The board of directors at the Piguet Galland bank (BCV group) appointed Daniel Varela as a member of the board of directors on 1 January 2012, Agefi Switzerland reports.Varela, who has experience in investment strategy and institutional management, will oversee the ongoing development of these activities, according to the bank’s new strategy.Varela joined Banque Piguet & Cie in Geneva in 1999, as sub-director, in charge of analysis for bond markets, bond management, and institutional management. Varela has been a director since April 2011, and is chief investment officer (CIO) at Piguet Galland.

Peter Elston, who for four years has been head of investment strategy in Asia, based in Singapore, for Aberdeen, has been promoted by the Scottish asset management firm to head of Asia-Pacific strategy & asset allocation, a newly-created position. He will continue to be based in Singapore, and will report to Hugh Young, head of Asian activities in Singapore, and Mike Turner, head of global strategy & asset allocation, who is based in Edinburgh.Aberdeen states that Elston will work in close collaboration with Asian equity and bond teams at Aberdeen, who will continue to manage the underlying asset classes used for existing multi-asset class mandates.

On 20 January, Lombard Odier is planning to launch two funds whose management will be outsourced to US firms that are not available in Europe. Citywire reports that one of these new products will be the LO Funds – Sands US Growth, which will be managed by Frank Sands Jr, Thomas Ricketts and Perry Williams at Sands Capital Management (USD19bn), based in Arlington, Virginia.Lombard Odier will also be replacing Baron with Neuberger for the management of the LO NB US Core Equity Fund, which will be managed by Arthur Moretti.

In December, emerging market strategies offered by hedge funds showed a loss of 1.30%, according to hedge fund indices calculated by the Edhec-Risk Institute. For the year, these strategies are down 10.8%. Long/short equity has lost 0.57% for the month, and 6% over twelve months.However, fixed income arbitrage strategies have earned gains of 0.42% in December, and 3.9% for the year as a whole. Short-selling is up 0.20% for the month, and 6.5% for the year. CTA Global strategies are up 0.29% in December, but show losses of 3.5% for the year.Funds of funds, which lost 0.53$% in December, have finished the year with negative returns of 5.9%.

Following an agreement signed on 4 November between the Malaysian securities commission and the Irish central bank, the Malaysian business CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management has for the first time launched an international fund platform in Dublin which complies with Sharia law, Investment Europe reports.Three UCITS-compliant equity funds will be offered by CIMB-Principal Islamic Asset Management (Ireland) Public Limited: Islamic Global Emerging Markets Fund, Islamic Asia-Pacific ex-Japan Fund, and Islamic ASEAN Equity Fund. They will eventually be offered in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Singapore.

Four new Luxembourg-registered ETF funds from Lyxor have been admitted to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra platform, using sub-indices of the S&P GSCI as their underlyings. The products include one fund based on a soft commodities index and one for industrial metals, each of which comes in a 3-month and an inverse 1-month version. The reverse funds charge fees of 0.40%, while long funds charge 035%.Overall, the XTF segment now lists 912 ETF funds.

The Paris office of M&G Investments on 18 January announced that it is adding to its range of funds dedicated to IFAs, with the creation of a retail share class of the M&G Global Dividend fund. “With the M&G Global Dividend fund, we are adding to our range of funds open to IFAs with a highly promising theme: dividends on equities. IFAs are a priority client segment in our development plan. We would like to be the leading foreign asset management firm serving these clients in France in the mid-term,” says Brice Anger, director of development at M&G France.The M&G Global Dividend fund, launched in July 2008, has earned 9% since its launch, and has assets under management of EUR2.09bn. Its strategy targets global companies aiming for long-term growth, but particularly targets companies with solid growth in dividends, rather than a mere search for returns.

Five managers from Pioneer Investments Deutschland have now teamed up in Munich as a single multi-asset class tam, led by Peter Königbauer, in charge of all commodity strategies, who joined the group in 2005.He will be assisted by Francesco Sandrini (multi-asset classes and real value), who began at the firm in 1998, Alfred Grusch (precious metals equities and commodities), who joined in 1990, and Johannes Sienkneckt (multi-asset), who has worked at Pioneer since 2006, and Andreas Marcinkowski (quantitative strategies and commodities), recruited in 1997.However, Markus Steinbeis has decided to leave the business, and will be replaced as manager of the Pioneer Substanzwerte fund ( DE0009792002) by Sandrini.

Ralf Bartl has been recruited by Natixis Global Asset Management (NGAM) as director of development for distribution activities in Germany, largely serving family offices, wealth managers, fund of fund managers and private banks, Investment Europe reports.Bartl had previously been head of distribution for equity, bond and real estate funds in Germany and Austria at SEB Asset Management.He will report to Joerg Knaf, managing director Northern Europe.

The financial services provider MLP has asked a Frankfurt court to dismiss a claim by some former shareholders in Feri AG, who are seeking an EUR51.1m increase in the price of the 43.4% stake in its capital sold to MLP in April 2011 for EUR50.6m.Negotiations over a variable portion of the price, in addition to the amount paid at the time, were unsuccessful at the time, but the agreement was accepted by a large majority of the former shareholders, including the current management of the firm.MLP acquired its first 56.6% stake in Feri in autumn 2006.

The Colombian asset management firm Bolsa y Renta (ByR) will be offering its management of Colombian equities in Europe in UCITS format, Citywire reports. The Colombia Equity fund, advised by Casa-Funds in Luxembourg, will replicate the strategy deployed locally since February 2007. The fund will be managed by Alejandro Correa, who joined ByR at the beginning of last year.

Manuel San Salvador, director of the new Madrid office of Lazard Frères Gestion in Madrid (see Newsmanagers of 11 January), has recruited Borja Fernández-Galiano, head of sales for Oyster funds in Spain and Portugal since the end of 2008 at Nmas1 Syz, and Francisco Quintano, who a few months ago left BNP Paribas, where he had been head of equities for private banking, a position in which he will be serving at Lazard, Funds People reports.

UK-based Man group reports outflows for the third quarter of its 2011-2012 fiscal year of USD2.5bn. Subscriptions in the quarter totalled USD3.1bn, but redemptions totalled USD5.6bn. However, there has been a slowdown in redemptions, which totalled USD7.3bn in the quarter to 30 September.As of the end of December, assets under management in the hedge funds totalled USD47.7bn, compared with USD55.1bn as of 31 March 2011. Long-only strategies totalled USD10.7bn, compared with USD14bn as of the end of March. Hedge funds have posted net inflows in the period of USD300m (USD13.9bn in subscriptions, compared with USD13.6bn in redemptions), while long-only funds have seen net outflows of USD1.8bn (USD2.8bn in subscriptions and USD4.6bn in redemptions).As of 31 December 2011, assets under management totalled USD58.4bn, compared with USD64.5bn as of 30 September 2011, and USD69.1bn as of the end of March 2011. In other words, in the first nine months of the fiscal year, assets at the group fell by more than USD10bn. Pre-tax profits for the first nine months of the fiscal year totalled USD257m, compared with USD599m for the fiscal year ending on 31 March 2011.

Despite falling markets in 2011, La Française AM has maintained its asset levels, and posted positive inflows. As of the end of December, assets under management totalled EUR34.7bn, compared with EUR34.8bn one year previously.Net inflows have not exceeded EUR1bn, as they did in 2010, but they did come to about EUR450m, excluding money market and insurance mandates at the group, Nicolas Duban, head of development at La Française AM, has told a meeting of investors.

As of 31 December, assets under management at Goldman Sachs totalled USD828bn, USD7bn more than as of 30 September, and USD12bn (or 1%) less than one year previously. The decline compared with a total of USD840bn at the end of 2010 is the result of new outflows of USD17bn from equity and bond funds, partially offset by USD5bn in positive market effects and net subscriptions to money market funds.Net revenues from investment management last year totalled USD5.034bn, compared with USD5.014bn in 2010. This stability is the result of an increase in commission revenues, due to a positive evolution in the product mix offset by falling incentive fees. Net profits for the group as a whole totalled USD2.51bn, compared with USD7.71bn the previous year.

As of the end of December, assets under management by BNY Mellon Corporation, excluding securities lending, represented USD1.26trn, 8% less than one year previously. Compared with 30 September, that corresponds to an increase of 5%, due to rising equity markets and net subscriptions.Profits from consolidated activities in the area of investment management funds for the year 2011 were down to USD150m, from USD167m.Revenues from management and performance commissions contracted by 9%, to USD730m, due to an increase in waivers for money market funds, a decline in earnings from performance commissions, and falling international share prices, which were only partly offset by net subscriptions.BNY Mellon also states that its assets under management and administration increased last year by 3%, to USD25.80bn as of the end of December.Overall, BNY Mellon has earned net profits for 2011 of USD2.516bn, compared with USD2.518bn in 2010.

Qannas Investments Ltd is planning to seek admission of its shares to the AIM market in London. The proceeds of the IPO, which is aimed primarily at institutional investors, will be used as a feeder for a new fund managed by Abu Dhabi Capital Management, but issued by a new firm based in Jersey, Hedge Week reports.The objective is to generate an internal rate of return of at least 20%, by investing for 3 to 5 years in a portfolio of undervalued equities and debt primarily from countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Assets in the new fund are not to exceed USD200m.

The alternative investment firm Altin SA in fourth quarter 2011 reduced its leverage from 116.7% to 115%, according to a statement published on 18 January. Tensions in the peripheries of the euro zone, and speculation over the political response to these issues, have been a determining factor in the performance of the markets in the period, Altin reports.In the context of continuing tightening of financing conditions related to increasing concern about the health of the financial system, investors’ aversion to risk has continued to increase, the firm says.

On Wednesday, the FBI made four arrests in the morning and filed charges against three people in an insider trading case which is alleged to have earned illegal profits of USD61.8m for a network, including gains of more than USD50m on shares in Dell, the Wall Street Journal reports.In addition to Anthony Chiasson (Level Global Investors), Jon Horvath (Sigma Capital) and Todd Newman (Diamondback Capital Management), authorities have arrested Sanny Kuo (Whittier Trust).The FBI has not taken into custody Spyridon “Sam” adondakis (Level Global), Jesse Tortora (Diamondback) or Sandeep “Sandy” Goyal (Neuberger Berman Group), the analysts who have pleaded guilty and cooperate with investigators.

The FBI has arrested four hedge fund directors suspected of insider trading, Handelsblatt reports. They are Anthony Chiasson, co-founder of Level Global Investors, who voluntarily turned himself in to authorities, Todd Newman (Diamond Capital Management), and Jon Horvath (Sigma Capital). The name of the fourth manager has not yet been disclosed.

On average, the 1,312 retail pension funds in Spain (EUR51bn in assets) posted losses of 1.17% in 2011, largely as the result of negative performance of products investing in equities (which lost 10.40%), and products investing primarily in equities (-7.01%).The Inverco association of asset management firms states that funds investing in long and short-term bonds, meanwhile, posted returns of 1.39% and 1.38%, respectively.Over five years, pension funds have lost an average of 0.75%, largely due to funds investing in equities, which lost 6.07% per year. Over 10 years, average returns come to 0.78% per year.

A l’occasion d’un appel d’offres mené en 2011 par Amadeis, la Caisse d’Allocation Vieillesse des Agents Généraux (CAVAMAC) a renouvelé la gestion de deux fonds dédiés diversifiés. Edmond de Rothschild et Groupama AM ont été sélectionné pour gérer chacun un portefeuille de 25 millions d’euros, avec pour objectif de battre l’Eonia + 4% sur une période de 3 à 5 ans, avec un draw-down maximum de 10% et une volatilité ne pouvant dépasser les 20%.

Conscients des forts changements à prévoir dans sa stratégie d’investissement au regard de Bâle III, la caisse régionale du Crédit Agricole de Champagne Bourgogne a, sans surprise, terminé l’année avec un rendement avoisinant les 2,5 %. Pour 2012, elle reste en attente de directives explicites pour déterminer l’allocation de ses 350 millions d’euros d’actifs. Une source proche de la direction financière nous apprend qu’une augmentation d’encours d’environ 60 millions d’euros est à prévoir, provenant des résultats de la caisse en 2011. Il est prévu de placer ce montant en OPCVM, pour moitié sur du court terme, pour se constituer des réserves de liquidité et l’autre moitié sur du long terme. Le portefeuille est composé uniquement d’obligations notées AAA et d’actifs français. Il se scinde en deux parties égales : « nous possédons 50 % de nos actifs en obligataire, le reste en OPCVM monétaire ». Les titres étatiques restent intéressants pour la CRCA Champagne Bourgogne lorsqu’ils sont conservés jusqu'à échéance, soit 10 ou 11 ans ici. En ce qui concerne les OPCVM, investis en partie sur les marchés émergents (tracker MSCI Emerging Market), la caisse régionale reste en position d’attente. Le soutien de la maison-mère impacte partiellement la gestion du portefeuille du Crédit Agricole de Champagne Bourgogne. Les mécanismes de contre-garantie et de prêts subordonnés qui sont mis en place monopolisent une partie des obligations qui aurait pu être investie sur d’autres actifs. Par exemple du corporate, de façon satellite. La caisse pourrait même envisager une petite part d’actions : « Nous nous intéressons aux actifs notés double A, éligible BCE, dont la volatilité est faible. » En revanche, dans l’expectative de Bâle III, la caisse s’est totalement détournée des obligations financières. La gestion des encours est très conservatrice, indicielle. La caisse régionale travaille avec Amundi en priorité, mais n’exclue pas d’avoir recours à des partenaires externes lorsque ces derniers justifient d’une véritable valeur ajoutée ou d’une compétence non présente au sein du groupe, comme par exemple avec Dexia AM par le passé.

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