Banco Leonardo, qui a annoncé le 30 janvier une hausse de 20% de son résult opérationnel à 29 millions d’euros, a aussi manifesté son intention de mettre les bouchées doubles dans la banque privée, rapporte Les Echos. Parmi les activités qui ont le plus progressé, la division gestion de fortune a augmenté de 21 % le montant de ses actifs sous gestion, à 6 milliards d’euros, dont 87 % en Italie, où Banco Leonardo revendique désormais le rang de « premier acteur de banque privée indépendant ».

Pour 2012, la gestion de fonds d’investissement du Santander a dégagé un bénéfice net part du groupe de 59 millions d’euros, en progression de 3,9 %, tandis que celle de fonds de pension produisait 10 millions d’euros, soit 3,1 % de moins qu’en 2011.A l'échelon du groupe, le bénéfice net de l’an dernier a plongé de 22 % à 2.205 millions d’euros après affectation de 18,8 milliards aux provisions pour les risques immobiliers.

Le conseil d’administration de VP Bank a nommé Alfred Moeckli au poste de Chief Executive Officer (CEO) à compter du 1er mai. Alfred Moeckli reprend le poste que se partageaient de façon intérimaire depuis juillet 2012 Siegbert Näscher, Chief Financial Officer (CFO), et Juerg Sturzenegger, Chief Operating Officer (COO), selon un communiqué publié le 31 janvier.Alfred Moeckli était auparavant CEO de la banque Zweiplus AG, Zurich, poste qu’il a occupé depuis 2010. Il avait aussi été à différents postes chez Falcon Private Bank, Tradejet, INIVEST et à la banque Swissquote. Il a aussi fait partie du conseil d’administration de la banque Zweiplus.MM. Näscher et Sturzenegger reprendront tous deux leurs fonctions respectives en tant que CFO et COO.

Lyxor Asset Management a nommé David Keel au poste de responsable de la vente institutionnelle pour la Suisse alémanique. Basé à Zurich, l’intéressé travaille sous la responsabilité d’Oliver Stahlkopf, responsable commercial pour l’Allemagne, l’Autriche et la Suisse germanophone. David Keel aura pour principale mission le développement commercial sur la gamme des solutions de gestion multi-actifs et de gestion alternative de Lyxor. Avant de rejoindre Lyxor, David Keel était responsable des activités à destination de la clientèle institutionnelle suisse chez Barclays Capital Funds Solutions.

Les actifs sous gestion de Vontobel Asset Management USA (VAMUS), une boutique du groupe zurichois Vontobel basée à New York, s'élevaient fin 2012 à plus de 36 milliards de dollars, selon un communiqué publié le 31 janvier.Vontobel souligne dans un communiqué les bonnes performances de la ligne de produits «Quality-Growth», notamment pour les pays émergents et pour les actions internationales..A fin octobre 2012, le groupe Vontobel dans son ensemble gérait 96 milliards de francs suisses, les actifs sous gestion de VAMUS s’inscrivant alors à 30 milliards de francs suisses.

For JP Morgan Asset Management, the year 2012 is starting out under a good sign in Europe. Inflows in the first weeks of the year totalled about USD2bn in Euorpe, Karine Szenberg, CEO of JPMorgan Asset Management France, announced on 31 January at the asset management firm’s annual press conference.“2013 started with fanfare,” Szenberg said, adding that inflows went to credit, somewhat to emerging market equities, and the remainder to European equities. Last year, the Paris office of JP Morgan Asset Management posted net subscriptions totalling USD1.2bn.“Inflows are once again going to high-risk assets,” says David Shairp, a strategist in the Global Multi Asset Group at JP Morgan AM, who remains “prudently optimistic” about 2013. “Europe is still in intensive care, but the situation has stabilised, and we can’t rule out good surprises,” he said, observing that inflation is still far from posing a problem.In the area of emerging markets, Pierre-Yves Bareau, director of emerging market management at JPMAM, estimates that high yield should be targeted instead of investment grade, with close attention to the signatures, and local interest rates, as well as idiosyncratic issuers in frontier markets such as Sri Lanka, the Dominican Republic and Nigeria.Richard Titherington, head of emerging market equity management at JPMAM, says that an examination of valuations argues in favour of an increase in exposure to emerging market equities, where profits have recovered along with outperformance. However, Titherington warns, “outlooks for better returns also present the risk of higher volatility.”

For 2012, Blackstone has announced net economic income of USD1.9953bn, compared with USD1.5392bn the previous year (+30%). Distributable earnings increased more sharply, up 48% to USD1.0339bn, from USD696.7m.Total assets as of the end of December reached a record USD210.22bn, up from USD166.23bn one year previously. Fee-earning assets under management, for their part, totalled USD167.9bn, compared with USD136.8bn as of 31 December 2011, of which USD43.5bn, compared with USD37.8bn, were for the hedge fund solutions division, which has total assets of USD46.1bn, compared with USD40.5bn.Blackstone states that net subscriptions to fee-earning AUM totalled USD2.4bn for last year as a whole.

Net profits at Invesco Ltd in 2012 totalled USD776.7bn, which represents a 0.6% decline compared with the previous year. The Atlanta-based asset management firm on 31 January reported assets as of 31 December up by USD62.4bn, or 10%, year on year, to USD687.7bn, while net subscriptions fell by nearly half to USD12.5bn, from USD24.5bn.

NExT AM, an affiliate spun off from La Française AM last year, led by Nicolas Duban, as of the end of December held 17 stakes with total assets of over EUR4bn (+10% year on year), while the contractual FCP NExT Invest, launched in March 2011, which already had assets of EUR110m, in 2012 posted returns of 5.42%; this is a seed valuation “which meets expectations by combining prudent management and a valuation of acquisitions of stakes in capital over the long term.”In 2012, NexT AM sold five stakes in Pythagore, Klimek Advisor, Debory Eres, Métropole Gestion and La Financière de la Cité. All of these were sold to management and shareholders in the businesses. Meanwhile, four asset management firms began their activities last year with the support to NExT AM: Trecento AM, Cedrus AM, Swell Am and Flornoy et associés.Lastly, NExT AM has agreed to a fee sharing partnership with Twenty First Capital, to launch the Infra Green FCPR fund.

As of the end of December, assets at the Affiliated Managers Group (AMG) totalled USD432bn, compared with USD327.46bn declared one year previously. EUR30.1bn of the increase in assets under management is due to net subscriptions.Net profits, for their part, total USD174m, compared with USD164.9m for 2011.

Following an investment in Swan Capital Managment, in which it acquired a 58% stake in February 2012, the French asset management firm Amilton AM has now fully absorbed the firm. The board of directors of the new entity is chaired by Ilana Sayag, and includes Marc Favard, CEO for management, Harry Wolhander, deputy CEO, Dan Sayag, head of asset allocation, and Christophe François, head of business development and marketing. In practice, the teams have now united at Amilton Asset Management. The product range, which largely includes OPCVM and custom funds for private management, family offices and institutional investors, will soon be extended. Amilton AM will soon be launching its first OPCI product. In a statement, the asset management firm has announced combined asset of nearly EUR400m, and also declared a desire to accelerate organic growth in assets and “continue its external growth strategy, bringing asset management firms together with complementary areas of expertise.”

The bond management giant Pimco has appointed Marc Seidner, managing director, as interim head of global equities, following the departure of Neel Kashkani a week ago, a source familiar with the matter cited by Reuters has announced. Seidner joined the firm in 2009.

Of 65 asset management firms active in socially responsible investment in France, only seven have established indicators to measure the extra-financial performance of their portfolios, Novethic finds in its most recent study, entitled “What indicators to measure the ESG performance of investments? (“Quels indicateurs pour mesurer la performance ESG des investissements”).The firms are Agicam, Allianz GI, BNP Paribas AM, Groupe OFI, La Banque Postale AM, La Financière Responsable and Pictet AM.Beyond that low level of diffusion among asset management professionals, illustrating the limited maturity of the practice, the methodologies developed do not make it possible to calculate the real impact of the extra-financial performance of a fund in terms of carbon emissions or job creation, Novethic observes. In addition, each player has its own methdology, meaning that comparison between SRI funds on indicators is impossible. At best, indicators make it possible to compare the ESG performance of funds compared with their benchmark indices.There are many factors slowing the development of the extra-financial performance of SRI funds, Novethic explains. The primary obstacle cited is a lack of reliable indicators from businesses, which are both relevand and comparable year to year. The frequency of publication of this information, once a year at best, is also a difficulty. The choice of an indicator, such as greenhouse gas emissions, for example, is also necessarily reductive for a sustainable development programme overall.The development of indicators to measure extra-financial performance is though a primary challenge for SRI management, says Dominique Blanc, head of SRI research at Novethic. That would reveal the benefits of SRI funds and make them more attractive, particularly to retail clients, and prevent this type of management from being “overtaken” by other more “easily readable” financial products such as impact investing or green investment.

Fondsnieuws reports that the Netherlands pension fund APG has announced in an internal memo that its performance in 2012 totalled between 13.7% and 16.9%, which is considerably higher than the 3.3% in gains for ABP.APG has already announced that it will be reducing its benefits by 0.5% from April.

In 2012, the management of investment funds at Santander earned net profits of EUR59m, up 3.9%, while profits for pension funds were EUR10m, 3.1% less than in 2011.Groupwide, net profits last year were down 22% to EUR2.205bn, after EUR18.8bn in write-downs for real estate risks.

The German cabinet has passed a bill by the federal finance ministry which would allow centralised management in Germany of foreign pension assets of German groups, Das Investment reports.The idea is to strengthen Germany’s attractiveness as a fund management site. The bill would create a new legal status for an investment limited partnership company (Investment-Kommanditgesellschaft). The law would come into effect on 22 July.

The board of directors at VP Bank has appointed Alfred Moeckli as chief executive officer (CEO) from 1 May. Moeckli takes up a position which had been shared in the interim since July 2012 by Siegbert Näscher, chief financial officer (CFO), and Juerg Sturzenegger, chief operating officer (COO), according to a statement released on 31 January. Moeckli had previously been CEO of the Zweiplus ag bank in Zurich, a position he had held since 2010. He also held various positions at Falcon Private Bank, Tradejet, INIVEST and the Swissquote bank. He also belonged to the board of directors at Zweiplus bank. Näscher and Sturzenegger will both return to their previous roles as CFO and COO.

BlackRock has increased its stake in UniCredit to 5.03%, to become the second-largest shareholder in the Italian bank, overtaking Aabar, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. The stake corresponds to 20 funds from the US firm. Foreign shareholders now represent 25% of capital in UniCredit, compared with 15% for Italian firms.

Banco Leonardo, which on 30 January announced a 20% increase in its operating profits, to EUR29m, has also announced plans to intensify its involvement in private banking, Les Echos reports. Among the activities which have progressed most, the wealth management division gained 21% in assets under management, to EUR6bn, of which 87% are in Italy, where Banco Leonardo now claims a place as the largest independent private banking actor.

The Swedish asset management firm Norron has recruited Stefhan Klang as head of sales for its funds, Fondbranschen reports. Klang had previously been CEO of the fund activity at Catella. Norron has SEK1.8bn under management in 5 funds.

The Melbourne-based asset management firm Easton Investments has acquired a 19.9% stake in the Singapore-based consulting firm AAM Advisory, Asian Investor reports. Easton Investments would like to develop its activities in Singapore, and in the next twelve months is aiming for advised assets of SGD1bn, and assets under management of SGD300m. AAM Advisory, which provides advisory services to high net worth expatriate clients in Singapore, has advised assets of over SGD250m.

New York-based asset management firm WisdomTree on 31 January announced the launch of an actively-managed ETF which will invest in global corporate bonds, the WisdomTree Global Corporate Bond Fund (Nasdaq ticker: GLCB), which will be sub-advised by Western Asset Management Company (Legg Mason group), like the WisdomTree Emerging Markets Corporate Bond Fund (EMCB).The portfolio will mainly be composed of investment-grade bonds, and the objective will be to keep duration within a range of 2-10 years. Exposure to non-US securities will be hedged for currency risks.The total expense ratio is 0.45%.

In December 2012, statistics from Europerformance show net inflows to all families of French-registered bond and equity funds, with EUR130.03bn for the former, and EUR461.95bn for the latter. Overall, these net subscriptions have not prevented a few major variations in some categories. In the bond asset class, net outflows totalled EUR138.14m for funds invested in the euro zone, or EUR54.27m for international bond funds. However, high yield bond funds have posted strong inflows EUR371.65m. For equity funds, the scenario has been similar. Net infows totalled EUR461.95 in one month, but Asia-Pacific and international equity funds have contributed strongly, with inflows of EUR173.66m and EUR205.95m, respectively, while funds invested in Europe and the US market have seen net outflows of EUR141.05bn and EUR41.10bn. Money market funds have seen outflows of EUR16.42bn, with net outflows of EUR15.171bn from regular treasury funds alone. Net redemptions from French-registered OPCVM products in December totalled EUR16.74bn. Lastly, in terms of performance, all categories of funds have posted returns, excepting international treasury funds (-4.78%), funds of bonds denominated in US dollars (-2.64%), and Middle East North Africa equity funds (-0.91%).

The asset management giant BlackRock has announced that it now controls 8% of capital in the English football club Manchester United, with 3.3 million shares. The FC held its IPO on the New York stock exchange in August last year, Investment Week reports.

Assets under management at Brewin Dolphin as of the end of 2012 totalled GBP26bn, virtually unchanged compared with the end of September, according to statistics released on 31 January. The quarter finished with zero net inflows, but a positive market effect of GBP100m. Quarterly profits totalled GBP67.85m, up 13.7% compared with fourth quarter 2011, but down 5% compared with third quarter 2012, due to a reduction in trail commissions as part of preparation for RDR regulations, which came into force on 1 January this year.

Fidelity has recruited Russell Lancaster, currently head of sales at RSA Group, as director of retail sales for the United Kingdom. He will begin in March, and will report to Ben Waterhouse, director of UK sales.

Six months ahead of the introduction of the AIFM directive (23 July), BNP Paribas Securities Services has announced the launch of custody and depository services on the British market, Funds People reports.James McAleenan, head of BNPP SS in the United Kingdom, says adapting to the directive is not a simple process, and represents a major challenge for the sector, as legislation requires that new infrastructure and new distribution networks be set up.

According to a Towers Watson survey, assets in pension funds in the 13 largest countries in the world in this area (Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States) increased by 8.9% last year, to a total of USD29.754trn as of the end of 2012, equivalent to 78.3% of GDP, compared with 72.2% one year previously, but 78.8% as of the end of 2007.In the past ten years, assets in defined contribution funds increased by an average of 7.8% per year, while defined-benefit funds grew by 6.6% per year.The largest markets are the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom, with 56.6%, 12.5% and 9.2% of total assets covered by the study, respectively, while the increase in 2012 was 10%, 0.5% and 9.9%.As of the end of December, the average allocation in the seven largest markets (95% of the 13 countries), Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, was 47.3% to equities, 32.9% to bonds, 1.2% to cash, and 18.6% to other assets.

In 2012, assets in UCITS-compliant hedge funds increased by 20%, to a record EUR140bn. Bond products attracted 56% of net subscriptions, with EUR13.2bn, followed by macro strategies, with EUR5.8bn and 24.7%, according to the Swiss firm Alix Capital, which calculates the Alternative UCITS indices.The three biggest winners in single strategies posted strong gains in their assets under management last year, as assets for Standard Life Investments in this area rose 59.8% year on year, to nearly EUR17.44bn, while assets at GAM were up 41.2% to EUR12.53bn, and assets at M&G more than doubled (+107.3%), to EUR10.8bn.The top three providers of UCITS-compliant bond funds were M&G, Pimco (+74.2%, to EUR10.1bn), and GAM (+42.4%, to EUR9.4bn), while for long/short equity products, the top actors were BlackRock (+29.1%, to EUR2.2bn), Exane Asset Management (-31.6%, to EUR2.1bn), and Man Investments (+13.2%, to EUR1.6bn).In macro strategies, BNY Mellon has nearly doubled its assets (+94.9%), to EUR9.9bn, which represents more than seven times the assets for the second-largest firm in the category, Aquila Capital, which has EUR1.4bn.

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) on 31 January announced that the British banking group Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS would be required to reimburse small and mid-sized businesses to whom they abusively sold certain complex financial products. The FSA has reviewed 173 sales of products to hedge against variations in interest rates, and concluded that over 90% of them contravened regulatoins on at least one point. The four banks have pledged to review each individual case and reimburse clients where necessary. “Small businesses will now see the results of our study and bank will study their individual cases. When a reimbursement is due, the businesses will find themselves in the position they would have been in if there had not been an abusive sale,” Martin Wheatlet, one of the directors of the FSA, pledged in a statement. As a part of the case, the FSA on 29 June last year reprimanded the four largest banks in the country. They have not received a financial sanction, but have agreed to mend their ways, cease to sell the most complex products, and to reimburse SMBs where necessary. The banks had poorly informed clients about costs, did not ensure that clients understood the risks associated with products, or sold them excessive protection for their needs. Other banks active in the United Kingdom, such as Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank (National Australia Bank group), Co-operative bank, Northern Bank and the British affiliate of the Spanish bank Santander, are still subject to FSA investigations for the same practices.