Gothaer And FundsHub To Rival Traditional Investment Providers With New Fund Supermarket

by Carla Johnson, InvestorsOffshore.com

15 May 2001

Leading German life insurer, Gothaer, has announced plans to tie up with UK-based FundsHub to construct a fully integrated fund supermarket by the end of the year. According to reports, the fund supermarket will provide private investors in Germany with further opportunities to make fund investments online. Bryan Hahn, a member of the board at Gothaer, told efinancial News: 'Gothaer, like other German banks and insurance groups, is moving towards open architecture. Consumers are beginning to demand third party fund products, and fund supermarkets are a powerful way of meeting this demand.'

It is widely believed that the alliance is a sure sign that Germany's insurers are stepping up their aim to compete against the country's banks, stockbrokers and financial institutions for a slice of the mutual fund industry pie. The fund supermarket industry is just beginning to find its feet in Germany and the country's leading stockbrokers (the majority of which are owned by the big banks) have pretty much held the monopoly on selling online - until now that is.

The FundsHub web site states that it offers a 'ready-to-run' fund supermarket bringing together fund managers, saving product providers, and customers in one integrated internet-linked supply chain. The company is a joint venture between leading global bank Chase Manhattan, and Investia Limited, a business-to-business e-commerce company providing Internet-enabled distribution solutions for the financial services industry. Mark Lund, chief executive of FundsHub, said: 'What is crucial to us is that Gothaer has embedded distribution and a long history of selling investments and life insurance face-to-face.'

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