Teera Chanpongsang de Fidelity va abandonner la gestion du fonds OEIC Emerging Asia le 1er novembre, afin de pouvoir reprendre le OEIC South East Asia (2,1 milliards de livres), rapporte Investment Week. Le OEIC Emerging Asia sera désormais géré par Dhananjay Phadnis, qui gère le Fidelity Funds Indonesia et travaille dans la société depuis 2004.

Au cours des douze derniers mois, les fonds souverains ont réduit leur exposition aux classes d’actifs alternatifs, constate Preqin dans une étude publiée jeudi 10 octobre. Le pourcentage de fonds souverains investis dans le private equity est passé de 57 % en 2012 à 45 % en 2013, celui de fonds investis en hedge funds de 38 % à 31 %. La baisse du nombre de fonds souverains investis dans les actifs alternatifs peut s’expliquer par la hausse du nombre de fonds au cours des derniers mois, les nouveaux n’allouant pas d’encours aux private equity ou aux hedge funds au cours des premières années d’existence, note Preqin. L’appétit des fonds souverains pour l’immobilier et les infrastructure est demeuré stable, avec respectivement 54 % des fonds exposés à l’immobilier, et 57 % dans les infrastructures. L’immobilier non coté attire particulièrement les fonds souverains issus de la région du Moyen Orient/Afrique du Nord (81 % des fonds exposés), d’Amérique du Nord (80%) et d’Asie (75 %).

Suite à la démission de Rob Gambi, qui devrait rejoindre un concurrent, UBS Global Asset Management a promu John Dugenske global head of fixed income. L’intéressé était déjà jead of North American fixed income.Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, John Dugenske sera directement surbodonné à l’Australien John Fraser, chairman & CEO. Il restera basé à Chicago.

Dix-huit mutual funds de Morgan Stanley Investment Management (MSIM) auront désormais des parts IS (super institutional) sans frais de distribution, de tenue de compte ou d’agence de transfert. Ces parts sont conçues principalement pour les plans d'épargne retraite affichant plus de 250 millions de dollars, mais seront également accessibles à des investisseurs moyennant un investissement initial minimum de 10 millions de dollars.La création de ces parts institutionnelles de mutual funds américains correspond à une volonté d’augmenter la transparence et de réduire les frais pour des plans d'épargne à contributions définies et d’autres plates-formes institutionnelles.

Dans le but de renforcer sa politique commerciale, Axiom AI a annoncé la création de son département commercial intégré afin de distribuer ses fonds auprès de sa clientèle de conseillers en gestion de patrimoine indépendantes, de family offices, de sociétés de gestion de portefeuille et de banquiers privés, selon un communiqué publié le 10 octobre. A cet effet, la société a recruté Bertrand Wojciechowski en qualité de directeur et Alexis Jarnoux au poste de responsable commercial.Bertrand Wojciechowski, était précédemment chez Label Finance, Third Party Marketer (TPM) en charge du développement commercial et du marketing de 2010 à 2013. Il avait vocation à accompagner les sociétés de gestion indépendantes (Banque Transatlantique, Axiom-AI) auprès du réseau des CGPI, des plateformes bancassurances et multi-gérants (banque privée, family office, SGP,…)Alexis Jarnoux était précédemment chez Label Finance de février 2011 à août 2013, en qualité de chargé d’affaires, en charge de la commercialisation des fonds de la Transatlantique Gestion et d’Axiom AI sur le marché des CGPI, family offices, sociétés de gestion de portefeuilles et banquiers privés.

Désormais, la plate-forme de gérants de gérants de Prudential Retirement (groupe Prudential Financial) comporte 78 fonds institutionnels sous-conseillés par des gestionnaires externes, y compris des produits immobiliers, ce qui est une nouveauté. La société vient en effet d’admettre les douze nouveaux fonds suivants sur cette plate-forme destinée aux promoteurs de fonds d'épargne retraite :- Large Cap Value / Becker Capital Fund (Becker Capital) - Large Cap Value / Ceredex Value Advisors Fund (Ceredex Value Advisors) - Large Cap Value / Nuveen Asset Management Fund (Nuveen Asset Management, LLC) - Large Cap Growth / Brown Fund (Brown Advisory) - Large Cap Growth / Fayez Sarofim Fund (Fayez Sarofim & Co.) - Mid Cap Value / Invesco Fund (Invesco Advisers, Inc.) - Mid Cap Value / WEDGE Fund (WEDGE Capital Management LLP) - Mid Cap Growth / American Century Fund (American Century Investment Management, Inc.) - Small Cap Growth / Palisade Capital Management Fund (Palisade Capital Management, LLC) - Real Estate / American Century Fund (American Century Investment Management, Inc.) - Real Estate / Cohen & Steers (Cohen & Steers) - International Blend / Neuberger Berman Fund (Neuberger Berman)

Après l’annonce par Stoxx du lancement d’un nouvel indice sur les actions du secteur mondial des infrastructures (lire Newsmanagers du 10 octobre), FlexShares ETF, filiale de Northern Trust, a officiellement annoncé le lancement du FlexShares Stoxx Global Broad Infrastructure Index Fund qui réplique le Stoxx Global Broad Infrastructure Index. Ce produit, dont le code mnémonique est NFRA, est coté sur la plate-forme NYSE Arca et affiche un taux net de frais sur encours de 0,47 %. Il a été créé le 10 août 2013.

Citadel Investment Group, la société de hedge funds de Ken Griffin, envisage de fermer aux nouveaux investisseurs ses deux fonds phare, rapporte Financial News.

Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs vient de créer un pôle solutions censé « répondre encore mieux aux attentes propres à chaque investisseur institutionnel », annonce la société de gestion du groupe de protection sociale Malakoff Médéric.Ce pôle, qui réunit l’analyse extra-financière, l’analyse quantitative et l’analyse de marché, se compose de Karl Eychenne, analyste de marché, Julie Mikhalevsky, analyste quantitative, Paul Merle, responsable de l’analyse ISR, et Kévin Loiseau, analyste ISR.Fédéris Gestion d’Actifs gérait plus de 27 milliards d’euros d’encours au 30 juin 2013.

Axa et la Fondation Swiss Re ont lancé le 10 octobre un programme d’incubateur de start-ups, Impact Hub, afin de permettre à des entrepreneurs proposant des solutions innovantes, de s’atteler aux défis de l’allongement de l’espérance de vie et du vieillissement démographique. L’initiative Impact Hub Fellowship pour la Longévité, établie dans quatre différentes villes et pays, sélectionnera douze initiatives et récompensera quatre d’entre elles avec une bourse d’un an. Ces bourses donneront accès à un financement de démarrage, au développement de compétences spécifiques, à des réseaux professionnels ainsi qu’à un environnement de travail stimulant chez Impact Hub. «Impact Hub Fellowship est un programme d’incubation d’un an, conçu pour attirer, sélectionner et soutenir les premiers pas des entrepreneurs sociaux et les aider à concrétiser leurs innovations pour un monde plus durable. Chaque bourse est établie grâce à l’effort de collaboration des principaux intéressés», précise un communiqué. Le thème de la bourse soutenue par Axa et la Fondation Swiss Re est celui de la longévité. «L’augmentation de l’espérance de vie humaine et le vieillissement démographique comptent parmi les défis majeurs de notre société. Même s’il existe toujours des disparités Nord-Sud, il s’agit d’un phénomène international et, depuis 2009, le nombre et la proportion de personnes âgées dans la population globale a augmenté plus rapidement que jamais, à la fois dans les pays développés et dans les pays émergents. Cela donne lieu à des défis économiques, sociaux et pédagogiques considérables, concernant chacun d’entre nous. Cependant, c’est également une source d’opportunités peu explorées», souligne le communiqué. La bourse sera ouverte à des entrepreneurs présentant des objectifs bien définis et ambitieux, visant à révolutionner le statu-quo et à comprendre que la collaboration reste l’outil le plus puissant qui puisse générer un impact positif. Les solutions récompensées seront considérées comme évolutives, avec des produits ou services qui permettent des changements de comportements et de pratiques dans un ou plusieurs des domaines suivants : organisation de la vie de famille, système éducatif, vie d’entreprise et services publics. Débutant en Italie à Milan au Impact Hub Milano – les demandes démarreront début novembre 2013 – la bourse sera ensuite lancée au Royaume-Uni, à Londres, au Impact Hub Kings Cross, au Mexique, à Oaxaca, au Impact Hub Oaxaca puis en Espagne, à Madrid, au Impact Hub Madrid.

ProShares, based in Bethesda, Maryland, on 10 October announcd the launch of the S&P 500 Aristocrats ETF, whose ticker on NYSE Arca is NOBL. According to the ETF provider, the fund invests in equities in highly “select” companies of the S&P 500 which have increased their dividends over at least 25 consecutive years. It is based on the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats, which was launched in 2005, and which has since then outperformed the S&P 500 with lower volatility.The index is equally weighted, and currently covers 54 firms. The fund charges 0.35%.

FX Concepts, a hedge fund specialised in currencies, has announced that it will be winding down in the face of an environment if no longer understands, Les Echos reports. It has lost about 10% this year, after holding stable in 2012. It lost 19% the previous year. The hedge fund, founded in 1981, had over USD13bn in assets under management before the 2007 crisis. Since that peak, its assets have fallen off due to repeated negative performance of the hedge fund, which was largely based on models, and which now has 10 employees, down from 60 at its peak. The coffers of the fund are virtually empty, with barely USD600m. The firm may be acquired by another fund or a more generalist hedge fund.

Tiago Forte Vaz, vice president responsible for advising at Espiritu Santo Bank Advisors (an affiliate of Espiritu Santo Bank Miami), has been recruited by Pictet Asset Management, according to Funds People.He becomes head of commercial development for the private banking unit at Pictet for Portugal and Brazil. He will report to Gonzalo Rengifo, CEO of Pictet AM for the Iberian peninsula and Latin America.Among his missions, Forte will be responsible for developing asset management for institutional investors, pension funds, banking networks, private banks, family offices, insurers and platforms.He replaces Amancio Pérez, who has been appointed as head of commercial development at the private bank for Brazil.

The largest asset management firms in the world are preparing a lobbying action in order to forestall tougher capital rules in the US and increased surveillance of their activities in the name of market stability, the Financial Times reports. They are particularly opposed to a report by the Office of Financial Research, which suggests that asset management firms with trillions of dollars in assets under management may be considered “too big to fail.”

Assets under management by sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) worldwide increased by EUR750bn in the past 12 months, from USD4.620trn to USD5.380trn, according to statistics from Preqin. This annual increase is the largest ever retorded by the data provider since 2007, the year in which the first study on the subject was published. The reasons for this significant growth in assets is partly the creation of new SWFs in the past few months, and partly an injection of fresh capital into existing funds, Preqin notes. Since 2008, 15 new SWFs have been created, of which 8 were in the past two years alone.In detail, Asian SWFs have seen the strongest growth in their assets since 2012, at 19%, compared with growth of 6% for thier Middle Eastern counterparts.Worldwide, the largest SWF remains the Norwegian Government Pension Fund – Global, with USD775.2bn in assets, up by USD185bn since 2012.

After the announcement by Stoxx of the launch of a new global infrastructure sector equity index (see Newsmanagers of 10 October), FlexShares ETF, an affiliate of Northern Trust, officially announced the launch of the FlexShares Stoxx Global Broad Infrastructure Index Fund, which replicates the Stoxx Global Broad Infrastructure Index. The product, whose acronym is NFRA, will be listed on the NYSE Arca platform, and has a total expense ratio of 0.47%. It was founded on 10 August 2013.

The European funds industry amassed net inflows of EUR3.5bn for August, which is lower than inflows for July (+EUR33.6bn), according to Lipper.Money market EUR was by far the most popular asset class for August (+EUR10.2bn of net inflows), followed by equities Europe (+EUR3.4bn) and asset allocation funds (+EUR3.2bn), as well as bond EUR shortterm funds (+EUR1.8bn). The shift toward money market and short-duration products in euros may indicate an increasing risk aversion of European investors, comments Lipper.Bond funds faced net outflows of EUR6.3bn. Nevertheless, this asset class remained the best selling asset class for 2013 year to date, with estimated net inflows of EUR91.2bn, out of EUR157.7bn.DeAWM was the best selling group of long-term funds for August, with net sales of EUR1.2bn, ahead of JP Morgan (+EUR0.8bn) and BlackRock (+EUR0.8bn).

Citadel Investment Group, the hedge fund firm from Ken Griffin, is planning to close its two flagship funds to new investors, Financial News reports.

Jake Moeller, senior management in the fund selection team at Lloyds TSB, will be leaving the bank next month, Citywire Global has announced. He will join Reuters, where he will work in research.

AXA Investment Managers on 10 October announced the launch of a range of pooled funds to meet the specific needs of pension funds, to cover their liabilities. The range of funds, which comes as an addition to the range of liability-driven investment (LDI) solutions, comes in three formulas (nominal, real and inflation only), each of which includes five offers with different maturities, in order to offer pension funds coverage solutions adapted to sensitivity and maturity. Programmes may hedge their sensitivity to interest rates and inflation in an approved, segregated manner, and liabilities may be covered with issues ranging from 10 to 50 years.

As of the end of September, assets in funds on sale in Sweden totalled SEK2.324trn (EUR263bn), a level not previously recorded. Of this total, 55% are invested in equity funds. This comes after net inflows of SEK1.3bn (EUR0.15bn) in September. Inflows were driven by diversified and equity funds, which posted SEK4bn (EUR0.45bn) and SEK1.3bn (EUR0.15bn) in inflows, respectively.

Teera Chanpongsang from Fidelity will be leaving the management of the OEIC Emerging Asia fund on 1 November, in order to take over the OEIC South-East Asia fund (GBP2.1bn), Investment Week reports. The OEIC Emerging Asia fund will now be managed by Dhananjay Phadnis, who manages the Fidelity Funds Indonesia and has been working at the firm since 2004.

Skandia will merge the Old Mutual US Large Cap Value fund, managed by Epoch, with Old Mutual Dividend, Fondbranschen reports. The firm will offer the Skandia USA fund, managed by Goldman Sachs, to investors instead.

The British authorities are planning to offer financial incentives to whistleblowers, Les Echos reports. The Home Office revealed that it is considering the move as it launches the National Crome Agency (NCA) this month. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), for its part, will launch a consultation in 2014. Under the Dodd-Frank law passed after the crisis, the US legislator has extended the practice, which is common in North America: it claims that some whistleblowers may get 10% to 30% of the sums recuperated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The asset management sector in Europe may be facing total costs of EUR300m to EUR500m, or EUR220m to EUR360m per year, in the next three years, to meet new regulatory requirements, according to a study by BNY Mellon, in association with Ernst & Young.These additional costs will in the next three to five years result in a “conservative” increase of 3% in operating costs and a 2% increase in total expense ratio (TER), on the basis of a stabilisation of profits at their current levels.The study, entitled “The Impending Profitability Challenge for European fund Managers,” emphasizes the growing pressure on asset management firms which are facing rising costs of compliance and investors who are demanding ever less costly products.

The index provider S&P Dow Jones Indices on 10 Octoebr announced the launch of the S&P Mena Bond & Sukuk Index as ell as the two sub-indices, S&P Mena Bond Index and S&P Mena Sukuk Index. With the exception of the S&P Mena Bond Index, each index on offer is Sharia-compliant. The S&P Mena Bond & Sukuk Index covers a range of bonds which are denominated in US dollars, which aim to measure the performance of Islamic bonds (sukuks) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). The index measures the performance of companies based in the following countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

The manager of managers platform at Prudential Retirement (Prudential Financial group) now includes 78 institutional funds, sub-advised by external managers, including real estate products, which is a novelty.The firm has admitted the following 12 funds to its platform dedicated to promoters of retirement savings funds:- Large Cap Value / Becker Capital Fund (Becker Capital) - Large Cap Value / Ceredex Value Advisors Fund (Ceredex Value Advisors) - Large Cap Value / Nuveen Asset Management Fund (Nuveen Asset Management, LLC) - Large Cap Growth / Brown Fund (Brown Advisory) - Large Cap Growth / Fayez Sarofim Fund (Fayez Sarofim & Co.) - Mid Cap Value / Invesco Fund (Invesco Advisers, Inc.) - Mid Cap Value / WEDGE Fund (WEDGE Capital Management LLP) - Mid Cap Growth / American Century Fund (American Century Investment Management, Inc.) - Small Cap Growth / Palisade Capital Management Fund (Palisade Capital Management, LLC) - Real Estate / American Century Fund (American Century Investment Management, Inc.) - Real Estate / Cohen & Steers (Cohen & Steers) - International Blend / Neuberger Berman Fund (Neuberger Berman)

In order to strengthen its commercial policy, Axiom AI has announced the creation of its integrated Sales Department, to distribute its funds to client Independent Financial Adivisers, Family Offices, portfolio mangement companies and private banks, according to a statement released on 10 October. To this end, it is creating a team of experts, and appointing Bertrand Wojciechowski as Direcror, and Alexis Jarnoux as Head of Sales. Wojciechowski had previously been at Label Finance, a third-party marketer (TPM), in charge of sales and marketing development, from 2010 to 2013. He was responsbile for assisting independent asset management firms (Banque Transatlantique, Axiom-AI) to access the network of independent financial advisers (IFAs), banking-insurance platforms and mult-managers (private banking, family office, etc.) Jarnoux had previously been at Label Ifnance from February 2011 to August 2013, as representative in charge fo sale of funds form Transatlantique Gestion and Axiom AI to IFAs, family offices, portfolio management firms and private bankers.

The US firm Legg Mason is planning to develop in Asia through external growth operations, Asian Investor reports. The head of Legg Mason, Joseph Sullivan, who recently completed the integration of Fauchier Partners into its affiliate Permal, is planning other transactions of this type in Asia, where in particular he hopes to increase the firm’s presence in China. Sullivan also says that he would not like to launch ETFs, except perhaps in the active ETF segment.

iShares has signed a co-operation agreement with Poste Italiane to allow investors to purchaase iShares ETFs on the online platform BancoPosta, Bluerating reports. In addition, for 6 months, iShares ETFs listed in Milan may be traded without order receiving or sending commissions for acquisitions of at least EUR1,000. “Our agreement with Poste Italiane is strategic in the development of financial education and the promotion of knowledge of ETFs on the part of the retail public,” says Emanuele Mellingeri, head of iShares in Italy.