A growth revival is on the cards for countries within Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) if the European Institutional Conference, held by Generali Investments, is anything to go by.

The event, held in Prague last week, saw Generali Investments present clients with the results of its main strategies for risk-cautious investment approaches, which Carlo Cavazzoni, head of global distribution, said had shown a performance well above money market returns for the last three years. "And the respective funds are confirming their success also in 2009," he added.

Dr Thomas Hempell, economic analyst and strategist at Generali Investments, said: "In the CEE countries, EU membership, further integration and Euro adoption should help convergence forces to unfold again after the crisis. CEE still has the potential to grow faster than the advance economies in the longer-term."

One such success story is that of fund manager Ernst Mosser, whose Generali IS-Central and Eastern European Equities, delivered a return of 33.5 per cent year-to-date.

The conference also covered the hot topic of the UCITS IV directive, with Professor Amin Rajan, CEO of Create Research, predicting a turnaround in customer expectation: "Client needs will be changing dramatically, demanding simplicity, quality and safety."

Experts at the conference also agreed that the regulatory changes following the UCITS IV implementation should reduce the administrative burden, increase investor protection and improve market efficiency.

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