La Prudential Regulation Authority, régulateur outre-Manche sous l’égide de la Banque d’Angleterre, a indiqué dans un communique que les plus importantes banques britanniques, dont Barclays, HSBC ou RBS, devraient respecter les exigences de Bâle 3 dès le 1er janvier 2014, avec cinq ans d’avance sur le calendrier international.
360 AM, société de gestion créée en 2007, et Hixance AM, créée en 2008, ont annoncé leur rapprochement. Les deux sociétés de gestion, tournées vers les professionnels du patrimoine, gèrent respectivement 130 et 91 millions d’euros d’actifs. La nouvelle entité ainsi créée sera dénommée : 360 Hixance AM
Le russe Aton a annoncé l’acquisition auprès de la Deutsche Bank de la totalité du capital de Deutsche UFG Capital Management (DUCM) que la banque allemande avait acquise il y a deux ans (lire Newsmanagers du 14 novembre 2011). Le bouclage de la transaction dépend encore de l’agrément de la Commission anti-monopoles de la Fédération de Russie. Le montant de la transaction n’a pas été divulgué.Cette opération crée l’un des principaux acteurs sur le marché russe de la gestion d’actifs, avec 3,8 milliards de roubles d’encours en fonds d’investissement «onshore» (ce qui en fait le numéro 6 local) et plus de 11,3 milliards de roubles en produits institutionnels (destinés aux fonds de pension).
Le conseil d’administration de VP Bank a annoncé le 28 novembre une réduction de sa structure d’organisation à compter du 1er janvier 2014. Les directions au niveau du groupe et de la banque seront fusionnées au siège de Vaduz et ne comprendront plus que le directeur général Alfred Moeckli, le directeur des affaires de la clientèle Christoph Mauchle ainsi que le directeur financier et des services bancaires Siegbert Näscher, précise un communiqué.Parallèlement à cette réorganisation, la banque liechtensteinoise, cotée à la Bourse suisse, révèle le départ pour la fin de l’année du directeur opérationnel Jürg Sturzenegger. Il avait notamment assuré la direction générale de l'établissement en 2009 et 2010.A compter du 1er janvier 2014, le directeur de la banque privée au Liechtenstein, Martin Engler, le responsable des intermédiaires et des transactions, Günter Kaufmann, ainsi que celui de la banque commerciale, Rolf Jermann, ne feront plus partie du comité de direction et sont invités à se concentrer sur leurs domaines d’activité respectifs.Ces remaniements répondent à un double objectif de mise en conformité avec le nouveau cadre réglementaire du secteur bancaire, d’une part, et une amélioration de l’efficacité de la structure de direction, d’autre part, selon le communiqué.
Le tribunal correctionnel de Paris a relaxé hier la banque belge KBC, contre l’avis du procureur de la République, qui réclamait 100.000 euros d’amende à l’encontre de l'établissement. Le Parquet poursuivait KBC pour manoeuvre frauduleuse et escroquerie en lien avec des produits financiers complexes - en l’espèce trois CDO (collateralized debt obligations, titres de dette adossés à des portefeuilles de créances), vendus en 2006 à Shânti Asset Management, une société de gestion française. Après une plainte du gérant déposé en 2008, le noeud de l’affaire résidait dans l’interprétation du caractère obligatoire ou non du mécanisme de substitution présenté par KBC dans la documentation commerciale des CDO. Ce mécanisme avait pour objectif de préserver la qualité de crédit maximale (AAA) en remplaçant d'éventuels actifs défaillants sans coût supplémentaire.Shânti AM considérait que la garantie de substitution était obligatoire, ce que contestait KBC. Le tribunal a écarté l’existence de manoeuvres frauduleuses, indique le quotidien.
The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on November 28th approved the registrations of two further, UK-based, trade repositories (TRs) under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), i.e. ICE Trade Vault Europe Ltd. (ICE TVEL) and CME Trade Repository Ltd. (CME TR). The registrations will take effect on 5 December 2013.Following the registration of a first group of four TRs on 7 November 2013 (see Newsmanagers dated November, 8th)., which became effective on 14 November 2013, the reporting obligation start date for all asset classes will begin on 12 February 2014.
Bill Priest no longer manages the US large caps fund at Old Mutual Global Investor (Old Mutual US Large Cap Value), after a decision by the firm to merge with another fund, Old Mutual US Dividend, Citywire reports. Priest is president and manager at Epoch Investment Partners. Old Mutual US Dividend is managed by Ray Nixon.
The German asset management firm Internationales Immobilien-Institut GmbH, known by the name iii-investments, recently acquired by BNP Paribas Real Estate (see Newsmanagers of 18 September) from Bayerische HypoVereinsbank (UniCredit group), on 20 November adopted the name BNP Paribas Real Estate Investment Management Germany GmbH (BNP Paribas REIM Germany).
The US asset management firm MFS Investment Management has appointed Jonathan Tiu to the newly-created position of CEO for its Singapore entity, while MFS is also waiting for a license from the Singapore monetary authority (MAS) to offer its asset management services to institutional investors in the city-state, Asian Investor reports. Personnel at MFS IM in Asia total about 70, distributed between Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia.
Hedge funds launched by new managers offer the best prospects of returns compared with funds launched by companies of the sector which have a shop window already, according to a study published recently by Preqin, which also finds that institutionals’ interest in budding asset management firms is continuing to fall. A long/short strategy launched by a new manager since 2007 has an annualised net return of 8,80% in the first three years, while the same strategies offered by well-established managers earn returns of only 5.38% in the same period. But the outperformance of funds from new managers does not translate into inflows. Preqin states that even the percentage of investors interested in hedge funds from young investors has fallen to 38% this year, compared with 42% in 2012. And 605 of public or private pension funds say that they would not invest in a budding manager.
Most current active investment strategies are becoming outmoded. Investors’ requirements and frameworks are moving away from rigid benchmark-based allocations towards risk-factor and outcome-based mandates. Thus, the Casey Quirk consultancy stresses, next-generation “New Active” strategies will represent nearly 45% of industry revenue opportunity worldwide through 2018. New Active strategies will attract USD3.4trn of inflows through 2018, while legacy active portfolios will lose more than USD1.8trn. In comparison, passive strategies will attract only USD1trn during the same time frame, according to the new report Life After Benchmarks: Retooling Active Asset Management.There will be six categories of New Active strategies, all of which erase the line between traditional and alternative investments by incorporating more innovative techniques in friendlier packaging: broad debt investments, benchmark-agnostic equity, private capital strategies, trading strategies, dynamic multi-asset class solutions and real assets platform.Asset managers can employ any of three levers to retool legacy strategies: resetting risk guardrails, expanding the investment universe, and obtaining new capital market skill sets. The optimal path forward will vary according to manager credibility, current client footprint, and institutional appetite for change.
Most of the 105 pension funds, central banks, endowments, insurers and asset management firms – representing cumulative assets of over USD1.6trn, have announced that they are planning to increase their exposure to emerging markets, according to a survey by Morgan Stanley, cited by the Financial Times. Analysts at the bank estimate that there may be an overall increase in the global allocation of 1.3% over 1 to 2 years, which corresponds to USD1.6trn. In the 3 to 5 years to come, the increase is estimated at 2.2%, corresponding to EUR2.75trn.
TheTowers Watson consultancy at the beginning of this month published its updated biannual list of extreme risks (PDF document attached), including the chronological likelihood (from 10 to 100 years), the gravity / intensity of impact of the incident, and the geographical and temporal field of impact / scope of the repercussions.The three largest major risks, with a probability of one in ten years are famine, water and energy shortages, with stagnation and collapse of global commerce, while climate change and a backlash in terms of backfiring progress on health may have “trans-generational” consequences.
Keiichi Hirano has been appointed as managing director of Lombard Odier for Japan, effective from 16 December. He will also be president & representative director.Hirano, who joins the firm from Société Générale Japan, where he had most recently been director of the private banking unit, replaces Norbert Joué, who will serve in other management roles at Lombard Odier in Asia in the area of private clients.Hirano will work in close collaboration with Vincent Magnerat, local managing director at Lombard Odier in Singapore.
Matthias Inderbitzin, head of the “buy-write” strategy for precious metals at Dendro Partners, has been recruited as senior wholesale sales manager for the Swiss team at Pioneer Invesments (UniCredit group), finews reports.Inderbitzin will be based in Zurich, and will primarily be responsible for developing private banking clients, wealth managers and family offices. He will report to Rainer Lenzin, country head for Switzerland.
VDOS Stochastics has calculated that as of 21 November, assets in Spanish funds, totalling EUR154.507bn, had increased by EUR2.423bn since 31 October, with net subscriptions totalling EUR2.201bn, Funds People reports. The increase in assets under management is largely due to bond funds, which total EUR1.843bn.The strongest net inflows were for Santander AM, with EUR682m, followed by BBVA AM, with EUR424m, and InverCaixaGestión, with EUR382m.
ETFs have entered their next phase of growth, according to PwC, which estimates that all asset management companies “need an ETF strategy,” the Financial Times reports. “In the future, there will be more suppliers, more users and more penetration of ETFs into the global asset management market,” says John Siciliano at PwC. He says ETFs are simply a container for the investment expertise that asset management firms can use to repackage their existing products or strategies, or as “bricks” for allocation funds.
Global growth in the Islamic finance market is expected to continue in 2014 as part of the trend observed this year, on the strength of double-digit growth, the agency Standard & Poor’s claims in a study published on 28 Noember (“Islamic finance 2014: We Expect Continued double-Digit Growth, An A Push For Regulation And Standards.”)“We estimate that worldwide, assets compliant with Sharia, which we value at over USD1.4trn, will post double-digit growth in the next two to three years,” says Zeynep Holmes, regional head for Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Standard & Poor’s.However, Islamic finance remains a market which is strongly driven by demand, with a limited range, still held back by a reduced number of Islamic finance centres with different regulations.
As part of its policy to extend its investment universe in line with the five values of its SRI charter, the French public employees’ pension fund Établissement de retraite additionnelle de la fonction publique (ERAFP) has awarded one active mandate and two stand-by portfolio management mandates for Small cap equities – France. The ERAFP in March 2013 launched a restricted request for proposals whose objective is to manage a French small caps fund. At the conclusion of the selection procedure, the Establishment has decided to award the active mandate to Sycomore Asset Management. Amiral Gestion and Moneta Asset Management are the substitute managers. The portfolio will be invested primarily in French small cap equities with a view to long-term investment and a performance objective compaed with the MSCI France small cap index. It is a conviction-based management without tracking error. Management will be based on profound fundamental analysts of each share in tehe portfolio, and on dialogue with companies. The composition of the portfolio must comply with the SRI conditions of the ERAFP on its own means and/or rely on external resources. For indicative purposes, the amounts invested on a three-year horizon may total about EUR150m, a statement says. The initial duration of the contract is five years, with the possibility for the ERAFP to extend the contract for three further periods of one year each.
Currently, assets at Convictions Asset Management have fallen to EUR350m, compared with EUR460m at the beginning of September (see Newsmanagers of 24 September), but the returns have rebounded due to the adoption of an old/new management process two months ago, president Philippe Delienne said on Wednesday, while admitting that the reconstitution of assets under management will take time due to inertia. Convictions AM in September 2013 abandoned the live securities and stop-loss investment strategy (“once shares are sold, it is hard to get back into the market at the right time,”) in order to use hedging options again. “We decided to drop options because they were reputed to be expensive, but on reflection, they cost only 2-3% in bull periods, and that cost is recovered very rapidly in bear periods,” Delienne explains. “We are now convex on all portfolios. That eases the shocks of declines and allows us to participate in gains; volatility is the enemy of wealth management.” When volatility proves too high now, the new advice is not to take a position, “even on good news.”
ING IM a recruté deux gérants pour son équipe dette émergente et va embaucher un analyste crédit, est en mesure de dévoiler Citywire Global. Marcin Adamczyk, qui sera basé à La Haye, a déjà rejoint l’équipe, et Alia Yousuf, qui sera basée à Singapour, rejoindra l’équipe en janvier. Les deux sont nommés gérants senior devises locales. Marcin Adamczyk vient de MN, un gérant fiduciaire de fonds de pension néerlandais, tandis qu’Alia Yousuf travaillait chez ACPI Investment à Londres.
The US asset management firm Fisher Investments has recruited Victor Hoekstra from Van Lanschot Bankers to direct its Dutch office, located in Amsterdam, Fonds Nieuws reports. Fisher is present in the Netherlands and fosues on high net worth retail clients (from EUR0.4bn), to whom it offers institutional management expertise The team is also composed of Karen Schreiber (formerly of Morningstar), Eduard Holtz, Marco Laumen, Mike van de Meer and Walter Jans (formerly of BBOC).
ING Investment Management International (ING IM) on 28 November announced two appointments to its Emerging Market Debt team. Marcin Adamczyk joins ING IM as Senior Portfolio Manager EMD Local Currency, based in the Hague. Alia Yousuf joins ING IM as Senior Portfolio Manager EMD Local Currency, based in Singapore. The two managers, who join a team of over 25 specialists, will report to Marcelo Assalin, Lead Portfolio Manager EMD Local Currencies, based in Atlanta, US. Adamczyk has more than 15 years of experience in the area of emerging market bonds, and previously worked at MN, a Netherlands-based pension fund manager, as senior emerging market bond manager. Marcin had previously been an EMD manager at Lombard Odier Investment Managers in Amsterdam and Geneva, and a trader for local emerging markets at several banks in London and Warsaw. Alia Yousuf has more than 13 years’ experience in the management of emerging market bond portfolios, and previously worked at ACPI Investment in London as head of EMD. Alia has also served in several rols in the area of fund management at Standard Asset Management and First State Investments. She began her career at the World Bank as an analyst.
UBS Global Asset Management has launched a series of ETFs which re expected to allow investors to better manage currency risk. The sterling hedged MSCI Canada, the sterling hedged MSCI EMU and the sterling hedged MSCI Switzerland are the first of their type. The other ETF is the sterling hedged MSCI Japan. The four ETFs are available in distribution and capitalisation share classes.
Kames Capital is planning to launch a real estate investment fund (PAIF) in first quarter 2014, Funds Europe reports. PAIF are open-ended investment funds which invest in real estate, shares in British REITs and in shares in some foreign entities similar to REITs. The new vehicle, which is named Kames PAIF, will be managed by David Wiese and Alex Walker, will as a top priority make direct investments in real estate (80%), as well as in shares in companies specialised in real estate. Assets under management at Kames Capital, based in London and Edinburgh, total about GBP53bn.
The German firm Deka Immobilien has announced that it has invested EUR500m to acquire the St. Rodolph Buliding, an office property (51,900 square metres) in London, from the insurer Jardine Lloyd Thompson. The City property was completed in 2010; it is certified “very good” under BREEAM sustainable development standards. The property will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienEuropa (DE0009809566), whose assets total EUR12.4bn.
The International Organization of Securities Commissions on November 28 launched a statistics web portal that provides the public with a global overview of specific securities markets.The objectives of the new portal are threefold. First, it seeks to provide a centralized point for monitoring global trends, risks and vulnerabilities; second, to provide a mechanism for comparison of how well markets are recovering in light of the crisis; and finally, to provide IOSCO members and the broader financial community with easy access to key statistics, charts and indicators on a number of securities markets (corporate debt, covered bonds, securitized products, islamic finance, equity IPO volumes, equity market valuations, syndicated loans and housing price indices).The portal will be updated on a monthly basis.
Earlier this month, Helena Morrissey, head of the British asset management firm Newton, called on fund managers to make themselves heard and to be more visible, in a speech to the CFA Institute in London, the Financial Times reports. She feels that one of the most serious threats facing the sector is that asset management firms are lumped in together with bankers. This situation is partly the fault of managers, as few of them are able to speak openly about their activity in a proactive and human fashion. On the contrary, asset management firms tend to hide, avoiding difficult questions about fees and even economic trends. “I would like to see more managers on the radio, on TV, in schools …” says Morrissey.
Funds People reports that the largest independent asset management firm in Malaysia, Hwang Investment Management, has selected BNP Paribas Securities Services as global custodian for the four Asian UCITS-compliant funds which it will launch in January 2014.BNPP SS will provide administration and transfer agency services; it will also establish performance and risk reports, in addition to acting as custodian.