Frank Russell Company and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi (BTM) are teaming up to offer three investment trusts, the Japanese equivalent of mutual funds, in BTM's branches. The Tacoma, Washington company says that the new offerings will be the first multi-manager funds available to individual investors in Japan.

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"Historically, Japanese investors have tended to focus on short-term performance," said Greg Stark, representative director of Russell's investment subsidiary in Tokyo. "Our program is based on the merits of long-range investment goals, which means our work here involves equal focus on education and investment strategy."

The M-CUBE Russell Investment Program was introduced July 8 at 48 of Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi's branch offices. By year's end, it is expected to be available at each of the bank's approximately 327 branches throughout Japan.

More than 600 Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi representatives have received training from Russell on a strategic investment approach that is new to Japanese investors. Russell and Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi plan to train the remaining representatives later this year.

The new program includes four investment trusts intended for asset allocation, including three Russell multi-manager funds (Japan Equity Fund I, International Equity Fund I and Global Bond Fund I) in addition to the Money Pool Fund, managed by Tokyo-Mitsubishi Asset Management. The minimum investment for initial purchase is 5 million yen (about US$41,000) in total for the four investment trusts.

"This program provides clients with Russell's expertise accumulated through many years of asset management consulting to public and corporate pensions worldwide," Stark said.

Frank Russell also reports that a similar program was launched last week in Singapore through the Development Bank of Singapore (DAS). The Singapore office will be headed by Frank Russell's director, Asia, Bruce Pflaum. 

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