SLI boots fund distribution in Germany

Standard Life Investments (SLI), the global fund manager, today announced that its entire Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV fund range is now available to German investors through Metzler Fund Xchange platform in Germany.

This announcement follows recent agreements with dwpbank and Fidelity's FundsNetwork in Germany.

Metzler Fund Xchange is an electronic-based, full-service platform for fund deposits, which is operated by the private bank B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. KGaA. It has a range of over 7,000 tradable funds from more than 160 local and international fund providers. With more than €9bn of assets under management from both private and institutional investors, Metzler Fund Xchange is one of the leading commercial fund platform providers in Germany.

Standard Life Investments' SICAV offering provides investors with access to 20 sub funds across a diverse range of geographies and sectors in both equities and bonds (see notes to editors).

Last month, SLI's entire Luxembourg-domiciled SICAV fund range was included on the fund platforms of dwpbank and Frankfurter Fondsbank. In February, SLI also announced that six SICAV funds were being added to Fidelity's FundsNetwork platform in Germany.

Phil Barker, Head of European Business Development, SLI, said: "All the feedback we've had from German brokers confirms our view that Metzler Fund Xchange is a market leading platform. Perhaps the biggest selling point is their service proposition, where their systems provide a complete portfolio and risk analysis function - a feature which has proved very popular with brokers.

"Over the last few months in Germany we have established strategic partnerships with dwpbank, Frankfurter Fondsbank, Fidelity's FundsNetwork and now Metzler. With the Abgeltungsteuer - or capital gains tax - coming into force in Germany on 1 January 2009, we are now well positioned to benefit from any upsurge in sales during the remainder of this year, as investors begin to recognise the strength of our performance and the quality of our product range.

"We're looking forward to working with Metzler over the next few months and hopefully extending our relationship in the coming years."

In April of this year, Standard Life Investments also signed an agreement with Nordea, one of the Nordic and Baltic regions largest financial groups, to distribute its Global REIT Focus Fund across the Nordic and Baltic Sea region. In October 2007, SLI also announced that it had signed an agreement with Aktia, the Finnish Savings Bank, to distribute its Global REIT Focus Fund in Finland.