Barings LLC, known as Barings, is an international
investment management
Investment management is the professional asset management of various securities, including shareholdings, bonds, and other assets, such as real estate, to meet specified investment goals for the benefit of investors. Investors may be institut ...
firm owned by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (
MassMutual
The Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, also known as MassMutual, is a Springfield, Massachusetts-based life insurance company.
MassMutual provides financial products such as life insurance, disability income insurance, long term ...
). It operates as a subsidiary of MassMutual Financial Group, a diversified financial services organisation.
As of June 30, 2021, Barings held US$382+ billion in assets under management.
Barings has over 2,000 professionals and offices in 16 countries.
Services
Barings provides investment management services to investors worldwide, with a particular focus on emerging and inefficient markets;
asset allocation
Asset allocation is the implementation of an investment strategy that attempts to balance risk versus reward by adjusting the percentage of each asset in an investment portfolio according to the investor's risk tolerance, goals and investment tim ...
and specialist
fixed income
Fixed income refers to any type of investment under which the borrower or issuer is obliged to make payments of a fixed amount on a fixed schedule. For example, the borrower may have to pay interest at a fixed rate once a year and repay the prin ...
.
History
Barings, originally established as a firm of merchants and merchant bankers, was formed in London in 1762.
In the 1950s, Barings realised the potential of asset management and set up its own investment department in 1955. Clients were corporate clients, sovereign connections, pension funds and charitable institutions. In the 1970s, Barings expanded this business internationally with offices in the Far East, North America and Europe.
In 1989, Barings combined all of its asset management activities within Baring Asset Management Limited, headquartered in London.
In 1995,
Barings Bank
Barings Bank was a British merchant bank based in London, and one of England's List of oldest banks in continuous operation, oldest merchant banks after Berenberg Bank, Barings' close collaborator and German representative. It was founded in 1762 ...
, the oldest investment bank in Britain, collapsed as a result of unauthorised trading by its head
derivatives
The derivative of a function is the rate of change of the function's output relative to its input value.
Derivative may also refer to:
In mathematics and economics
* Brzozowski derivative in the theory of formal languages
* Formal derivative, an ...
trader in Singapore,
Nick Leeson
Nicholas William Leeson (born 25 February 1967) is an English former derivatives trader whose fraudulent, unauthorized and speculative trades resulted in the 1995 collapse of Barings Bank, the United Kingdom's oldest merchant bank. Leeson w ...
, who was imprisoned for six and a half years in Singapore. It was then bought for £1 by
ING Group
The ING Group ( nl, ING Groep) is a Dutch multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in Amsterdam. Its primary businesses are retail banking, direct banking, commercial banking, investment banking, wholesale bankin ...
, a Dutch bank.
In March 2005, Baring Asset Management was split and Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (
MassMutual
The Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, also known as MassMutual, is a Springfield, Massachusetts-based life insurance company.
MassMutual provides financial products such as life insurance, disability income insurance, long term ...
) acquired Baring Asset Management's investment management activities and the rights to use the Baring Asset Management name.
Northern Trust
Northern Trust Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in Chicago that caters to corporations, institutional investors, and ultra high net worth individuals. Northern Trust is one of the largest banking institutions in the Un ...
acquired Baring Asset Management’s Financial Services Group.
In September 2016, MassMutual merged Babson Capital Management, Wood Creek Capital Management, Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers, and Baring Asset Management to form Barings.
Recent notable events
2010 – Baring Asset Management wins the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2010 in the International Trade Category
2012 – 250th Anniversary
2013 – Baring Asset Management completes acquisition of SEI Asset Korea Co., Ltd (SEIAK)
2016 – Barings is formed after MassMutual merges Babson Capital Management, Wood Creek Capital Management, Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers and Baring Asset Management.
References
Further reading
*
Philip Ziegler
Philip Sandeman Ziegler (born 24 December 1929) is a British biographer and historian.
Background
Born in Ringwood, Hampshire, Ziegler was educated at St Cyprian's School, Eastbourne, and went with the school when it merged with Summer Field ...
, The Sixth Great Power: Barings 1762-1929 (1988). London: HarperCollins Publishers Limited. .
* John Orbell (1995), Baring Brothers & Co., Limited: a history to 1939. London: Baring Brothers & Company
External links
Official WebsiteThe Baring Archive
{{Authority control
Financial services companies based in the City of London
Financial services companies established in 1989
Investment management companies of the United Kingdom
Baring family