Les institutions de prévoyance Apicil Prévoyance (groupe Apicil), Aprionis Prévoyance, Ipsec, Novalis Prévoyance et Vauban Humanis Prévoyance (Groupe Humanis), Ciprev (groupe Victor Hugo) et le GNP (Groupement National de Prévoyance) se sont récemment réunis en assemblée générale pour constituer le Groupement Paritaire de Prévoyance Adéis. Adéis est le premier Groupement Paritaire de Prévoyance (GPP) entièrement dédié au développement de la protection sociale des branches professionnelles.Adéis est un groupement de moyens partagés dédié au développement et au suivi des accords conventionnels nationaux et territoriaux. Réunissant des collaborateurs détachés par ses organismes membres et spécialistes de la protection sociale complémentaire, l’activité opérationnelle d’Adéis démarre début avril. Adéis se positionne comme un expert en matière d’accompagnement et d’équipement des branches professionnelles pour l’ensemble de leurs besoins en protection sociale : prévoyance, santé, épargne retraite et salariale, dépendance.

Jusqu’au 29 juin, la Société Générale commercialise SG Objectif Plus, un fonds à capital non garanti à l’échéance d’une durée de six ans, dont la rémunération de 42% (soit un Taux de Rendement Actuariel Annuel Brut de 6,02%) est acquise au terme si l’indice Euro Stoxx 50 est stable, en hausse ou si il enregistre une baisse de moins de 50% (inclus). Le cas échéant, le souscripteur subira une perte en capital équivalente à la baisse de l’indice.Durant la vie du fonds, une possibilité de sortie par anticipation à chaque date anniversaire pendant les 5 premieres années est prévue, avec un gain de 7 % par année écoulée à la condition que l’évolution de l’Euro Stoxx 50 soit positive ou nulle.Caractéristiques : Code Isin : FR0011204395Eligible au compte-titres ordinaire et au PEA

La filiale de Nuveen Investments, Tradewinds Global Investors, vient de subir un nouveau revers avec le départ de son chief investment officer, David Iben, rapporte Pensions & Investments.Les fondamentaux de Tradewinds se sont améliorés l’an dernier sous l’effet d’une collecte nette de 13 milliards de dollars. Mais avec le départ de David Iben, Nuveen aura beaucoup de mal à mettre en œuvre une stratégie de sortie de Tradewinds, endettée pour plus de 4 milliards de dollars après un LBO qui remonte à 2007.

Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking (SG CIB) a annoncé le 2 avril une nouvelle organisation et des nominations qui impliquent notamment que Lyxor Asset Management est désormais directement rattachée à la direction de SG CIB. Une évolution qui doit permettre à Lyxor AM de «poursuivre son développement en tant que société de gestion de premier rang dans le domaine de la gestion alternative, les ETF, la gestion structurée et quantitative», souligne le communiqué qui ajoute que Inès de Dinechin, directeur général de Lyxor AM, rejoint le Comité exécutif élargi de SG CIB. Sont aussi nouvellement nommés au comité exécutif Banking Richard Paolantonacci, responsable du département de Gestion des Ressources Rares nouvellement créé, Vincent Mortier, directeur financier et Sylvie Préa, directeur des ressources humaines.Cela dit, la Banque de Financement et d’Investissement reste organisée autour de ses trois principaux métiers : Banque d’investissement, Financements et Activités de Marchés. Au sein de ces trois divisions, SG CIB met en place les évolutions et nominations suivantes, effectives à compter du 2 avril : Au sein de la division Relation Clients et Banque d’Investissement, dirigée par Thierry Aulagnon et son adjointe, Diony Lebot : création de deux nouveaux départements regroupant les activités de Marchés de Capitaux Primaires Actions et de Conseil en Fusions & Acquisitions et dédiés à des segments de clientèle.- Un département Corporate Finance, dirigé par Thierry d’Argent, proposant aux grands clients de la banque une offre intégrée de services allant de l’origination à l’exécution. Luis Vaz Pinto et Olivier Buttier sont nommés adjoints.- Un département Institutions Financières, dirigé par Pierre-Yves Bonnet, qui intègre également une équipe de banquiers couvrant les institutions financières.Au sein de la division Global Finance, dirigée par Pierre Palmieri et ses adjoints, Slawomir Krupa et David Coxon : mise en place d’une organisation tournée vers la distribution et favorisant les synergies.- Création d’une ligne-métier Financements dirigée par Matthew Vickerstaff. Cette ligne-métier regroupe notamment les activités de Financements d’Infrastructures et d’Actifs, de Financements Export et d’Optimisation de Dette.- Création d’une ligne-métier Energie et Ressources Naturelles, codirigée par Federico Turegano et Jonathan Whitehead. La ligne-métier regroupe les activités de Financements des secteurs Energie, Négoce de Matières Premières, Métaux et Mines, et travaillera de manière intégrée avec l’équipe de Marchés de Matières Premières de la division Activités de Marchés.- Création d’une ligne-métier Marchés de Capitaux dirigée par Patrick Ménard et son adjoint Jean-Marc Giraud. Cette ligne-métier comprend les activités de Capital Markets Finance (titrisation, structuration de capital), de Marchés de Capitaux de Dette, de Conseil en Notation, de Financements à Effets de Leviers et Media & Telecom, de Financements Stratégiques d’Acquisition et d’Ingénierie Financière. Au sein de la division Activités de Marchés, dirigée par Dan Fields : Renforcement de l’activité Fixed Income.- Création d’une ligne-métier Fixed Income & Currencies, issue du rapprochement des activités de Fixed Income, de Trésorerie et de dérivés de Taux et de Change, dirigée par Danielle Sindzingre.- En ce qui concerne les activités de matières premières, Jonathan Whitehead est nommé responsable de ces activités au sein de la division Activités de Marchés, avec pour adjoints, François Combes et Jean-François Maurey.

A compter de ce jour, mardi 3 avril 2012, Natixis Asset Management met en place plusieurs modifications relatives aux modalités de fonctionnement de sa sicav Natixis Actions Small & Mid Cap France et du fonds commun de placement (FCP) nourricier Fructi France Small et Mid Cap. Désormais, leur indicateur de référence est modifié. Le CAC Mid & Small 190 calculé hors dividendes est remplacé par l’indice CAC Mid & Small, dividendes net réinvestis (DNR), exprimé en euro.En outre, pour gérer les besoins de trésorerie de la sicav mais aussi pour réduire l’exposition aux risques actions, le gérant pourra désormais utiliser des OPCVM obligataires, ou obligations dans la limite de 10% de l’actif net, aux côtés des OPCVM monétaires et Titres de créances négociables déjà autorisés.Enfin, en raison de l’utilisation d’instruments de gestion obligataires, les rubriques «Risque de crédit» des prospectus des OPCVM précisent que «le risque de crédit du FCP peut représenter jusqu’à 10 % de l’actif net au titre des investissements en obligations convertibles et jusqu’à 15 % au titre des investissements en titres monétaires et obligataires».

Laurent Gorgemans, head of multi-management at Dexia Asset Management in Luxembourg, is leaving the firm where he has spent six years. The reports in Citywire Global have been confirmed to Newsmanagers by a spokesperson for the asset management firm. “Laurent Gorgemans, who has had a fruitful collaboration with us for over 6 years, has chosen to leave Dexia Asset Management for personal reasons,” an official statement says. “The decisions of our multi-management strategists will not be affected by the departure. It remains in line with our principle of having dedicated and specialised teams which are responsible for decisions. The multi-management team, with 12 analyst/managers including 4 senior managers for fund selection and management of traditional funds of funds, continues to report to Fabrice Cuchet, global head of alternative investments,” the statement adds. Gorgemans arrived at Dexia AM in September 2005, according to his LinkedIn profile. He had previously been head of funds of funds at Fortis Investments. The departure from Dexia AM comes a few days after the announcement of the departure of Frédéric Buzaré, who since 2007 had served as global head of equities and then as equity strategist, before joining the Singapore sovereign fund GIC.

Luis Martín, who had belonged to the sales team at J.P. Morgan Asset Management in Spain, has joined BlackRock as director of retail and institutional sales for the Iberian market, Funds People reports.Martín will report to Armando Senra, CEO of BlackRock Iberia and Latin America, and Dominik Rohe, head of retail and institutional in the same regions.BlackRock manages about USD49bn in the Iberian peninsula and Latin America. The group has recently confirmed the appointment of Alex Hoctor-Duncan as head of retail for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, replacing Maarten Slendebroek, who has moved to Jupiter (see Newsmanagers of 2 April).

PricewaterhouseCoopers Advisory has sought to put a figure on the consequences of the UCITS IV directive on the six major Italian (or Italian-registered) groups, which manage a total of EUR231bn at 42 asset management firms affiliated to them, Plus24, the wealth supplement of Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. This represents 1,101 funds, of which 21% are Italian-registered, 54% are Italian but registered abroad, and 25% are foreign. PwC finds two potential outcomes. One is that six group will retain one asset management firm each in Italy or abroad. There would then be an 83% reduction in the number of asset management firms, from 42 to 7. In the second case, the six groups might merge asset management firms in countries of reference and specialist centres (Luxembourg and Ireland). Then, the reduction in the number of asset management firms would be 50%. This development would take place over three years, and PwC predicts that there would be a parallel reduction of 30% in the number of funds, from 1,010 to 731.

The US auto maker general Motors now controls 7% of capital and 5.78% of voting rights in PSA Peugeot Citroën, the French financial market authority (AMF) reported on 2 April. The AMF reports that GM acquired the position via a subscription to 20.4 million shares in a capial increase at Peugeot, and an off-market acquisition on the same date, of nearly 4.4 million shares from the French auto maker. Peugeot announced in late February that it was forming a strategic alliance with GM, which would have called for an entry into its capital of 7% and a capital increase of EUR1bn.

Following a loss of 29% in one day for the Velocity Shares Daily 2x Long VIX Short-Term ETN from Credit Suisse, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has announced that it is investigating the entire ETN segment, the Börsen-Zeitung reports.

Rob Jones, formerly of Threadneedle, who joined Union Bancaire Asset Management (UBAM), an affiliate of UBP, 20 months ago as co-head of European equity, has been appointed by the firm to manage the new UBAM Equity Europe Dividend +, which will pay an annual return of 10% over a sliding 5-year period, using a covered call strategy to reduce volatility and increase revenues, Citywire reports. The fund will have a concentrated portfolio of about 22 positions, on securities selected for the sustainability of their dividends. The objective will be to generate returns of 5% per year for the equity portfolio, while exposure to derivatives is expected to bring in a net gain of about 6%.

Last year, the Chinese asset management sector, affected by a 22% drop on the Shanghai stock exchange, underwent cumulative losses of over RMB500bn, or over USD79bn, Asian Investor reports. 28 asset management firms have posted losses of over RMB10bn, including AMC, with losses of over RMB43.7bn, E Fund (RNB34.7bn), and Harvest (RMB28.7bn). Statistics reveal that 812 mutual funds out of 970 finaished the year with losses, including equity funds (RMB314.7bn) and diversified funds (RMB152.3bn). The largest Chinese mutual fund, Harvest CSI 300 LOF, whose assets under management total slightly over RMB27bn (as of 29 March), has lost RMB7.35bn. Only money market and guaranteed funds posted gains last year, with cumulative gains of RMB5.8bn for the former and of RMB25.6bn for the latter.

Of EUR60bn taken on by the European fund sector in 2011, EUR32bn were paid out to distributors, a significant increase over the previous year, according to a study by Cerulli Associates (2012 European distribution dynamics), cited by Financial Times Fund Management. Cerulli finds that 69.2% of gross commissions paid out for European money market funds were paid back to distributors. The proportion is 58.2% for bond funds, and 54.1% for equity funds.

JP Morgan and Source on 2 April announced the launch of the J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR Source ETF. The fund, denominated in euros, aims to allow qualified investors exposure to volatility in a financially advantageous way. This is the second ETF of the J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge range, which already includes the J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge US TR Source ETF fund, launched in February, whose assets under management now total over USD200m. The J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR Source ETF is listed on the London Stock Exchange, in euros. It is licensed for sale in Austria, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland and Italy (for institutional investors only), Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge indices seek not only to profit from increases in volatility during periods of market tension, but also to generate positive performance when market conditions are less agitated. The J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR adopts long and short positions on the volatility of US equities, depending on market conditions. But in cases of extreme tension on the US market, there is also a way to take 25% exposure to the volatility of European equities. Major characteristics of the product Name of product J.P Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR Source ETF ISIN code IE00B675BN95 Bloomberg code MHDU LN Trading currency of fund EUR / EUR Management fees 0.25% per year* Listed on London Stock Exchange (LSE) Name of index J.P. Morgan Macro Hedge Dual TR Bloomberg ticker for index JPMZMHHT Index UCITS status Yes Domicile Ireland

The Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild group has seen a decline in its net profits of 16.6% in 2011, to CHF125.1m, compared with CHF149.9m one year previously, according to a statement released on 3 April. Net inflows totalled CHF3.2bn, compared with CHF6.5bn in 2010. Due to the negative impact of markets and the weak US dollar and euro compared with the Swiss franc, assets under management nonetheless fell to CHF91.4bn as of the end of 201, compared with CHF92.7bn as of the end of December 2010.

The Valartis group, which last year continued to refocus its activities on wealth management for high net worth private clients and institutional investors, has reported a quadrupling of its net inflows to CHF862m, compared with CHF220m the previous year. Despite negative market and currency effects totalling CHF304m, assets under management have increased to CHF6.8bn as of the end of December 2011, compared with CHF6.3bn one year previously. Due to one-time elements related to the restructuring, the group has now finished the year with total losses of CHF17.2bn, Valartis, which reduced its costs by 7% last year, is planning to continue its efforts to rationalise its organisation in order to sustainably restore its growth model.

Thomas Henauer, director, head of sales financial institutions at Clariden Leu (a private bank which since 2 April has been integrated into the Credit Suisse group), has joined Janus Capital International as director of distribution for Switzerland. The US asset management firm is taking the occasion to open an office in Zurich.Henauer will now report to Thomas Döring, head of sales for German-speaking Europe.

Henderson Global Investors on 2 April announced that it has opened an office dedicated to real estate in Sweden, with the recruitment of Johan Aström as head of real estate, based in Stockholm. The recruitment marks a desire on the part of Henderson Property to develop its activities in Scandinavian countries and to profit from the dynamic created by the recent acquisition of a shopping centre in Sweden. Aström had previously worked as a manager at Nordic Real Estate Partners.

M&G Investments announces that Phil Cliff, who joined M&G in January 2012 from Threadneedle, assumes management of the M&G Pan European Dividend Fund as of Monday.His appointment frees up the incumbent manager Richard Halle, who has been managing both the M&G European Strategic Value Fund and the M&G Pan European Dividend Fund, to concentrate full time on his European value portfolios.The M&G Pan European Dividend has EUR27,07 million assets under management as of 29 February 2012.

For new structured bank notes from BNP Paribas, Morningstar is providing three Ultimate Stock-Pickers indices, the Ultimate Stock-Pickers, Ultimate Stock-Pickers Target Volatility 7 and Ultimate Stock-Pickers Target Volatility 10, for which the French bank has acquired a license.Morningstar in April 2009 began to study quarterly portfolios, purchases and sells by 26 star managers, the “ultimate stock-pickers.” The shares selected are then subjected to independent research by Morningstar in order to determine a conviction score; the shares with the best results are added to the index.The volatility 7 and 10 indices are constructed in the same way, but with an effort to control volatility by transferring from and to positions on cash in order to maintain standard deviations at 7 and 10, respectively. These indices are rebalanced on a monthly basis.

The board of directors at the US pension fund and foundation council CII (Council of Institutional Investors) has elected Anne Simpson as a member of its board. Simpson has worked for the Californian pension fund CalPERS since 2009 as director of corporate governance. She worked to promote corporate governance at the International Corporate Governance Network (ICGN) and the World Bank. She is a visiting professor at Yale.

The CNMV on 30 March issued a license for the BBVA Solidez XVI BP fund, a product which is set to mature on 28 December 2015, and which guarantees a redemption of 110.473% of its net asset value as of 27 April 2012, which represents an annual return of 2.75%.Subscriptions are open until 27 April; returns are lower than for the BBVA Solidez XV, which pays 3%.CharacteristicsName: BBVA Solidex XVI BP, FIISIN code: ES0110017003Minimal subscription: EUR50,000Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 0.85%Penalty for early withdrawal: 1%

According to the most recent statistics from Morningstar, long-term funds domiciled in Europe in February posted net inflows of EUR15bn. Bond funds attracted the largest net subscriptions, with EUR12.54bn, the largest inflows for funds of this type since January 2010. Asset allocation and convertible bond funds also posted significant subscriptions, with EUR1.8bn and EUR68m, respectively. Equity funds have seen net redemptions of EUR189m, while money market funds had outflows of EUR13.36bn. Morningstar says investors are showing some pessimism about the markets, avoiding equity funds specialised on markets perceived as a risk (Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States), while the most popular equity funds are those focused on emerging markets and Asia. As of the end of February, BlackRock leads the rankings of the 10 largest asset management firms in terms of assets under long-term management, with EUR133bn, followed by UBS (EUR132bn) and Franklin Templeton (EUR109bn).

A survey of 354 fund buyers (186 global fund selectors in Europe and South Africa, and 168 wealth managers in the United Kingdom) by Market Intelligence Citywire on behalf of SPDR ETF (State Street Global Advisors) in November 2011 finds that 51.7% of respondents use ETFs to obtain tactical exposure to specific markets, while 21% use them as modular core/satellite allocation blocs, and 16.8% see them as core portfolio instruments. 17% of fund selectors have over 20% of their assets invested in ETFs, while only 16% are not invested in ETFs.

Socially responsible investment remains a niche, and is not yet becoming mainstream, Financial Times Fund Management claims in an article on the subject. “There is a gap between the walk and the talk,” says Raj Thamotheram, president of the Network for Sustainable Financial Markets. One of the telling signs is a lack of sell-side research that integrates environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors. Will Oulton, European head of socially responsible investment at Mercer, says one of the major challenges asset management firms face is getting consistent high quality ESG data on companies or sectors that is useful for investment decisions.

Nearly half of all European Union member states, 13 out of 27, have not yet adopted national legislation to comply with the tax dispositions of the UCITS IV directive, according to an updated version of a study published by KPMG in 2010 entitled “UCITS IV – Fill the glass to the brim: Have we broken through?” Hedge Week reports. Among the countries which would have been required to transpose the directive by 1 July 2011 are Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, and Portugal.

The Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA), the global hedge fund trade association, in 2 April expressed concern about the European Commission’s new draft text for the implementation of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD) (see Newsmanagers of 30 March). In response to the recommendations by the European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA), the Commission has developed a text in the form of a regulation, which may be applied more quickly than a directive. The Commission has given member states and the Parliament two weeks to react to the new bill. According to the director general of the AIMA, Andrew Baker, the Commission’s bill appears to “to significantly and substantially diverge” from ESMA’s proposals on a number of key points, such as the responsibility of the depository, outsourcing, and outside countries. “We fully respect the Commission’s right not to follow ESMA advice when producing secondary legislation. However, there should be more transparency and better consultation if the Commission has decided to depart from the advice in such crucial areas for the global asset management industry.” The professional association invites the Commission to state its point of view on the terms concerning outside countries, where it does not appear to follow ESMA’s recommendations. According to the Commission, European and non-European regulators should sign legally binding bilateral cooperation agreements. This would be very problematic or impossible to put into practice if regulations stipulate that cooperation agreements require that regulators in outside countries apply European legislation in their respective territories.

Activity has been lively in March, but for first quarter as a whole, initial public offerings have raised only USD16.2bn, the lowest amount observed since 2009, according to statistics from Bloomberg. In fourth quarter 2011, IPOs represnted a total of USD28.8bn, and in first quarter 2011, total IPOs measured USD48.4bn. Renaissance Capital observes that expected IPOs in the United States are close to their highest level in over 10 years. However, in recent weeks, some interest in activity in the United States, Asia and Europe has returned. In the United States, nine companies raised USD1.4bn in the week to 30 March.

The board of directors at DekaBank (central asset management firm for the German savings banks) on 2 April appointed Georg Stocker as a board member. He will be responsible for distribution to savings banks and treasuries, and succeeds Hans-Jürgen Gutenberger, who is retiring. From 2004, Stocker had been a member of the board at the Frankfurter Sparkasse, and became its vice president in 2009.

On 2 April, BNP Paribas Germany announced that Stefan Hartl, head of external distribution at BNP Paribas Investment Partners in Germany, has been promoted to the position of managing director of the wealth management-key clients unit at BNP Paribas.Hartl, who had previously worked at Schroders, where he had been responsible for German institutional clients, replaces Pascal Gundrich, who is now in charge of assisting wealth management key accounts at BNP Paribas in Luxembourg.