La France est sur la voie d'une reprise modérée de son activité
L'Insee table sur un rebond temporaire de la croissance du PIB français à 0,4% au dernier trimestre, avant un ralentissement à 0,2% début 2014
L'efficacité du système de résolution européen divise les économistes
Ils s'interrogent sur la gouvernance du dispositif et déplorent le manque de détails sur le filet de sécurité du fonds européen
Angela Merkel remet la réforme du traité sur la table
Le projet de «contrats de réforme» ne sera pas précisé avant octobre 2014
Les régulateurs bancaires assouplissent leur position sur la titrisation
Le montant de capital exigé pour la détention d'ABS augmenterait par rapport à aujourd'hui mais moins que prévu initialement par le Comité de Bâle
Angela Merkel remet la réforme du traité sur la table
Le projet de «contrats de réforme» ne sera pas précisé avant octobre 2014
Les gérants actions françaises : des alphas positifs et homogènes
Les tableaux ci-contre présentent les performances en euros des fonds sur les marchés des fonds actions américaines et actions françaises en novembre 2013. Ces performances sont mises en perspective par le calcul de la volatilité, du ratio de Sharpe sur trois ans d’historique, ainsi que du rendement depuis un an.
Des marchés toujours en mode « Risk on »
Le graphique ci-joint illustre le résultat d’une stratégie simple de gestion du bêta sur un portefeuille d’actions globales. La gestion du bêta est liée directement à la classification des conditions de marché comme «Risk on» (bêta de 1,2) ou «Risk off» (bêta alors de 0,6 pour les périodes grisées).
La Serbie souhaite négocier un prêt avec le FMI dès 2014
Belgrade a confirmé jeudi son intention d’ouvrir des négociations avec le FMI dès début 2014 afin d’obtenir un prêt de précaution. «Un accord de précaution avec le FMI permettrait à la Serbie de mettre en place les réformes prévues et montrerait aux investisseurs étrangers que la Serbie est un marché sûr, stable et attractif», a déclaré dans un communiqué le ministère des Finances.
La croissance accélère en Irlande
L'économie irlandaise a enregistré au troisième trimestre une croissance de 1,5% par rapport au trimestre précédent, la reprise semblant ainsi s’accélérer au moment où le pays sort de son programme d’aide internationale. Les économistes interrogés par Reuters avaient anticipé un produit intérieur brut (PIB) de 0,7% pour la période, niveau de croissance qui correspond à celle du deuxième trimestre.
Bruxelles se prononcera début 2014 sur les tarifs français de l'éolien
La Commission européenne devrait se prononcer au premier trimestre 2014 sur les nouveaux tarifs français de l'énergie éolienne, ce qui pourrait permettre au secteur d'éviter un vide juridique. La Cour de Justice de l’Union européenne (CJUE) a estimé jeudi que l’arrêté sur le tarif bonifié de rachat de l'énergie éolienne de 2008 n’avait pas été correctement notifié comme aide d’Etat auprès de l’UE.
Le coût du dispositif de résolution inquiète les banques françaises
Alors que le fonds de résolution européen doit être financé de manière progressive par les banques en fonction de leur taille, les banques françaises s’attendent pour leur compte à «une facture de 10 à 15 milliards d’euros sur dix ans», selon Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, directeur général de BNP Paribas et président de la FBF, cité par Le Monde.
BlackRock monte un hedge fund obligataire
La société d’investissement entend lever jsuqu'à 3 milliards de dollars pour un fonds alternatif destiné à être investi dans des actifs obligataires, croit savoir Bloomberg. Elle a commencé à sonder l’intérêt des investisseurs pour BlackRock Credit Alpha Fund en octobre, avec un objectif initial de 500 millions de dollars.
19/12/2013
Nordea and iShares register funds in Spain
Funds People reports that Nordea has registered four additional sub-fund of its Nordea 1 Sicav, the Emerging Markets Small Cap Fund, managed by Copper Rock Capital Partners, the Chinese equity Fund, the Unconstrained Bond Fund, managed by MacKay Shields, and the Nordic Corporate Bond Fund (shares hedged in euros). The Spanish regulator has also issued a sales license for the iShares Euro Stoxx 50 ex-Financials UCITS ETF from BlackRock (see Newsmanagers of 17 December). It is the first ETF on the European market with an international (pan-European structure) for securities processing, resulting in a cooperation between BlackRock and Euroclear Bank. Previously, when an ETF had been listed on several European markets, the liquidation occurred at the national central depository corresponding to each market on which the trades were executed.
19/12/2013
UCITS funds posted more than EUR21bn in inflows in October
Net sales of UCITS returned to positive territory in October with net inflows of EUR 21 billion, compared to net outflows of EUR 15 billion in September, according to the European Fund and Asset Management Association (EFAMA). This turnaround in net sales can be attributed to a reduction in net outflows from money market funds and increased net inflows to long-term UCITS.Long-term UCITS (excluding money market funds) registered a rise in net inflows to EUR 27 billion, up from EUR 9 billion in September. Equity funds attracted net inflows of EUR 17 billion, up from EUR 14 billion in September, while bond funds registered net outflows of EUR 1 billion, compared to net outflows of EUR 9 billion a month earlier. Net sales of balanced funds amounted to EUR 8 billion, compared to EUR 5 billion in September. Money market funds registered reduced net outflows in October of EUR 5 billion, down from EUR 24 billion in September.Total non-UCITS recorded net sales of EUR 19 billion in October, up from EUR 17 billion in September. This increase in net sales can be attributed to special funds (funds reserved to institutional investors) which registered net inflows of EUR 18 billion, compared to EUR 16 billion in September. Total net assets of UCITS stood at EUR 6,860 billion at end October 2013, representing a 1.6 percent increase during the month.Total net assets of non-UCITS increased in October by 1.7 percent to stand at EUR 2,776 billion at month end.
19/12/2013
Former SAC fund manager found guilty of insider trading
Michael Steinberg, a former portfolio manager at SAC Capital, was found guilty of insider trading on Wednesday, and may be sentenced to up to 20 years imprisonment, the Financial Times reports. The jury has identified five counts of conspiracy and market fraud. Steinberg is accused of making trades on shares in Dell and Nvidia after learning the confidential results for the companies in 2008 and 2009 through an analyst. This allowed SAC to earn profits of over USD1m.
19/12/2013
Goldman Sachs posts USD10bn in inflows to a bond fund
Bond management is doing well at Goldman Sachs. Its investment fund Goldman Sachs Strategic Income Fund has attracted USD9.8bn in inflows in the first 11 months of the year 2013, Bloomberg reveals. This net inflow of money is three times higher than the inflows posted by the New York firm to its previous fund over a calendar year, according to statistics from Morningstar dating back to 1993. Bloomberg emphasizes that the fund has seen its size quintuple in one year. According to data compiled by the press agency, the bond fund with USD12.5bn in assets had earned 5.3% returns as of 13 December 2013, dominating 96% of its rivals.
19/12/2013
OFI AM plans to launch a mini bond fund
OFI AM, which on Monday unveiled its new organization, is planning in March 2014 to launch a bond fund to finance French mid-sized businesses on the model of Novo. The asset management firm hopes to raise EUR200m for the product from institutional investors. In terms of new products, OFI AM is also finalising the creation of a managed accounts fund in partnership with Man Group, which has acquired 20% of its alternative management activity. The asset management firm is planning to extend the universe of its BRICA fund, to include more frontier markets.
19/12/2013
Amundi launches EM Minimum Variance fund
Amundi is adding to its Minimum Variance range, which is already deployed in the Europe and World universes, with the launch of a new investment solution: Amundi Funds Equity Emerging Minimum Variance. The new sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav Amundi Funds aims to outperform the MSCI Emerging Markets NR Close on a 5-year investment horizon, while aiming to maintain a lower level of volatility than the benchmark. The sub-fund offers a solution which is appropriate to the needs of investors seeking to limit global risk levels for an equity portfolio. At least two thirds of assets are invested in equities or instruments related to shares in businesses located in emerging countries of Europe, Asia, America and Africa.
19/12/2013
Allianz GI to merge two multi-asset funds
Allianz Global Investors (AGI) is planning to merge its multi-asset Dynamic Growth fund, which has GBP12bn in assets, with its AllianzRiskMaster Moderate, which has GBP14m, Fund Web reports. The asset management firm explains that the decision is a result of the fact that the Dynamic Growth fund has too small a size to be economically viable, after posting an 82% decline in its assets under management between 3 March 2012 and 16 December 2013, according to data from FE Analytics. The merger of the two funds is subject to approval by 75% of shareholders at an extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting.
19/12/2013
CheBanca! Launches an asset management platform
CheBanca!, the retail bank of Mediobanca, is launching its “Risparmio Gestisto” asset management platform, which aims for net inflows of EUR600m by 2014, and EUR2bn by the end of June 2016, Bluerating reports. So far, the bank has no plans to make use of a network of financial advisers. It will rely on 100 people whom it has trained for assistance. On this platform, clients of CheBanca! will have access to a selection of 1,800 funds. ‘There will be a single cost, the management fees,” says the CEO of CheBanca!, Roberto Ferrari. CheBanca! currently has 500,000 clients.
19/12/2013
CA Immo sells Berlin Mercedes-Benz HQ to Union
The Austrian firm CA Immo (EUR5.4bn) has sold the property which is home to the headquarters of the distribution firm for Germany for Mercedes Benz (MVBD), with a floor area fo 28,000 square metres, in the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district of Berlin, to the German firm Union Investment Real Estate.The property, wholly occupied by MBVD, with 1,200 employees, is leased for 10 years to the Daimler affiliate, which is responsible for sales of Mercedes-Benz, smart and Fuso vehicles. The transaction totalled EUR88m, and the property will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund UniImmo: Deutschland.UIRE has about EUR23bn in assets under management in open-ended funds and institutional RE funds.
19/12/2013
BNP Paribas IP adds to its investment solutions team in Asia
BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP), the asset management affiliate of the BNP Paribas group, has appointed Pieter Oyens as head of the investment specialists team for the Asia-Pacific region, He will be based in Hong Kong and will aim to represent the Asian investment solutions unit to institutional clients, distributors, and wealth management clients. Before joining BNPP IP, Oyens was managing director for Harvest Global Investments in Hong Kong.
19/12/2013
Hansainvest releases dividend fund
With another Hamburg asset management firm, Aramea Asset Management, Hansainvest on 16 December launched the German-registered fund HANSAdividende, managed by Christian Thormann. The product has 60 to 100 positions, selected from a universe of 400/600 securities, which will be focused on higher-than-average dividends and outlooks for stable profits.In order to stand out from other dividend funds, the Hansa product will invest in companies from throughout the developed world, without hedging for currency risks, and in companies which are not necessarily large caps. Currently, Europe represents about 50% of positions, compared with 25% for the Americas and 25% for Asia/Oceania.CharacteristicsName: HANSAdividendeISIN code: DE000A1J67V4Benchmark index: Stoxx Global 1800Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 1.5%
19/12/2013
Generali Investments Europe recruits a head of fixed income management in France
Generali Invesments Europe, the asset management affiliate of the insurer Generali, has hired Antoinette Valraud as head of fixed income in France. Valraud, who has been in the position since 16 December, and who reports to the head of fixed income management, is at the head of a team of five managers and analysts. The fixed income management team, based in Paris, has EUR63bn in assets under management, out of a total of EUR330bn for Generali Investments Europe.Valraud, formerly of Fortis Investment and Société Générale Asset Management, was previously head of fixed income capital markets for EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) at Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management in Geneva since 2011.
19/12/2013
Tiedemann Wealth Management opens an office in San Francisco
The New York boutique Tiedemann Wealth Management, a specialist in wealth management, has announced the opening of an office in San Francisco. The new office wil lahve a team of processionals, led by Michael Yelverton, managing director and partner at Tiedemann Wealth Management. The firm advises over USD8bn in assets.
19/12/2013
Fidelity recruits head of sales from Delaware Investments
Fidelity has recruited ill Presutte as senior vice president and director of division, Mutual Fund Wire reveals. For three years, Presutti had been responsible for distribution and the entire division which includes the eastern United States for Delaware Investments, a member of the Macquarie gorup, where he had overseen 15 regional directors and two consultants.
19/12/2013
AllianceBernstein adds to alternative management unit
AllianceBernstein, an affiliate of the Axa group, has recruited Christine Johnson for the newly-created position of head of alternative product management, and granting her the title of senior vice president. Her arrival confirms the ambitions of the asset management firm in the area of alternative management, with an ambition to accelerate the growth of this activity. Today, AllianceBernstein has USD13bn in assets under alternative management. The first mission for Johnson, who has more than 20 years of experience in asset management, will be to develop a strategic commercial and strategic mission for the alternative management platform, focus the efforts of the team dedicated to key opportunities, and lastly, to form partnerships with distribution channels. Before joining AllianceBernstein, Johnson served at Deutsche Asset Management as head of the retirement and multi-asset activity for all clients in the Americas, after serving as director of alternative management and asset allocation strategy at the German firm.
19/12/2013
WisdomTree launches six ETFs
The New York-based asset management firm WisdomTree (USD33.6bn) on 18 December announced the launch of five bond ETFs on NYSE Arca, four of which aim to calm the fears of investors in the face of rising interest rates, which may be related to a slowdown and stop to repurchases of securities by the Federal Reserve, and a fund which aims to take advantage of a potential rise in interest rates in Japan. The sixth is a bet on a rising US dollar in against a basket of developed and emerging currencies.The funds are as follows:WisdomTree BofA Merrill Lynch High Yield Bond Negative Duration Fund (ticker: HYND), fees of 0.48%,WisdomTree Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Zero Duration Fund (AGZD), fees of 0.23%,WisdomTree Barclays U.S. Aggregate Bond Negative Duration Fund (AGND), fees of 0.28%,WisdomTree BofA Merrill Lynch High Yield Bond Zero Duration Fund (HYZD), fees of 0.43%,WisdomTree Japan Interest Rate Strategy Fund (JGBB) with a TER of 0.50%, andWisdomTree Bloomberg U.S. Dollar Bullish Fund (USDU), also with a TER of 0.50%.
19/12/2013
Assets under management in Swiss funds steady in November
Assets in investment funds monitored by Swiss Fund Data and Lipper totalled about CHF755bn in November, down slightly by 0.3%, or CHF2bn, compared with the previous month. Net inflows in the month under review totalled barely CHF700m. In the month under review, bond funds attracted CHF907.6m, compared with a net inflows of CHF165.6m for equity funds. However, commodity funds finished the month with outflows of CHF264.4m, and money market funds saw redemptions totalling CHF116.5m.
19/12/2013
Danish funds have to prove that they are actively managed
The Danish financial regulator, Finastilsynet, will ask asset management firms selling actively-managed funds, to supply it with two key indicators, active share and tracking error, in order to check that these funds are genuinely actively managed, the Danish newspaper Børsen reports. “When we ask Danish companies, many of them think they have active management, and use this argument to justify relatively high fee levels. We want to check that the activity justifies the fee level,” Julie Galbo told the Danish financial newspaper. According to Børsen, a passive fund costs about DKK6,400 per month, while an actively-managed fund costs two to three times more. But a Morningstar study carried out in Spring found that 37 Danish actively-managed funds claim to be actively managed, and charge commissions as a result, while this is not the case.