Recherche
S'abonner
Connexion
Asset Management
Accueil Asset Management Actualités
04/07/2011

Prudential Real Estate Investors scales up pension activities

Prudential Real Estate Investors on 30 June announced that it has recruited David Skinner as head of development for companies in the 401(k) type defined-contribution pension fund sector. Skinner previously worked at JP Morgan, where he was head of distribution and sales for defined-contribution products to institutionals.
04/07/2011

UBS launches an energy sector equities sub-fund

UBS Global Asset Management has received a sales license for Germany for the Energy sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav UBS (Lux) Equity, launched on 13 May. The product will be managed by portfolio manager James McLellan, who will prefer businesses in the drilling equipment and oil services segment (National Oilwell Varco, Baker Hughes, ENSCO and Drill-Quip) over integrated groups. In addition, the fund will bet on businesses such as Ultra Petroleum, QEP and Williams, which are active in the exploitation of natural gas deposits in North America. For diversification, the manager will select businesses which invest in renewable energies.The objective of the fund is to outperform the MSCI World Energy index by 250 basis points.CharacteristicsName: UBS (Lux) Equity Sicav – Energy (USD) P-accISIN code: LU0622290632Front-end fee: 6%All-in fee: 1.80%Exit fee: 2%
04/07/2011

Veritas launches two ETF funds

The Frankfurt-based asset management firm Veritas Investment Trust has announced the launch of the German-registered funds ETF-Dachfonds Emerging Markets Plus Money and ETF-Dachfonds Quant on 1 July. According to the specialist management firm, as the names of the funds indicate, they are ETF products.The first of these funds invests actively (0% to 100% equities) in the most promising emerging markets, with volatility about half the level of the MSCI Emerging Markets index.The Quant fund invests solely in equities and commodities markets, which are expected to rise sustainably through the use of a high level of portfolio diversification, with an equally-weighted portfolio of 20 positions (18 equities funds, 2 commodities funds). Markus Kaiser, CEO and CIO, says that the two new products are managed according to a trend-following model developed internally, with weekly updates to the portfolio, on the basis of data from the previous week.CharacteristicsName: ETF-Dachfonds Emerging Markets Plus MoneyISIN code: DE0009763326Front-end fee: 4%Management commission: 1.5%Performance commission: 15% on performance exceeding 7%Sales license: Germany, Austria, FranceName: ETF-Dachfonds QuantISIN code: DE0005561625Front-end fee: 5%Management commission: 1.5%Performance commission: 15% on performance exceeding 5%Sales license: Germany, Austria
04/07/2011

Burton Malkiel speaks out against active management

Burton Malkiel, who has been well-known in the financial sector since the first publication of his work, “A Random Walk Down Wall Street,” in 1973, and for new sequels to that work every four years since that time, is continuing on that path. Despite the development of passive management and ETFs, Malkiel estimates that there are still too many active managers, Financial News reports. The Princeton economics professor claims that the optimal level of passive management is about three quarters of the management market, and that the “core of a portfolio should be passively managed. In the United States, only one quarter to one third of funds are passively managed,” Malkiel says.
04/07/2011

F&C plans to scale up closed fund activities

The British management firm F&C has decided to place open-ended funds and investment trusts under the responsibility of Charlie Porter, who is already responsible for the former, Fund Web reports. Ed Morse will take up the newly-created position of head of development for activities related to investment trusts, while Mike Woodward will remain in his position as head of the unit dedicated to investment trusts.
04/07/2011

F&C moves to a new operating model

Very soon, F&C will choose a subcontractor from two final candidates, to receive administrative funds at a price which will depend on assets under management and the size of transactions. The arrangement will result in annual savings of GBP12m, of which GBP9m will be the result of restructuring, and GBP3m from reductions in rental costs associated with staff reductions, the firm announced on 1 July.The outsourcing agreement will affect about 110 people, 70% of administrative personnel (thus not affecting investment, distribution or customer service). A significant portion of these personnel will be transferred to the subcontracting firm.The reshuffle arises from a desire on the part of F&C to diversify and to extend its activities beyond its historic base of insurance mandates, says CEO Alain Grisay.
04/07/2011

Alken gets a fourth partner

Funds People reports that Isabel Ortega, who joined Alken Asset Management in 2007, has been appointed as global head of sales, and on 1 July became a partner at the management firm, joining Nicolas Walewski, Antoine Badel and Marc Festa. Festa has recently been appointed as co-head of strategy.
04/07/2011

Outflows from Spanish funds continue

For the third month in a row, Spanish securities funds have seen net redemptions estimated at EUR960m in May, compared with EUR973m in April, according to statistics from Inverco, the Spanish association of management firms. Total assets have fallen by 1.4% in one month, to a total as of the end of May of EUR135.325bn, compared with EUR137.813bn as of 30 April, and EUR139.017bn as of the end of March.The top seven Spanish asset management firms by asset volumes all saw net outflows in May. This was the case at Invercaixa Gestión (third in the rankings, with EUR16.34bn), which has seen net outflows of EUR269.26m, and at Santander Asset Management, top of the rankings with EUR22.75bn in assets under management, with EUR248.35m in net redemptions. At BBVA Asset Management, number two in the rankings, with EUR20.93bn, net outflows in May totalled EUR162.61m.
04/07/2011

Synthetic ETFs; UniCredit fears massive exodus of investors

Handelsblatt reports that in an interview with Reuters Insiders TV, Chris Hofmann, global head of ETF distribution at UniCredit, says she is afraid that there will be a massive exodus of subscribers in synthetic replication ETF funds, following the recent decision of Evercore Pan-Asset Capital Management to divest from all products of this type in favour of physical replication ETFs, in a move which could spread. Hofmann claims that the providers concerned have not adequately responded to criticisms, and that they are continuing to use the same marketing forumulas as before, as if nothing had happened.Hofmann hopes that the sector will adopt common standards, particularly involving revealing the names and risks of swap counterparties, as well as the identities of counterparties in securities lending. Providers should also clearly state the nature of the collateral, as well as the use which is made of additional gains from swaps and securities lending.
04/07/2011

SWIP closes five funds

Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) has decided to close five funds as part of a larger reexamination of its international equities range, Fund Web reports. The Pan European Equity fund (GBP10.5m), the Pan European SRI Equity (GBP14.7m), and the Asian Equity (GBP15.2m) will be closing, following redemptions requested by institutionals revising their allocations to these vehicles. The redemptions will substantially reduce the net asset value of the funds, making them no longer truly commercially viable. SWIP is also closing the Japanese Smaller Companies (GBP13m) and the US Smaller Companies (GBP25.5m).
04/07/2011

Prudential to merge 17 of its funds with M&G funds

Prudential has decided to merge 17 of its unit trusts with M&G funds during the coming year, Fund Web reports. Last month, Prudential already merged five unit trusts into their M&G fund counterparts. The wave of mergers aims to create a separation between insurance and retail activities. The Prudential brand will concentrate on multi-asset class funds, while M&G will promote multi-asset class funds as well as funds dedicated to a single asset class. Another series of mergers will be announced during the month of October.
04/07/2011

Solid inflows to emerging markets group at Franklin Templeton

At a presentation in Paris on 1 July, Mark Mobius, a star manager at Franklin Templeton, announced that since the beginning of the year, Templeton Emerging Markets Group alone (excluding assets in other divisions of the group) has posted inflows of about USD20m per day.Assets now total about USD54bn, of which 60% are in Asia (11% in India), and 15% in Latin America (with 11 points for Brazil). Southern Europe and Africa each represent 2% of the portfolio, while the Middle East represents 1%.Client inflows have largely gone to China funds, while the corresponding sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav had about USD2.36bn in AUM as of the end of May, followed by the Asia fund (USD17.93bn), global emerging markets (USD1.31bn), and the frontier markets fund (USD1.13bn).Mobius also states that the turnover rates for portfolios from the group are very low, at under 20%.
04/07/2011

Global macro strategies have difficulty making sense of a confused environment

Some hedge funds which are emblematic of the sector have been losing money since the beginning of this year, particularly in the global macro strategy, which is facing an unusual and unstable conjuncture and environment, Les Echos reports. In the first five months of the year, global macro has lost an average of 1.5%, according to the Edhec-Risk Alternative indices, making it one of the three worst performers among the major alternative strategies.
04/07/2011

UBS launches eight ETFs, six of them agricultural sector funds

The UBS CMCI Bloomberg agricultural index, with rolling optimisation at constant maturity horizons of 3, 6 and 12 months, two years, and five years, will be used as the underlying for six new Irish-registered ETF funds denominated in Swiss francs, euros and US dollars, which UBS ETF plc added to trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange on 27 June.Three of the products (UBS ETFs plc - CMCI Agriculture SF A acc CHF, UBS ETFs plc - CMCI Agriculture SF A acc EUR and UBS ETFs plc - CMCI Agriculture SF A acc USD) charge fees of 0.60%, while three others (UBS ETFs plc - CMCI Agriculture SF I acc CHF, UBS ETFs plc - CMCI Agriculture SF I acc EUR et UBS ETFs plc - CMCI Agriculture SF I acc USD) charge management commissions of 0.45%.UBS has also launched the emerging markets funds UBS ETFs plc - MSCI Emerging Markets TRN Index SF USD-A, which charges 0.60%, and UBS ETFs plc - MSCI Emerging Markets TRN Index SF USD-I, with fees of 0.45%.
04/07/2011

Asset management firms of the Rothschild family compete on the German market

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports that the French asset management firms Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM) and Rothschild & Cie Gestion have both recently initiated assaults on the German market.EDRAM (EUR14bn in AUM) has chosen the more costly option of an office in Frankfurt, in the Opern Turm, with two CEOs (Rupert Hengstler, former CEO of Oppenheim KAG, and Stefan Zayer) and contracting a communications agency.Rothschild & Cie Gestion (EUR22.4bn), meanwhile, has opted for a lower-profile option, without a local office, and a distribution agreement with max.xs.The newspaper reports that people at both firms careful avoid to speak about competition from the family’s other entity.
04/07/2011

Sal. Oppenheim opens an office in Hanover

In August, the Sal. Oppenheim private bank (Deutsche Bank group) will open its tenth branch office in Germany, in Hanover. It will be led by Michael Jänsch, who has been recruited along with his entire team from Credit Suisse in the capital city of the Lower Saxony region, and who began work at his new employer on 1 July.
04/07/2011

Joachim Wilbois joins Nikolaus Rummler as head of IP Concept FM

WGZ Bank Luxembourg on 15 June merged with DZ Privatbank SA, and the head of the depository banking activity at WGZ,Joachim Wilbois, has been appointed as co-CEO of the asset management firm IP Concept Fund Management, an affiliate of DZ Privatbank, where he will be Rummler’s counterpart.The new recruit replaces Matthias Schirpke, who will be returning to DZ Privatbank as head of the investment fund division.
04/07/2011

L'AMF précise les règles sur la tenue du passif des OPCVM

A la suite de travaux engagés avec l’AFG et l’AFTI sur la tenue du passif, l’AMF a inséré dans le livre IV de son règlement général de nouvelles dispositions qui définissent les différentes tâches liées à la centralisation des ordres et à la tenue du compte émission des OPCVM. Elles clarifient en outre le rôle des différents intervenants, sécurisent le circuit de passation des ordres et donnent une existence juridique aux ordres directs.
04/07/2011

La zone euro offre un répit à la Grèce

Le financement à court terme du pays est assuré, alors que les débats autour d’un deuxième plan d’aide vont se poursuivre dans les prochaines semaines.
01/07/2011

Encore des risques pour l’Italie malgré le plan d'austérité, estime S&P

L’Italie est encore confrontée à des risques concernant son endettement représentant quelque 120% de son produit intérieur brut (PIB) et ce malgré les nouvelles mesures d’austérité adoptée la veille, a estimé vendredi l’agence de notation Standard & Poor’s. Dans un communiqué, cette dernière précise que ces risques sont surtout le fait des faibles perspectives de croissance de la troisième économie de la zone euro.

Sujets d'actualité

Tous les sujets