the Future and Gresham College, are assembling leading investment research houses and economists to analyse the opportunities for investment in climate change initiatives and provide a rough ordering of cost/benefit in terms of carbon reduction. These results can be used to evaluate roughly-equal financial investments in carbon reduction initiatives.

During 2006 we launched a “call for participation”. Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, HSBC, Sarasin, Société Générale, CSFB, ABN and Canaccord Adams have already agreed to contribute research, with further support from The Santa Fe Institute and The London School of Economics. Generation IM, Universities Superannuation Scheme, Axa IM, Insight Investment, Henderson and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change have already expressed strong interest. The results are intended for wide publication via Reuters' syndication and the City of London Corporation Research Series.

We are still recruiting additional investment research firms to start with us in January 2007 (hint with a hot blast of CO²). Click here for more information.

2006 Operational Performance Awards

Z/Yen has just announced the results of its 2006 Operational Performance of Brokers Surveys. The results were released on December 1 to a keenly awaiting group of banking operations professionals worldwide.

Z/Yen is delighted to announce that in Europe, ABN AMRO has been voted the best operational bank for Equities and Morgan Stanley the best for Fixed Income; in the USA, the award went to Morgan Stanley (both product groups); in Asia was shared between Morgan Stanley (Equities) and UBS (Fixed Income).
Client feedback has again been strong this year which is particularly pleasing to the 12 strong survey team (Smith, Birch, Guerriero, Pitcher, Taylor, Bailey, Yeandle, Avrami, Cardosa, Cech, Davies, Howell) who interviewed and collected nearly 100,000 rankings from 200 Investment Managers, Hedge Funds and Banks in 18 countries.

Farsight Goes Further

Z/Yen is pleased to announce that Gresham College and the Universities Superannuation Scheme are now looking to Farsight Award 2007/2008. Created to honour the best in long term research, the Farsight Award 2006/2007 was awarded on 21 September 2006 to Citigroup analysts Heath Jansen, Mike Tyrrell and Alan Heap for their work on sustainable mining. The Farsight Award was formed in direct response to criticism of the increasingly short-term nature of financial markets around the world. The founders wish to honour analysis which best integrates traditional financial analysis with longer term issues such as climate change, governance & human capital. Investment researchers interested in submitting research for consideration are encouraged to contact Michael Mainelli between now and June 2007 when the judging begins.

Josie’s Escaped Again

Our longest serving intern, Josie, has escaped the clutches of Z/Yen yet again. On this occasion, she is off to Costa Rica to learn how to teach English as a foreign language. If by any chance she returns again, her new-found skills might well be handy when working for Michael. Seriously, good luck for your future, Josie.

Seasons Greetings To All Our Readers!