As announced in advance more than a month ago (see Newsmanagers of 19 July), one-time factors related to the settlement of lawsuits with the US tax authorities, an amortisation of goodwill at swisspartners, the closure of LLB Switzerland and provisions for restructuring reduced net profits at Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) in first half 2013 by 77.7%, to CHF13.6m, compared with CHF60.9m in the corresponding period of last year.As a result, the cost-income ratio has deteriorated to 70.2%, compared with 58.5%. However, excluding one-time factors, operating revenues have increased by 8.2%, while operating expenses have fallen by 6.9%. Excluding one-time factors, net profits total CHF72m.LLB has not ultimately posted net subscriptions of CHF210m, but net outflows of about CHF400m in the first six months of the year. As of 30 June, total assets were nonetheless up by 1.2% due to market appreciation, for a total of CHF50.5bn.

As regulations in effect since December 2011 have been amended, CITIC Securities has been authorised to take over a majority stake in the asset management firm China AMC. As a result, CITIC increases from the previous ceiling of 49% to 59%, with an acquisition of 10% of capital in China AMC from Wuxi Guolian for CNY1.6bn, Z-Ben Advisors states. The second-largest shareholder is South Industry Asset Management, with 11%.

Mirabaud Asset Management has confirmed the departure of Malcolm White, a manager specialised in global equities based in Geneva, Citywire reports. White joined the firm in 2008, and was co-manager of the Mirabaud – Equities Global fund since its launch in December 2010. The fund will be taken over by Anu Narula, who joined Mirabaud AM in June.

The Banca della Svizzera Italiana (BSI) in first half posted net inflows of CHF2bn, up 5% year on year, according to a statement released by BSI on 29 August. Assets under management rose 3.7% as of 30 June, to a total of CHF89.4bn, comapred with CHF86.4bn as of the end of December 2012. Net profits were down, however, by 15%, to CHF36.2m, largely due to an increase in provisions and an increase in owners’ equity.

In 2012, Swiss private banks added an average of 4% to their assets under management compared with the previous year, through good performance of investments, according to a study by KPMG and the University of Saint-Gall. But more than one quarter of private institutions are expected to disappear in the next three years.The situation remains critical for institutions which have wealth under management of less than CHF5bn. As a consequence of the rising tide of liquidations affecting smaller establishments, the number of private banks last year fell by 13 in Switzerland, to 148. KPMG also predicts that due to constant pressure from abroad, 25% to 30% of these will disappear in the next three years.

Net sales of UCITS reversed in June to record net outflows of EUR 65 billion, compared to net inflows of EUR 34 billion in May, according to statistics released by the European asset management association (Efama). June witnessed the largest net outflows from UCITS since October 2008, Efama reveals. “Rising long-term interest rates and market expectation that the Federal Reserve will begin tapering its quantitative easing programme before the end of this year fuelled large withdrawals from bond funds in June, and also negatively impacted equity funds,” says Bernard Delbecque, director of economics and research at Efama. Long-term UCITS (UCITS excluding money market funds) registered net outflows of EUR 25 billion, against net inflows of EUR 39 billion in May. Net sales of bond funds experienced a turnaround in net sales to register net outflows of EUR 18 billion in June. Money market funds registered increased net outflows of EUR 40 billion, up from EUR 5 billion in May. The large net outflow seen in June reflects the cyclical pattern of flows out of money market funds at the end of each quarter and compares to large net outflows recorded in December 2012 (EUR 33 billion) and June 2012 (EUR 24 billion). Total non-UCITS recorded increased net sales in June of EUR 9 billion, up from EUR 5 billion in May. This increase in net sales can be attributed to special funds (funds reserved to institutional investors) which registered net inflows of EUR 8 billion, up from EUR 2 billion recorded in the previous month. Total net assets of UCITS stood at EUR 6,559 billion at end June 2013, representing a 3.7 percent decrease during the month. Due to asset depreciation, total net assets of non-UCITS also decreased in June (by 1.8 percent) to stand at EUR 2,638 billion at month end.

On the European market, open-ended funds on sale in France in first half have posted outflows of EUR29.11bn, according to statistics from Lipper. However, Italy, Spain and Germany have posted inflows of over EUR7bn, with EUR7.38bn for Italy, EUR7.33bn for Spain and EUR7.12bn for Germany. Sweden follows close behind, with slightly over EUR6bn. Overall, open-ended funds on sale in Europe in first half posted net inflows of EUR109.6bn, after net inflows of EUR83.2bn in first half 2012. Most of these inflows came in first quarter, with a total of EUR109.3bn, In June, the Federal Reserve announced that it would be gradually phasing out its quantitative easing programme, leading to outflows of EUR28bn from bond funds.

Deutsche Börse on 28 August announced that with the admission to trading of three Irish-registered bond products launched by State Street Global Advisors (SSgA), the XTF segment of its Xetra electronic platform now lists 1,003 ETFs.The SPDR funds are the following: SPDR Barclays 0-3 Year Euro Corporate Bond UCITS ETF (IE00BC7GZW19) and SPDR Barclays 0-3 Year US Corporate Bond UCITS ETF (IE00BC7GZX26), both of which charge 0.20%, and the SPDR Barclays 1-3 Year U.S. Treasury Bond UCITS ETF (IE00BC7GZJ81), whose total expense ratio is 0.15%.

IndexUniverse repors that State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has filed with the SEC for an ETF entitled SPDR MSCI Beyond BRIC ETF (acronym: EMBB), whose total expense ratio has not yet been set.The fund will replicate the MSCI Beyond BRIC index, and will use the American or Global Depositary Receipts from issuers in countries other than the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China).The companies are in the following countries: South Africa, Chile, Colombia, South Korea, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, Malaysia, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, the Czech Republic, Thailand and Turkey.

Deka Immobilien GmbH has recently acquired the office complex Rheinwerk II (16,300 square metres) in Bonn, and the mixed office and commercial Edisonhöfe building (27,500 square metres, including 22,000 square metres of office space) in Berlin, for undisclosed amounts.In the first case, the vendor is KGAL GmbH, and the corresponding property will be added to the institutional real estate fund Domus-Deutschland, which has recently been launched, and which will specialise in properties with a total unit value of EUR20m to EUR70m.The Berlin property was acquired from the developer Havika Lofthaus-Development; it will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund WestInvest ImmoValue, which is reserved for institutional investors.

The Bavarian firm KGAL has announced the launch of the Aviation Portfolio Fund I, its first closed-end fund for institutional investors as part of its “aviation” product range, whose assets total EUR5.7bn. The fund will invest for 10 years in leasing contracts for passenger aircraft, with the objective of attaining a total volume of EUR200m to EUR400m, with 50% leverage.The fund is intended to achieve an internal rate of return of 6.5% per year, and minimal subscription is set at EUR5m.Management will be carried out by GOAL German Operating Aircraft Leasing GmbH & Co KG, a joint venture of KGAL and Lufthansa.As of the end of December 2012, assets at KGAL, which is controlled by Commerzbank, BayernLB, Haspa Finanzholding and Sal. Oppenheim, totalled EUR25.1bn.

Stratton Street Capital, a firm specialised in emerging market debt, will in mid-September launch a UCITS-compliant mutual fund of investment grade Asian bonds denomminated in renminbi, Citywire reports. The fund will be a clone of a fund domiciled in Guernsey, entitled Stratton Street Renminbi Bond USD. It has been managed by Andy Seaman and his team since December 2007. The European version will be launched on the German platform of Universal-Investment.

The sovereign fund Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (Adia) has recruited Suresh Sadasivan as head of Asian equities ex-Japan, who invests directly on equity marktes rather than through external managers, Asian Investor reports.Sadasivan, who had previously worked at Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), will be based in Abu Dhabi. He replaced Lars Sorensen, who left earlier this year for personal reasons.Adia, whose assets under management total about USD70bn, in January this year received a USD300bn quota as a qualified foreign institutional investor (QFII), which brings its allocation to USD1bn.

Le gérant de hedge funds Michael Karsch a décidé de fermer sa société éponyme, Karsch Capital Management, créée il y a treize ans, rapporte l’agence Reuters."J’ai décidé de restituer leurs capitaux aux investisseurs d’ici à la fin du troisième trimestre», a indiqué Michael Karsch dans une lettre dont Reuters a eu copie. Selon Michael Karsch, 95% des actifs qui s'élèvent à 1,8 milliard de dollars, devraient être rendus aux investisseur’s d’ici à la fin du mois de septembre. Le reliquat devrait être restitué en janvier 2014 après l’audit de la société.

Peter Curry, business development director at Nomura Asset Managemnet, where he was head of institutional sales for the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands, after serving as head of institutional sales at TT International, has been recruited by Baring Asset Management.He is based in London, and will serve as assistant director for international institutional sales, in which position he will report to Andrew Bention, head of international sales & business development.Currently, Bargins has about GBP29.3bn in assets under management for institutional clients.

In first half 2013, Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM) has reported an increase of 13% year on year for its operating profits, to GBP135m (compared with GBP119m in the corresponding period of last year).As of the end of June, net assets totalled GBP433bn, compared with GBP406bn, partly due to net subscriptions, which doubled in January-June to approximately GBP8bn, of which GBP7.5bn are from international clients, for whom assets under management total GBP52bn, compared with GBP43bn.LGIM also states that assets in its tracker products have increased by 8%, to GBP262bn.

The head of sales for the United Kingdom at Skandia, Steve Powell, will be retiring at the end of the year, after 23 years at the group, Investment Week reports. The firm is seeking a replacement for him.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) published on August 29 policy recommendations to strengthen the oversight and regulation of the shadow banking system. The FSB has focused on five specific areas in which policies are needed to mitigate the potential systemic risks associated with shadow banking, including interactions between the regular banking system and the shadow banking system, money market funds, securitisation, securities lending and repo, and other shadow banking entities and activities. As far as other shadow banking policy areas are concerned, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision will complete its work in 2014, and the International Organization of Securities Commissions has already set out final policy recommendations for money market funds and securitisations in its reports Policy Recommendations for Money Market Funds and Global Developments in Securitisation Markets. However, the Council yesterday published a specific document for securities lending and repo, particularly the treatment of “haircuts” which are not subject to centralised clearing – which is subject to an open consultation until 28 November 2013. The fifth section, on risks posed by other shadow banking activities, has also been the subject of a dedicated document. The council will meet with the G20 in November 2014 to report on its complementary work and to provide a follow-up report on shadow banking.

In July 2013, British funds posted net subscriptions of GBP2.2bn, the highest since April 2011. This is the third time this year tht net inflows have exceeded GBP2bn, with most of these inflows going to equity funds, with GBP1.4bn, the highest level since December 2010, according to the Investment Management Association (IMA).Meanwhile, assets as of 31 July have set a new all-time record of GBP743.9bn, compared with GBP715.58bn as of the end of June, and a previous record of GBP740.68bn as of the end of May.Net subscriptions to ethical funds in July were at their highest level since April 2011, with GBP37m, compared with GBP11m in June, and their assets as of the end of the month set a record at GBP8.69bn, which represents only 1.2% of total assets under management by British funds.Funds domiciled abroad posted net inflows of GBP282m in July, after net outflows of GBP489m in June, and their total assets as of 31 July came to GBP56.54bn, compared with GBP55.04bn as of the end of June, and GBP47.4bn one year previously.

Jean-Philippe Thierry, vice-président de l’ACP depuis sa création en mars 2010, a souhaité mettre un terme à son mandat, à l’âge de 65 ans. Christian Noyer, Gouverneur de la Banque de France et président de l’Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution, a vivement remercié Jean-Philippe Thierry et a rendu hommage à son action au sein de l’Autorité de contrôle.

Dans un contexte de marchés financiers très volatils, la politique de gestion de Sogecap, prudente et orientée sur le long terme aux bénéfices des assurés, a principalement consisté en 2012 à : investir la majeure partie de la collecte réalisée en obligations à taux fixe, en privilégiant des maturités plus courtes que les années précédentes, comprises entre 4 et 7 ans et des signatures de qualité. Les investissements obligataires réalisés sur 2012 ont une notation supérieure à A et sont alloués essentiellement en obligations d'État françaises et obligations foncières françaises. maintenir la part investie en immobilier (bureaux, hôtels, commerces) L’année 2013 s’annonce encore incertaine en ce qui concerne la croissance de l'économie mais pourrait rester favorable aux marchés actions. La stratégie d’investissement de Sogecap, mise en ??uvre au 1er trimestre 2013 et qui devrait se poursuivre sur l’année, continuera à privilégier la sécurité des investissements ainsi que la préservation du capital via la diversification des risques sur des obligations d'émetteurs de qualité. Sogecap pourra, en complément, renforcer la partie investie en immobilier en privilégiant les actifs présentant le meilleur rapport entre rendement attractif et risque modéré. De plus, Sogecap pourrait être amené à renforcer sa capacité de financement de l'économie française en développant son positionnement sur les petites et moyennes entreprises (PME) et les entreprises de moyenne capitalisation afin d’optimiser le rendement du portefeuille sur le long terme.

La France a ajouté l'île anglo-normande de Jersey, les Bermudes et les Iles Vierges Britanniques à sa liste des paradis fiscaux, dont elle a retiré les Philippines. Le Botswana, Brunei, le Guatemala, les Iles Marshall, Montserrat, Nauru et l'île de Niue restent toujours présents dans la liste actualisée publiée au Journal Officiel du 28 août par Bercy.

Le Tribunal constitutionnel portugais a infligé hier un nouveau revers au gouvernement en invalidant une loi qui aurait autorisé des licenciements dans le secteur public, dans le cadre du plan de sauvetage budgétaire conclu avec l’Union européenne et le FMI. Les retombées de ce projet sur le déficit budgétaire 2014 auraient été relativement modestes –170 millions d’euros d'économies– mais cette décision pourrait inquiéter les investisseurs qui comptent sur l’entrée en application des mesures d’austérité décidées par Lisbonne.

Les inscriptions hebdomadaires au chômage ont diminué aux Etats-Unis lors de la semaine au 24 août à 331.000 contre 337.000 (révisé) la semaine précédente, a annoncé jeudi le département du Travail. Les économistes attendaient en moyenne 332.000 inscriptions au chômage.

Contrairement aux attentes, le nombre de demandeurs d’emplois en Allemagne a augmenté de 7.000 en août, à 2,943 millions, montrent les chiffres corrigés des variations saisonnières de l’Office fédéral de la statistique. Le taux de chômage est resté inchangé à 6,8%, proche de ses plus bas depuis la réunification du pays.

Le groupe américain a accepté de verser 85 millions de dollars pour mettre fin à une action de groupe lancée par des investisseurs l’accusant de ne pas avoir communiqué au marché des investissements douteux avant son introduction en Bourse en 2007. Cet accord représente environ 12% du montant que les avocats des plaignants estimaient pouvoir obtenir lors d’un procès.

L'économie américaine a enregistré au deuxième trimestre une croissance nettement plus forte qu’initialement estimé, selon les chiffres du département du Commerce qui confortent la perspective d’un prochain durcissement de la politique monétaire de la Réserve fédérale. Le PIB a progressé de 2,5% en rythme annuel sur la période, une cadence deux fois plus élevée qu’au cours des trois mois précédents et nettement supérieure au taux de 1,7% annoncé en première estimation. Le relèvement de ce chiffre de croissance résulte du dynamisme des exportations, qui ont enregistré sur la période leur expansion la plus soutenue depuis 2 ans. Il s’explique aussi par une contribution des stocks plus importante qu’initialement annoncé. De nombreux économistes s’attendent à une accélération de l’activité aux Etats-Unis dans la seconde partie de l’année, en raison d’un moindre impact des mesures d’austérité budgétaire.

Les différents ministères du gouvernement japonais s’apprêtent à réclamer au total 99.200 milliards de yens (762 milliards d’euros) dans le cadre du budget pour l’exercice fiscal 2014 qui débutera en avril prochain, indique Reuters qui se réfère à des sources proches du dossier. Cela se compare avec les 92.600 milliards de yens inscrits dans le budget de l’exercice en cours.

Un nouveau fonds de private equity créé par l’ex-vice président de Lone Star, Ellis Short, a monté une filiale en Irlande, rapporte Reuters. Kildare Partners vise des portefeuilles liés à l’immobilier non ou sous-performants. La filiale installée à Dublin sera dirigée par Emer Finnan, une ancienne directrice financière d’Educational Building Society (EBS).

Les données de la banque centrale brésilienne montrent que les banques ont octroyé en glissement mensuel 0,6% de prêts en plus en juillet, soit un ralentissement par rapport à la hausse de 1,8% enregistrée en juin. Les prêts défaillants depuis au moins 90 jours sont restés à un niveau stable, à 5,2% du total.