Uhispank to manage SEB funds

The Swedish banking concern SEB announced that is has begun to use Estonia's Uhispank as a money manager with SEB's investments in Central and East European markets.
According to the daily Eesti Paevaleht, Uhispank's asset management arm has been authorized to manage SEB's Baltic Small Cap Fund, which allows all clients of the SEB group to place money in Central and Eastern Europe.
"It's a big thing for us to manage a fund that can be sold all over Europe," Uhispank's Vice President Rein Ratsep said of the decision.
The fund currently has shares of Baltic, Finnish, Swedish, Russian and Polish companies in its portfolio.
Uhispank's goal is to refashion the fund with Central and East Europe in focus.
"We'll take out all Scandinavian investments and at some point this may mean a change of the fund's name," Ratsep said.
The fund's assets total 120 million Swedish kronor (13.1 million euros).
Ratsep admitted the fund's yield has not been noteworthy through its history, but present hopes are pinned on restructuring bringing about a change for the better in this area.
Management of the fund will still be governed by Swedish regulations, but all investment decisions will be made by Uhispank, according to Ratsep.