The Portuguese firm Espírito Santo Activos Financieros (ESAF) has obtained a license from the Spanish CNMV for its Luxembourg-registered Sicav of ETF funds (which complies with UCITS IV regulations), which currently has only one sub-fund, the ESAF NYSE Euronext Iberian ETF, Funds People reports. The entirely physical replication ETF, which uses no swaps and practices no securities lending, has a TER of 0.45%.
Based on statistics from EFAMA as of the end of 2010, the Spanish Inverco association of asset management firms, total expense ratios (TER) for Spanish funds (1.07%) are on average 30% lower than the European average (1.53%). Viewed from the other perspective, this means that European funds are on average 43% more expensive than Spanish funds. This does not apply to all asset classes, as the TER for Spanish equity funds (199 basis points) compares with a European average of 175bps; for diversified funds, the Spanish average is 145bps, compared with a European average of 142bps. On average, the management commission for Spanish funds is 96bps, compared with 127bps for Europe, while other fees come to 11bps, compared with 26bps. Inverco says that the proportion of TER retained by Spanish asset management firms averaged 31% (33bps), compared with 42% (64bps) on average for Europe, but that the amount paid out as soft commissions is higher, at 59% (63bps) compared with 41% (62bps).
For its institutional fund Warburg-Henderson European Core Property Fund No. 1, the German asset management firm Warburg-Henderson has invested EUR27m in the acquisition of the Haagsche Hof office building (10,500 square metres) in the Hague. The portfolio now includes 11 properties in seven European countries.
The Hamburg-based independent asset management firm Aquila Capital (which owns the Luxemburg-based Alceda Fund Management) has announced that it has recruited Pascale-Céline Cadix as director of retail sales in Frankfurt. She will be in charge of developing the client base of direct banks, wealth managers and private banks in Germany. Cadix had previously been head of distribution for Threadneedle in Frankfurt.Meanwhile, the Zurich-absed affiliate AQ Advisors has recruited a new director of sales, Mauro Gerli, who had most recently been at Credit Suisse Private Banking, after serving at several alternative management firms.
Allianz on Thursday announced net profits for 2011 down 46.2% to EUR2.804bn. In the same period, the asset management unit has generated net profits up 38.7% compared with 2010, to EUR1.312bn, which corresponds to 46.8% of total profits for the group.Total assets as of the end of December were up 9.2% to EUR1.657trn, of which EUR1.281trn (+10%) are managed for third parties. Net subscriptions to Allianz Global Investors from third parties fell to EUR39.3bn from EUR112.7bn in 2010, and EUR82.8bn in 2009, while 2008 saw net outflows of EUR0.3bn. Net inflows to bond products and third-party products totalled EUR44.8bn, compared with EUR113.7bn the previous year. However, equity products saw net outflows of EUR5.1bn, compared with EUR0.4bn in 2010.Operating profits for the asset management unit increased 9.5% to EUR2.3bn, and 14% if currency effects are set aside. In addition, the cost/income ratio remained stable, at 59%, compared with 58.7% the previous year, well below the 65% limit set for it (it had been 62% in 2009).Net revenues from commissions increased 11% to EUR5.47bn, despite currency effects of EUR215m; they increased 15.3%, excluding currency effects. Performance commissions, in this environment, fell to EUR455m from EUR514m.
In January, hedge funds worldwide have seen an increase in their assets of USD15bn, to USD1.72trn, according to the most recent statistics from Eurekahedge. This comes due to subscriptions of USD3.7bn, and performance effects of USD11.4bn.
The ETF specialist Deborah Fuhr will soon announce the formation, together with her team, of ETF Global Insight, an independent research and consulting firm aimed at providing services to the global Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) industry.The founding partners, Fuhr, Shane Kelly and Matthew Murray, are all ETF specialists who helped to develop the sector with their research and instruction manuals. In addition to Fuhr, who was head of ETF research at BlackRock, the team includes Kelly, who was vice president at Merrill Lynch and also former vice president and investment strategist at BlackRock/BGI, and Murray, who worked alongside Fuhr at BlackRock as an analyst.Fuhr, who has been covering the ETF sector since 1997, when the sector had 21 products with USD21bn in assets under management, says “I believe that ETFs have been one of the most successful financial products of the past 25 years, bringing investors liquidity, diversification and low-cost access to a wide range of asset classes around the world.”In this context of strong growth, “regulators, investors, ETF managers, brokers, index providers and all of the members of the ETF eco-system have been citing the need for more and better independent education, research and customised assistance to investors seeking to navigate the vast array of products. ETF Global Insight has been set up to provide this service across the globe,” Fuhr continues.
The British broker Barclays Stockbrokers has teamed up with the US firm Fidelity FundsNetwork to launch an improved version of its platform, Investment Week reports. By the terms of the exclusive agreement between the two partners, FundsNetwork will provide transaction, settlement and custody services to institutional investors.
In the six months to the end of December, Ashmore, an asset management firm specialised in emerging markets, has seen a decline in its assets of USD5.4bn to USD60.4bn, according to half-yearly results published on Thursday. This comes despite net inflows of USD0.7bn. Pre-tax profits totalled GBP129.8m, up 2% compared with the corresponding period of last year. Net revenues increased 4% to GBP181m.
Assets under management by the asset management unit of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), primarily at Coutts, as of the end of December totalled GBP30.9bn, compared with GBP29.9bn as of 30 September 2011. Assets under management have fallen 9% compared with the end of December 2010, however. Redemptions contributed 3% to asset increases, while the remainder was due to market conditions. Operating profits nonetheless rose 6% compared with 2010, to GBP321bn.
The British firm Barclays Wealth has opened an advising office in Monaco, Investment Europe reports. The office will be directed by Simon Morris, who has been working at Barclays Wealth Advisory for seven years.
Suspected fraud by a former manager at Threadneedle Asset Management totalling USD150m was related to an order for more than a billion Argentine warrants, issued by Otkritie, a Russian financial services group, some of whose employees are facing charges, the Financial Times reports. The name of the Threadneedle trader is Vladimir Gersamia, the newspaper reports. He had worked as an emerging markets bond fund manager.
Gibraltar has launched a campaign to win over hedge fund managers with a loosening of fund administration regulations, Hedge Funds Review reports. In other words, hedge funds will no longer be required to use exclusively local fund administrators, the minister for financial services, Gilbert Licudi, a member of the new Labour government for the territory which has been in place since December last year, says. The new regulations, which will be passed in the next few days, include a reference list which may be added to according to demand.
The SEC and the attorney general of Massachusetts have been investigating since at least last autumn a private equity fund owned by Oppenheimer Holdings, and have been issuing several subpoenas, including one to Oppenheimer Asset Management, the Wall Street Journal reports. It appears that the Oppenheimer Global Resource Private Equity Fund LP (USD140m), which has been spun out since 1 January 2012 under the hame of Roc Resources LLC, in autumn 2009 valued an investment by the Cartesian A fund in the Romanian firm Fondul at 33 cents per share, when the shares were actually trading at 7 cents.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it has charged two Chinese corporate directors of misleading US investors by telling them that they were investing in a Chinese mining company, when in reality they were investing in an empty shell company in New York. The two directors are said to have taken more than USD100m.
A study of the identity of and changes to the management at businesses of the SBF 120 index between 1998 and the end of 2010 has found several consistent trends, including a trend in the number of women represented, as well as several changes. There has been a decline in the number of directorship positions held by directors outside their own firms, according to the study, published by the AMF in its Lettre Economique et Financière for winder 2011. In 2010, 43.71% of directors had positions as a director at other publicly-traded firms, in France or abroad, compared with 50.91% in 2000. The average number of positions held by these directors was 1.77 in 2010, compared with 2.27 in 2000. Another development identified by the study is that there has been a rise in the frequency of changes in management since 2005. In addition, the number of disciplinary dismissals was higher than the number of non-disciplinary dismissals in 2004 and 2005, and in 2008, 2009 and 2010. Over the full period under study, there have been 210 changes of directors at 131 firms. Between 1998 and 2010, 60.65% of businesses had at least one change in management. Eight businesses (3.70%) have had four changes in management, and five CEOs, while 39.35% of businesses have retained the same director over the period under study.
Since the CNMV lifted its ban on short-selling financial sector shares on 16 February, all share prices in the sector have fallen, a sign that hedge funds have returned to the market, Cinco Días reports. There may be other causes, such as the Greek crisis and the overvaluation of Spanish banks in the current economic environment, but the fact is that, for example, Sabadell has lost 11%, Banco Popular 10%, and CaixaBank 8%.
The AFG has announced that its Commission is creating a think tank to observe and analyse the practices in place for publicity documents from asset management firms. The group will consider advertising for all types of vehicles and videos about products and investment solutions as well as corporate advertising.
The APFI (association of professional fund investors), a Swiss non-profit association, will hold its first general assembly on 10 May 2012 in Montreux. It will aim to promote the interests of fund investment professionals and to make the voices of its members heard on major issues in the asset management sector, as consideration of the opinions of investors are a determining factor for sustainable growth in the sector.According to the association’s website, the APFI says that its members share several common principles. Among these are the principle that “funds are bought, not sold.” Also, the association claims that hot concepts may lead to investment bubbles, and that professionals need to identify funds and managers with “sustainable” characteristics. They also claim that a competitive environment is essential for funds, which implies the existence of open architecture.The AFPI was founded by Mussie Kidane, head of fund selection at Pictet, Carlos Fernandez (Inversis), Luca de Biasi (BSI) and Roland Meerdter (Propinquity Advisors).
Le présent marché a pour objet la désignation de prestataires ayant qualité d'établissements de crédit ou de sociétés spécialisées dans la gestion de sociétés de capital-investissement, de fonds de financement ou de portefeuilles de participation, pour la gestion administrative et financière du fonds de financement CCI Prévention d’un montant global de 4 000 000,00 EUR (quatre millions d’euros). Lot nº: 1 Intitulé: Marché pour la gestion du fonds de financement CCI Prévention : 2 millions d’euros Lot nº: 2 Intitulé: Marché pour la gestion du fonds de financement CCI Prévention : 2 millions d’euros Pour lire l’avis complet: cliquez ici Mise à jour : La CCI de Lille a indiqué qu’elle sélectionnerait soit avec un prestataire unique, soit avec des prestataires groupés solidaires ayant un mandataire commun.
Olivier Hereil, directeur des investissements et des gestions d’actifs de BNP Paribas Cardif dans un article paru dans Option Finance numéro 1161: Sur l’immobilier, nous avons un patrimoine assez diversifié (50% de bureaux, 27% de centres commerciaux, 16% de logements et 7% de divers, dont hôtellerie). Nous avons une compétence historique sur les centres commerciaux. Aujourd’hui, compte tenu de la conjoncture économique, nous souhaitons renforcer les actifs à forte visibilité de rendements, comme les logements. Les rendements locatifs ne sont pas très élevés mais très récurrents. Pour le moment, nous avons peu d’immobilier à l’international, mais nous commençons à investir à Taïwan. D’autre part, nous avons engagé depuis 2007 une démarche volontariste dans l’univers de l’ISR. Des critères extra financiers sont intégrés dans notre processus d’investissement. Nous le faisons sur tous nos actifs, que ce soit sur les obligations, les actions ou l’immobilier. Pour rappel, l’allocation d’actifs de BNP Paribas Cardif est la suivante: 79.9% d’obligations, 11.7% d’actions, 6.2% d’immobilier et 2.2% de divers (cash, gestion alternative. Les encours totaux s'élèvent à 150 milliards d’euros.
Face à Bruxelles et au FMI, l’Allemagne juge toujours inutile le cumul des moyens du Fonds européen de stabilité financière et du Mécanisme de stabilité
La SEC et le procureur général du Massachusetts enquêtent selon le quotidien sur une irrégularité de valorisation du fonds Oppenheimer Global Resource Private Equity. Fin 2009, le gestionnaire aurait consciemment surestimé une ligne du portefeuille, faisant passer le taux de rendement interne de ce dernier d’une perte de 6,3% à un gain de 38%. Une enquête interne aurait été ouverte chez Oppenheimer l’an passé.
Le quotidien met en lumière une enquête du régulateur portant sur la disparition de la majeure partie des 200 milliards de yens (1,9 milliard d’euros) d’actifs gérés par AIJ Investment Advisors. La FSA (Financial Services Agency) s’apprête à émettre un avis de suspension d’activité. Le gestionnaire a surtout comme clients des petites et moyennes sociétés.
Les prévisions de la Commission pour 2012 sont en net recul par rapport à celles formulées à l'automne 2011. Elle prévoit une récession de 0,3% dans la zone euro
L’ancienne responsable de la recherche sur les ETF chez BlackRock vient de créer une société indépendante, ETF Global Insight, qui publiera de la recherche sur ce marché et proposera des prestations de conseil aux investisseurs. Jusqu’alors, BlackRock,qui détient leleader du marché iShares, était le seul fournisseur de données sur ce secteur en fort développement.Deborah Fuhr est accompagnée de deux anciens membres de son équipe chez BlackRock, Shane Kelly et Matthew Murray.