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05/01/2012

Sarasin recruits in Asia

The Swiss bank Sarasin has made three internal promotions with the objective of strengthening its position on the Chinese and South-East Asian markets. Febby Avianto has been appointed to the newly-created position of vice-president in charge of advising South-East Asian clients (largely in Indonesia and Malaysia), Asian Investor reports. Avianto, recruited two years ago from UBS, had been nead for Indonesia. Karen Leung, who has been at Sarasin since 2007, has been appointed as vice-president in charge of advising for Northern Asian clients. Lastly, Polly Lam has been appointed as managing director in charge of China, a newly-created position. Sarasin is also planning to open a representative office in Shanghai this year.
05/01/2012

Spanish asset management industry gradually transforming

Amidst the problems in the Spanish banking industry and the mergers they are provoking, asset management firms controlled by banking firms are also being obliged to merge. On the basis of the operations reported by Funds People since 28 December, the pace of these mergers appears to be picking up. Liberbank Gestión, heir to Cajastur Gestión merged with Caja Cantabria, and has now EUR874m in assets (as of the end of November), of which only EUR84m are from Caja Cantabria.Meanwhile, Caja España Fondos (EUR1.57bn) has already absorbed the 21 funds from Gesduero (EUR547m), but it will soon merge again, and will represent only 30% of the new ensemble it will form with Unicaja Gestión.For their part, the Basque savings banks on 1 January merged as Kuxtabank. The asset management unit of the new entity has EUR5.16bn in assets in 122 funds, of which EUR2.49bn come from BBK Gestión, EUR1.18bn from Kutxagest, EUR820m from Vitalgestión and EUR672m from GIIC Fineco.
05/01/2012

CAC 40 dividends hold up in crisis

The major businesses of the CAC 40 index are expected to pay as much as EUR37bn in dividends in 2012, for the 2011 fiscal year, according to analysts’ predictions, Les Echos reports. A majority of businesses will increase or maintain their dividend levels, in order to avoid sending negative signals to the markets. While a degradation in conjuncture occurred at the end of the year, 2011 profits are expected to hold up overall. Last year was also marked by share purchases on the SBF120 more than doubling as prices plummeted.
05/01/2012

Caceis controls in France comply with new standards

The consultancy Deloitte in November 2011 issued an unreserved approval of reports on controls of fund administration services and depository banking custody at Caceis in France, under SSAE 16 and ISAE 3402 type II standards, Caceis has announced in a statement. In December 2009, the International Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (IAASB) published a new standard, ISAE 3402, covering internal control of service companies. As a result, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA) modified its SAS 70 standard to create the SSAE 16 standard. The two new standards have been applicable since 15 June 2011. Since the standards came into force, Caceis has adopted them for its efforts top bring its permanent controls into compliance. In Luxembourg and Germany, where Caceis services are also in compliance with SAS 70 type II standards, the next audits will apply the new standards. The reports are expected in January and July 2012, respectively.
05/01/2012

Nuveen completes acquisition of 60% stake in Greshman IM

Nuveen Investments, a global provider of investment services to institutions as well as individual investors, in November announced the completion of its acquisition of a 60% stake in New York-based Gresham Investment Management. The transaction, which was previously announced in November of 2011, was completed on December 31, 2011.
05/01/2012

Fed will not increase prime rate before 2014, survey predicts

The US Federal Reserve (Fed) will maintain its prime rate at near zero until 2014, a survey of specialists in government bonds published on 4 January predicts. According to the survey, undertaken by the Fed itself between 2 and 5 December, 60% of the establishments it relies on to deploy its monetary policy estimate that the next increase in interest rates in the United States will take place after 31 December 2013; 15% of respondents predict it will come in first quarter 2014, while 45% say it will come after 31 March that year. This result is drawn from a document summarizing the results of a questionnaire that the Fed sends before each meeting ot its monetary policy committee (last held on 13 December) to 21 banks and brokerage firms which it grants the status of Tresury bond specialist. This is the first time that the Fed has published the results of the survey, following a decision announced in early December, and realising a declared ambition to “increase transparency” in its actions.
05/01/2012

Direxion recruits a former DWS director

Direxion, a US firm specialised in alternative investment solutions, has hired Angelo Pirri as regional director for the Northwestern United States. Pirri will be responsible for sales of Direxion products to independent financial advisers. Pirri joins Direxion from Deutsche Bank DWS US, where he had been senior regional vice president.
05/01/2012

CBRE Clarion launches a long/short fund focused on real estate

On 3 January, CBRE Clarion Securities announced the launch of the CBRE Clarion Long/Short Fund, which will be managed by T. Ritson Ferguson, Steven D. Burton and Joseph P. Smith, who have managed long/short funds for the past 11 years, and long-only funds for 20 years.The product, whose portfolio will invest in shares in companies in the real estate sector, is aimed at investors seeking to improve the risk/return profile of their portfolios via increased diversification and controlled volatility. The objective is to generate attractive returns regardless of the direction of the markets.Initially, the fund will be available in two share classes: CLSWX for retail investors, and CLSIX for institutional investors.CBRE Clarion, which has USD19bn in assets under management, is an affiliate of CBRE Group.
05/01/2012

Groupama reprofiles and renames Alpha Euro Stock fund

Groupama Asset Management has announced to shareholders in the FCP fund Groupama Alpha Euro Stock that from 5 January 2012, the fund will become known as Groupama Statique 2. The change in strategy, due to disappointing returns, was approved on 28 December 2011 by the AMF. The FCP fund will now be permitted to invest all of its assets in mutual funds, up from 10% previously, and will no longer hold convertible bonds. Long/short strategies will no longer be applicable, and the fund will instead use “an investment strategy resulting from a double top-down and bottom-up approach.” “As the level of returns attained recently does not meet up to our fund development objectives, we have taken the decision to reposition our investment strategy and to replace the active management style based on the search for absolute returns previously adopted with a discretionary management style based on the evolution of various markets (equities, bonds). The impact of the decision is a total change in the investment strategy,” the management firm says.
05/01/2012

Hong Kong affiliate of HFT preparing a Chinese yuan fund

On 21 December, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued HFT HK, the Kong Kong-based affiliate of HFT Investment Management (formerly Fortis Haitong) with an RQFII (RMB Qualified Foreign Institutional Investor) license. Following the rules laid out by the CSRC, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) on 16 December, funds denominated in yuan raised in Hong Kong will be required to invest at least 80% of their assets in bond vehicles, and cannot allocate more than 20% to equities.HFT IM is a joint venture controlled 51% by Haitong Securities Co and 49% by BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP). HFT HK, which was founded on 25 November 2010, is now planning to apply to SAFE for a quota corresponding to its RQFII license.
05/01/2012

China encourages short-selling

China will from this quarter create a new entity known as the Centralised Securities Lending Exchange, to facilitate short-selling activities, the Financial Times reports. The market regulator, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, will be the major shareholder in the structure. The initiative should encourage the development of the hedge fund industry in China.
05/01/2012

Layoffs at iShares

BlackRock is planning to lay off about 15 people from iShares in Europe, in response to difficult economic conditions, Citywire Wealth Manager reports. In the United States, BlackRock is also cutting back, with 59 layoffs in San Francisco, where iShares is headquartered, at the end of January, Bloomberg reports.
05/01/2012
Gestion d'actifs

L'Agirc Arrco ne croit pas vraiment aux vertus de la gestion flexible

« On peut déléguer l’intégralité de l’allocation tactique » a affirmé Philippe Goubeault, directeur financier de l’Agirc Arrco, à l’occasion du Pension Fund Forum organisé à Paris le 13 décembre 2011. Pour ce qui est de l’allocation stratégique, Philippe Goubeault reste plus circonspect. En effet, il en va de « l’entière responsabilité des régimes de gérer leur allocation stratégique » pour laquelle « déléguer la totalité des encours à un, deux ou trois gérants » constitue une prise de risque importante. Toutefois, à l’instar des fonds de l’Agirc Arrco dont la gestion est déléguée « à 95% sous différentes formes, toute l’allocation tactique peut être gérée par un tiers ». Pour exemple, « le recours à un OPCVM ouvert est déjà une forme de délégation », selon le directeur financier et dans le cadre de ces délégations, la gestion flexible peut tout à fait s’appliquer. Cependant, Philippe Goubeault reste prudent : « il est impossible de dire que la gestion flexible est la solution à nos problèmes » au regard de ses performances qui manquent de clarté. Déjà existante par le passé, « la gestion active n’a pas toujours apporté les résultats escomptés ». Il s’agit donc d’un mode de gestion concevable en troisième classe d’actif ou en élément de diversification dans un portefeuille.
Gestion d'actifs
05/01/2012

CDC Entreprises investit dans la griffe Bouchra Jarrar

Le fonds de CDC Entreprises spécialisé dans la mode et le luxe va investir dans la jeune griffe de prêt-à-porter de luxe Bouchra Jarrar. Ni le montant de l’investissement ni le chiffre d’affaires de l’entreprise n’ont été communiqués. Le fonds Mode et Finance vise des entreprises dont le chiffre d’affaires dépasse 500.000 euros et qui présentent un fort potentiel de développement.
05/01/2012

La déconstruction financière de la zone euro a démarré

Les banques européennes achèteront-elles des titres de dettes publiques après que la BCE les a noyées sous 489 milliards d’euros de liquidités à 1% sur trois ans ? La réponse est au mieux mitigée. Il est possible qu’elles se laissent séduire par ces carry trades d’un genre nouveau; c’est le pari que fait la BCE pour justifier son refus de prêter directement aux Etats. Il est surtout possible qu’elles remboursent les dettes qui arrivent à maturité : l’opération serait des plus rentables vu l’explosion des coûts de refinancement pour les dettes seniors bancaires depuis un an (de 100 à 500 pb selon les pays), voire nécessaire pour assainir les bilans.
05/01/2012

Rechute attendue de l'immobilier d'entreprise

Grâce à un second semestre très dynamique, 16,1 milliards d’euros ont été investis dans l’immobilier d’entreprise français en 2011, soit un bond de 46 % par rapport à 2010. Mais le marché devrait baisser de 20 à 25 % en 2012 d’après le conseil en immobilier Cushman & Wakefield.
05/01/2012

Wenzhou serre la vis des prêts bancaires

La ville chinoise qui est devenue le symbole de la finance de l’ombre a pris des mesures visant à imposer des règles plus strictes à la distribution de crédit dans le but d’enrayer les financements illégaux, selon le journal qui cite des documents officiels.
05/01/2012

Paris fait pression pour l’introduction rapide de la Taxe Tobin

Le président français de la République entend bien donner un coup d’accélérateur à l’introduction d’une taxe sur les transactions financières en Europe, quitte à ce que la France l’adopte avant ses partenaires dès le mois prochain, si l’on en croit le quotidien. Nicolas Sarkozy compte d’ailleurs évoquer le sujet dès lundi lors de son entretien prévu avec la chancelière allemande à Berlin en préparation du sommet européen. Selon le des propos du ministre des affaires européennes, Jean Leonetti, cités par le quotidien, Paris compte faire pression sur Berlin pour que la taxe soit adoptée par les membres de l’Union européenne avant la fin de l’année.
05/01/2012

Une fenêtre s'ouvre dans la dette senior

Nordea, Rabobank et ABN Amro ont rouvert hier le marché de la dette senior non sécurisée après plusieurs semaines de disette. Ces établissements épargnés par les agences de notation ont dû y mettre le prix en raison des incertitudes qui continuent d’entourer les investisseurs.
05/01/2012

Pékin donne un coup d’accélérateur aux ventes à découvert

Le gouvernement central chinois prévoit de créer dès le trimestre en cours une entité, le «Centralised Securities Lending Exchange», destinée à faciliter les activités de vente à découvert et développer ainsi le marché des fonds alternatifs en Chine, selon le quotidien qui cite des sources officielles et des gérants. L’autorité de régulation des marchés devrait être le principal actionnaire de cette nouvelle entité.
05/01/2012

Les agences mises sous pression au sujet de MF Global

Le quotidien croit savoir que le président du Comité des services financiers de la Chambre des Représentants du Congrès des Etats-Unis, Randy Neugebauer, a adressé le 27 décembre un courrier au directeur général de Moody’s Raymond McDaniel et au président de Standard & Poor’s Douglas Peterson. Un courrier destiné à obtenir des informations détaillées quant à leurs procédures visant à évaluer la qualité de crédit de MF Global.
04/01/2012

Les tensions baissent sur le financement en dollars

Le swap de change croisé euro/dollar se détend de 13 pb sur la semaine autour de 100 pb, signalant une baisse des tensions sur le financement en dollar des banques européennes. Celles-ci bénéficient en effet des injections de billet vert de la BCE. La banque centrale a alloué mercredi 6,15 milliards de dollars à 7 jours à 12 banques, alors que 34 établissements avaient emprunté 33 milliards la semaine dernière, en prévision du passage de fin d’année. La BCE a aussi injecté 25,5 milliards à 84 jours, contre 1,35 milliard arrivant à maturité.

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