Le suisse Optimal Investment Services (OIS), filiale du Santander, a décidé de liquider sept de ses hedge funds confronté à de fortes demandes de remboursement dans le sillage de l’affaire Madoff. Il s’agit des fonds Optimal Arbitrage, Optimal Multi-Strategy, Optimal European Opportunities, Optimal US Opportunities, Optimal Asian Opportunities, Optimal Global Opportunities et Optimal Global Trading, rapporte Funds People.En revanche, OIS continuera de gérer les fonds Optimal Latin America, Optimal Elite et Optimal Structural Opportunities, ainsi que deux hedge funds «single manager» et ses mandats discrétionnaires ou de conseil.

Selon la BCE, la masse monétaire en décembre a crû de 7,3% sur un an après 7,7% en novembre. Les prêts au secteur privé ont, eux, accusé le coup

Fitch Ratings has revised its Asset Manager rating of Robeco from M2 to M2+ (M2 plus), for its traditional management activities based in Rotterdam and money market management activities based in Paris.?The rating reflects the support and financial solidity of the Rabobank group (AA+/F1+/Stable Outlook), the parent company of Robeco, as well as the long experience of the management firm in management for third parties,? the ratings agency comments. ?in general, the addition of a plus (+) sign points to the strength of the operational organisation at Robeco and its control framework,? it adds.The major challenges in the mid-term for Robeco will include ?completing a modernisation of its IT platform, while maintaining a good level of risk control and avoiding operational disturbance, as well as preserving its financial situation in the current context of deteriorating markets, which is weighing on assets and the profitability of the company,? Fitch notes.At the end of December 2008, Robeco had assets of EUR110.7bn, managed in Rotterdam, Paris, Hong Kong, Zurich, and the United States. The investment activities included in this rating total EUR58.6bn, including international, European, emerging markets and quantitative equities management, allocation strategies, and international and European bond management, including credit and money markets, the ratings agency adds.In France, Robeco Gestions, the management firm licensed by the French financial regulator, l"Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), managed EUR6.2bn (excluding money market funds in US dollars managed in France on behalf of the group from 2006 to 2008). Despite a difficult market environment, assets were down only slightly compared with 2007, when they totalled EUR6.7bn, according to Robeco Gestions. This is due to net subscriptions of EUR880m for the year (which includes only retail products and only French investors).

Dexia has announced that Naïm Abou-Jaoudé has been appointed chairman of the executive board at Dexia Asset Management, replacing Hugo Lasat, who is leaving the group on 27 January 2009.Abou-Jaoudé already served as chairman of Dexia AM from January 2007 to November 2008. Since that time, he has been vice-chairman of the executive board at Dexia AM, while Lasat become chairman for a short period. When contacted by Newsmanagers, management at Dexia did not wish to comment on the decision; Lasat also had no comment.

Polly Smith, head of sales at PSolve Alternative Investments, has been appointed head of sales and marketing for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Tokio Marine Asset Management London, which on 8 October was granted a license by the British financial regulator, the FSA, to operate as a financial intermediary.Smith will report to Yuichi ?Alex? Takayama, and will be responsible for promoting the range of hedge funds and long-only equities funds.

Revere Capital Advisors, a specialist in the selection of new hedge fund managers, founded by several former employees of Man Group, has announced the recruitment of Giles McClelland as head of hedge fund development in London, HedgeWeek reports. McClelland is leaving Man Group after 14 years, where he was global head of hedge fund development for Man Global Strategies.Meanwhile, Revere has hired Andrew Godfrey, who was head of the emerging manager program at Focus Investment Group, as head of management selection and distribution for North America, in New York.

In mid-2008, losses for hedge funds in the Netherlands totalled EUR5bn. ?Many of them are no longer in a position to continue their activities, and particularly, to deliver the promised returns to investors,? Les Echos reports. Among the funds already liquidated are Kempen Propety Hedge Fund, GO Capital, and the Vermeer funds, managed by Optimix. The list of hedge funds currently suspended includes Faxtor Credit Value Fund (Faxtor), Spirit Aim (Eureffect), Prisma Plus Fonds (Wesa Effecten), Attica Funds, and several funds from FacInvest.

According to statistics from Swiss Fund Data released on Wednesday, UBS remained the largest manager of funds on sale in Switzerland at the end of December, with CHF105.8bn, compared with CHF162bn twelve months earlier, ahead of Credit Suisse Asset Management (CHF63bn compared with CHF80.2bn). Compared with the end of 2007, the rankings of management firms have been reversed, between Pictet, with CHF48.5bn, up from CHF37.4bn, and Swisscanto, with CHF43.5bn, down from CHF44.2bn. Swiss Life Funds remains in fifth place, with CHF25.1bn, compared with CHF28.9bn, while the Cantonal Bank of Zurich climbs to sixth place with CHF14.4bn, from ninth place at the end of 2007, with CHF15.3bn. Clariden Leu holds onto seventh place with CHF10.6bn, compared with CHF20bn. Raiffeisen, Banque Sarasin and Reichmuth round out the rankings with CHF6.9bn, CHF6.1bn, and CHF5.3bn, respectively. The 2008 list does not mention actors such as Julius Bär Asset Management (which had CHF25.8bn in assets at the end of 2007), nor LODH (CHF16.4bn) or BlackRock (CHF10.8bn).

?It is certain that, confronted with the financial crisis and a drop in assets, management firms are now highly attentive to their costs, but to my knowledge there are no major plans to lay off staff in this difficult time. In fact, the various actors seem to be rather in a phase of expanding their personnel, and one could suppose that they will slow or cease these recruitments,? says Pierre Bollon, deputy director of the French financial management association (AFG). According to Bollon, ?at any rate, strategic functions such as risk control and financial management will not be impacted by cost reductions.?This may mean, in other words, that efforts to control costs will apply primarily to support functions, while operations like the SGAM/CAAM merger cannot be ruled out, which will result in a pooling of production resources, or the outsourcing of some activities other than management.

BlueBay Asset Management has announced that its assets at the end of December totalled USD16.7bn, compared with USD20.5bn at the end of September, and USD21bn one year earlier. The 18.4% decrease in the second quarter of its fiscal year, which began on 30 June, which comes out to CHF3.8bn, is due to net redemptions of USD800m, negative market effects of USD2.8bn, and currency effects of USD200m.Of total assets under management, long/short funds as of 31 December represented USD3.7bn, compared with USD5.4bn three months earlier, while long-only funds came in at USD13bn, compared with USD15.1bn.Revenues from performance commissions totalled GBP3.2m in October-December, compared with GBP4.9m in July-September.

L’Echo reports that the holding company that controls Fortis and the Belgian government are in a battle against the clock to reach a new agreement with BNP Paribas. To avoid entering bankruptcy proceedings, shareholders in Fortis will have to declare a decision on 11 February, for or against the dismantling of the banking and insurance firm, and its acquisition by the French bank, currently being urgently orchestrated by the Belgian government. But a vote by shareholders will have to be postponed until the general assembly on 4 February, which leaves little time. On the day that a preliminary report by experts appointed by the court of appeals was released this Tuesday, negotiations had already begun between Fortis Holding, the Belgian government and BNP Paribas, the newspaper reports.

According to calculations by Cinco Días, an issue of EUR1.38bn in preferential shares at 2% for 10 years, to benefit investor victims of the Madoff fraud, will allow Santander to raise its tier one owners’ equity levels at a difficult time. However, Madoff victims who prefer to receive their reimbursement immediately in cash on the secondary market will receive only 50%, at current market prices. If they wait for the shares to mature, they will have to settle for annual dividends of only 2%, the lowest on the market at this time for this type of share, one operator comments.

Legg Mason on Wednesday announced losses of USD1.5bn in the three months to the end of December (the worst results in 25 years), compared with profits of USD155m in the corresponding period of 2007. The management firm suffered redemptions of USD77bn to investors in the quarter. Assets now total less than USD700bn, 30% less than one year previously.

The Financial Times reports that Lloyds Banking Group is preparing to study offers for a part of its life insurance activities. The bank is seeking to strengthen its balance sheet as it begins to integrate HBOS. The activities which it is seeking to sell are said to be those which sell insurance policies via independent financial advisers (IFAs), according to sources close to the firm.

Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) announced on Wednesday that its consolidated net profits totalled CHF341m for 2008, which represents a 15.6% decline from 2007, while gross profits are down 9.2% to CHF591.3m. Assets as of the end of December, for their part, contracted by 26.2%, to CHF100.7bn, due to market effects and to currency effects, as the manager posted net subscriptions of CHF700m. The bank states that it has decided to increase its allocation to liquidity, and to reduce exposure to financial markets. Net assets invested in hedge funds total CHF35bn, compared with CHF60bn twelve months earlier.

It is now incumbent on the Luxembourg regulator to prove itself, in the wake of the Madoff scandal, by applying its utmost efforts to the transposition of European directives into local law, says Alain Leclair, chairman of the French financial management association (AFG), at a presentation of statistics covering the evolution of the French market in 2008. Luxembourg legislation is, a priori, as good as French legislation, even though the European laws have not necessarily been transposed identically into the national laws in force in each country. The French regulator and the AFG are nonetheless not planning to ease the pressure on Luxembourg in this case, which may have consequences for the reputation of the Grand Duchy.With that said, Pierre Bollon, deputy director of the AFG, points out that the Madoff scandal may ultimately have a positive effect insofar as it brings arguments to the table in addition to those which the French association has already been making in relation to the UCITS V directive (see Newsmanagers of 14 January), particularly in relation to the genuine harmonisation of the functions and responsibilities of depositories, with a European passport for these actors. It will also provide an occasion to achieve a coherent European status for ?alter-UCITS? funds, which do not comply with the current regulations, and for their managers. This also applies to alternative management, and thus, among others, to private equity and infrastructure investment.In relation to plans at Santander to reimburse victims of the Madoff fraud, Alain Leclair considers that, pending supplementary information, it is largely a publicity gesture intended to affect the bank’s reputation, but that it nonetheless sets a ?highly interesting precedent.? In general, it is entirely normal that ?primary establishments? in the market for investment products are now held responsible if due diligence was not carried out.

As part of a strategic partnership agreement announced on Wednesday by BHF-Bank (Sal. Oppenheim group) and the Abu Dhabi Investment Company (ADIC), the asset management unit of the latter entity will serve as advisor to the FT Emerging Arabia and FT Emerging Arabia (USD) funds from Frankfurt Trust, the management firm of BHF-Bank. ADIC will, in addition, be able to distribute these funds within the regional market.Frankfurt Trust had assets as of the end of 2008 of EUR15.9bn, in 216 funds and mandates. ADIC does not publish statistics about its assets under management and the number of its funds, but it is an affiliate of the Abu Dhabi Investment Council, a sister company of the largest sovereign fund in the world, the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (USD875bn).

At the end of December, assets under management in funds on sale in Switzerland totalled CHF452bn, compared with CHF554.3bn twelve months earlier. CHF96.8bn, or 94.6%, of the contraction of CHF102.3bn, or 18.5%, was due to market effects, while net redemptions were limited to CHF5.5bn, according to the Swiss Fund Association. In December, assets fell by CHF0.8bn.The heaviest losses were from equities funds, to CHF101.1bn, after net outflows of CHF5.5bn and CHF59bn in negative market effects. Nonetheless, funds specialised in Swiss equities have posted net subscriptions of about CHF3bn. Assets in money market funds, for their part, have increased by CHF31.9bn, or 47.7%, thanks to CHF26.2bn in net subscriptions and 5.7% in market effects.

Since the arrival of Martin Flanagan in August 2005 as president and CEO, Invesco has been transformed from a mosaic of small management boutiques into an harmonised group, whose shares have lost only 51% in the past twelve months, which is roughly in line with the upper tier of publicly traded fund managers, such as Franklin Resources, BlackRock Inc and Eaton Vance , while shares in companies such as Janus Capital, AllianceBernstein, Calamos AM and Legg Mason have lost more than 70% in the same period, the Wall Street Journal notes. As of 15 January, the range of funds from Invesco placed in the ?top 36%? for performance over three years, and in the ?top 34%? over five years. Staff has fallen to 5,400 employees as of 30 September, from 6,500 in June 2005, and this process is likely to continue, a spokesperson says.Meanwhile, Flanagan is planning to continue to develop Invesco’s international presence, as 42% of clients are currently based outside the United States. The goal is to increase this figure to 50%.

According to statistics from the AFG, French-registered funds of hedge funds in 2008 saw a contraction of 39.9% in their assets, to a total of EUR37.8bn. More than three quarters (76.66%) of the decline of about EUR15bn is due to net redemptions of EUR11.5bn, while negative market effects account for only EUR3.5bn. However, assets in SRI funds with slightly over EUR20bn in assets appear to have held stable last year, thanks to net subscriptions to money market funds, according to Novethic.

With a total of EUR2.358trn as of the end of December, assets under management for third parties in the French market fell 11.1% compared with their levels twelve months earlier, meaning that EUR297bn, or 76.5% of the gains of EUR388bn accumulated in 2006 and 2007, have been wiped out. Statistics from the French financial management association (AFG) put the distribution of assets as of the end of December at EUR1.2448trn in French mutual funds, compared with EUR1.4696trn at the end of 2007 (-15.3%), and an estimated EUR1.115trn, compared with EUR1.185trn (-6%) in mandates, including EUR165bn in foreign-registered funds.

?The Spanish police yesterday arrested six people suspected of participating in a fraud totalling over USD600m on the alternative investment market (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange (LSE),? Les Echos reports. The newspaper adds that the fraud involved a firm listed on the AIM, whose name has not been disclosed, which is reported to have made a number of fictive financial operations.

Selon le Financial Times, Lloyds Banking Group se prépare à étudier des offres pour une partie de ses actifs d"assurance vie, la banque essayant de renforcer son bilan et commençant à intégrer HBOS. L"activité qu"elle envisagerait de céder serait celle qui vend par le biais des conseillers indépendants, selon des personnes proches du dossier.

Spécialiste de la selection des nouveaux gérants de hedge funds, Revere Capital Advisors, fondée par plusieurs anciens de Man Group, a annoncé le recrutement de Giles McClelland comme head of hedge fund development à Londres, indique HedgeWeek. L’intéressé quitte Man Group au bout de 14 ans, où il a été global head of hedge fund development chez Man Global Strategies.D’autre part, Revere a embauché Andrew Godfrey, qui était head du emerging manager program chez Focus Investment Group, comme responsable, à New York de la sélection de gérants et de la distribution en Amérique du Nord.

Polly Smith, directrice commerciale chez PSolve Alternative Investments, a été nommée head of sales and marketing pour l’Europe, le Moyen-Orient et l’Afrique chez Tokio Marine Asset Management London, qui a obtenu le 8 octobre de la FSA britannique son agrément d’exploitation en tant qu’intermédiaire financier.L’intéressée sera subordonnée à Yuichi «Alexe» Takayama et aura pour responsabilité de promouvoir la gamme de hedge funds et de fonds d’actions long-only.

L’Union Bancaire Privée (UBP) a annoncé mercredi que son bénéfice net consolidé est ressorti pour 2008 à 431 millions de francs suisses, ce qui représente une baisse de 15,6 % sur 2007, tandis que le bénéfice brut diminue de 9,2 % à 591,3 millions.Les encours à fin décembre affichaient pour leur part une contraction de 26,2 % à 100,7 milliards de francs qui est imputable à l’effet de marché et à l’effet de changes car le gestionnaire a enregistré des asouscriptions nettes de 700 millions de francs. La banque précise qu’elle a décidé d’augmenter son allocation aux liquidités et de diminuer l’exposition aux marchés financiers. L’encours net investi en hedge funds ressort à 35 milliards de francs contre 60 milliards douze mois auparavant.

Dexia a annoncé que Naïm Abou-Jaoudé est nommé président du comité exécutif de Dexia Asset Management, en remplacement de Hugo Lasat, qui quitte le groupe au 27 janvier 2009.Naïm Abou-Jaoudé avait déjà occupé le poste de président de Dexia AM de janvier 2007 à novembre 2008. Depuis cette date, il était devenu vice-président du comité exécutif de Dexia AM, Hugo Lasat en devenant le président pour une courte période. Contactés par Newsmanagers, la direction de Dexia n"a pas souhaité commenter cette décision, de même que Hugo Lasat.

2009 sera l"année des fonds obligataires. C"est en tout cas sur ce thème que les sociétés de gestion portent leurs efforts commerciaux. Nombre d"entre elles ont lancé des fonds à échéance (lire par ailleurs). Quant aux autres, elles mettent en avant les produits obligataires de leurs gammes. #Fin 2008, les investisseurs se sont réfugiés dans le monétaire, mais la baisse des taux et le possible resserrement des spreads de crédit interbancaires vont peser sur la performance des fonds monétaires. Ceux qui souhaitent du rendement, et qui ne sont pas encore prêts à repartir sur les classes d’actifs les plus risquées, vont donc naturellement se tourner vers l"obligataire#, affirme Christine Lacoste, directrice marketing de Natixis Asset Management. #Ce repositionnement sur l’obligataire se fera soit au travers de fonds directionnels, de fonds de portage ou encore de fonds #tout terrain# tel Natixis Absolute Quant Bond 18 M #, ajoute-t-elle. #Nous pensons que la thématique de l"obligataire offre de très bonnes opportunités, notamment sur le crédit investment grade #, note pour sa part Joseph Pinto, directeur commercial pour l"Europe du Sud d"Axa IM, qui compte particulièrement mettre en avant AXA World Fund Credit Investment Grade et AXA World Fund Euro Credit Plus, #deux fonds que nous avons lancés il y a quelque temps et que nous allons commercialiser activement dans les prochaines semaines auprès de tous nos segments de clientèle#. Lazard Frères Gestion renforcera de son côté en 2009 la commercialisation de son fonds obligataire Objectif Crédit Fi, précise le gestionnaire.Si les fonds actions sont bien moins à la mode, ils ne sont pas délaissés pour autant. Avec un accent particulier sur la simplicité. #Nous renforcerons nos efforts commerciaux sur ce segment à partir du second semestre, notamment sur les fonds actions grandes capitalisations et haut dividendes#, confirme Joseph Pinto. Axa devrait également mettre l"accent sur les fonds actions de la gamme d"Axa Rosenberg, dont un nouveau fonds sera enregistré en France très prochainement. Pour sa part, #SGAM travaille sur un produit absolute return actions géré avec des techniques alternatives long/short mais simple et transparent. Le fonds devrait être commercialisé dans les prochains mois#, indique Alain Pitous, directeur des gestions actions, taux, diversifiée chez Société Générale Asset Management (SGAM). On trouve également dans les projets de SGAM des fonds diversifiés gérés selon une approche de c?ur-satellite. De nombreux investisseurs hésitent à revenir sur les marchés actions, craignant de revivre les performances désastreuses de ces derniers mois. Les sociétés de gestion tentent donc de les rassurer en mettant en avant des produits sécurisés ou suivant un indice de marché. Soucieux de répondre à la demande des clients retail échaudés par la chute de la Bourse, BNP Paribas Asset Management joue ainsi la carte des fonds garantis ou à formule. #Nous commercialiserons activement des produits offrant une garantie partielle ou totale du capital à échéance avec en sous-jacent un indice ou un panier d"actions, comme Zanzibar 10 par exemple #, précise Denis Panel, responsable de l"équipe Sigma chez BNPP AM (produits garantis, allocation d"actifs et gestion indicielle). Les efforts de BNPP AM porteront également sur les ETF sur les indices actions et les fonds actions dividende, comme Parvest Europe Dividende, ainsi que sur la gamme absolute return, ajoute François Hullo, directeur grande clientèle France. Chez Natixis AM, les fonds garantis ou à formule seront également à l’honneur pour les réseaux. #Quant aux CGPI, ils se verront proposer pour leur clientèle patrimoniale des fonds flexibles (0 à 100% en actions), notamment ceux de Dorval Finance, société partenaire de Natixis AM #, ajoute Christine Lacoste.

Selon Les Echos, Bercy a tenu hier à faire une mise au point en précisant que «l’Etat n’a pas l’intention de demander la nomination d’un représentant au conseil d’administration de BNP Paribas». Interrogée mardi pour savoir si l'émission d’actions de préférence par BNP Paribas se traduirait par une entrée de l’Etat à son capital, à hauteur de 20 %, la ministre de l’Economie, Christine Lagarde, n’avait pas tout à fait exclu que l’Etat demande la présence d’administrateurs au conseil d’administration.

BlueBay Asset Management a indiqué que son encours à fin décembre ressortait à 16,7 milliards de dollars contre 20,5 milliards fin septembre et 21 milliards un an plus tôt. La diminution de 18,4 % enregistrée au deuxième trimestre de l’exercice au 30 juin, soit 3,8 milliards de dollars, s’explique par des remboursements nets de 800 millions, un effet de marché de 2,8 milliards et une perte de change de 200 millions.Sur le total des actifs sous gestion, les fonds long/short représentaient au 31 décembre 3,7 milliards de dollars contre 5,4 milliards trois mois plus tôt, tandis les fonds long-only se situaient à 13 milliards contre 15,1 milliards. Les recettes de commissions de performances se sont montées à 3,2 millions de livres pour octobre-décembre contre 4,9 millions en juillet-septembre.