A coalition of 34 institutional investors managing approximately USD3.3trn in assets are encouraging 1900 companies, located in 44 countries, to consider joining the United Nations Global Compact as part of the “PRI for Rio” collaborative engagement. Enhancing corporate sustainability was high on the agenda of the 193 Member States that attended the UN’s Rio+20 conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012. Following the Rio+20 event, a group of PRI signatories launched this engagement to further support the call for an increased focus on strategic sustainability among companies globally, calling it PRI for Rio.The investors supporting this engagement, who are all signatories to the UN-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI), are based in Australia, Europe, North and South America and include BNP Paribas Investment Partners, Boston Common Asset Management, Calvert Investments, Highclere International Investors, PGGM, Scottish Widows Investment Partnership, Sparinvest Holdings SE, Threadneedle Investments, Trillium Asset Management and Walden Asset Management.

Domenico Siniscalco was on Tuesday reelected as head of Assogestioni, the association of Italian asset managers. He will serve a second term until March 2016.Three vice-president have also been chosen : Nikhil Srinivasan, chief investment officer at Generali, Giordano Lombardo, president at Pioneer Investment Management SGR, and Mauro Micillo, CEO at Eurizon Capital SGR.They will all be part of the executive committee of Assogestioni. The other directors on this board are:Enrico Ajello (Poste Italiane), Sergio Albarelli (Franklin Templeto)n, Lorenzo Alfieri (JP Morgan Asset Management), Vittorio Ambrogi (Morgan Stanley AM), Michael Atzwanger (Alpenbank), Marco Barbaro (BNP Paribas Investment Partners), Francesco Betti Aletti (Gestielle), Marco Carreri (Anima), Mauro Castiglioni (DWS), Tommaso Corcos (Fideuram Investimenti), Alberto D’Avenia (Allianz Global Investors), Marco Doglio (Fabrica SGR), Guido Giubergia (Ersel Asset Management), Pietro Giuliani (Azimut), Ugo Loser (Arca SGR), Walter Ottolenghi (Mediolanum), Michel Pelosoff (Amundi), Riccardo Serrini (Prelios), Luca Tenani (Schroders Italia SIM) and Dario Valentino (Investire Immobiliare).

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined companies in the Prudential Group (Prudential) a total of GBP30m for breaching FSA Principles and UKLA Listing Principles. The fines relate to Prudential’s failure to inform the FSA at the appropriate time that it was seeking to acquire AIA, the Asian subsidiary of AIG, in early 2010. The FSA has also censured Tidjane Thiam, Prudential’s Group Chief Executive.

P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to statistics from VDOS, Spanish funds are reported to have posted inflows between 1 and 21 March of EUR939m in net subscriptions. With a positive market effect of EUR705m taken into account, this would have generated a gain of EUR1.645bn in assets, putting the total at EUR133.337bn, 1.25% higher than at the end of February.If these figures prove correct, Spanish funds will have posted an increase of EUR5.6bn in their assets in first quarter 2013, meaning that they will have regained slightly more than the EUR5.4bn of the asset decline recorded in 2012 as a whole. This is partly due to net subscriptions of EUR3.2bn, more than one euro for every three that were withdrawn last year.

BoA-ML and Morgan Stanley’s UCITS-compliant platforms just released two UCITS compliant commodities hedge funds.The first one has been launched by Van Eck Absolute Return Advisers, a long/short product named Van Eck Commodities Long-Short Equity UCITS Fund (LU0859243031 EUR).The second, a global-macro vehicle, is the MS Discretionary Plus UCITS Fund (IE00B83GZF05) from Mesirow Financial Commodities Management.These funds have respective AMCs of 1.5% and 2.15%, each with a performance fee of 20 %. Both demand a minimal initial subscription of EUR1m.

With its new thematic subfund BNPP L1 Equity World Aqua (*), launched on February 15th, BNP Paribas Investment Partners (BNPP IP) has released its first cross-border master-feeder fund. It is the Luxembourg-domiciled version of a French-registered fund, BNP Paribas Aqua, a water fund launched in December, 2008.The strategy has recorded strong sales, to EUR232m from EUR150m as of the end of January and EUR100m at the beginning of December. It is mainly sold through the retail and private banking channels and will be one of most actively marketed products for 2013.The fund, which has received the ecological LuxFlag label, is managed by Simon Gottelier and Bruce Jenkins Jones from the London-based boutique Impact Asset Management, in which BNPP IP owns more than 25%.Since the launch of the original French product, annualised performance has been 18.3%, which outperforms rival strategies on the market and also the MSCI World index. The choice of a Luxembourg domicile vehicle should help market the feeder fund in Belgium, Denmark, Spain, Finland and Sweden, while continuuing to sell it in France, Italy and Switzerland.Eric Borremans, head of CSR & SRI Development de BNPP IP, told Newsmanagers that the portfolio has about 50 holdings out of a 300 stock universe, with a turnover rate of 30%. The fund is 20% allocated to utilities (defensive), 50 % to equipment providers and infrastructure builders (cyclical), with the remaining 30% going to companies active in technologies and products for the treatment and purifiaction of water (defensive). The management team uses a bottom-up approach, with an overlay of sectoral allocation between defensive and cyclical stocks.With regards to the peer group, BNPP IP believes that its fund is more of a pure player in the water theme, with an average exposure of 64% vs 55% for the neerest competitor. Borremans also told that the management theme won’t allow any... watering down of the strategy, which means that the fund could be soft-closed when it reaches EUR750m in AUM. (*) Isin codes : LU0831546592 (P shares) : LU08311546675 (I shares)AMC: 2.20% (P) / 1.21% (I)

According to a SEC filing, Vanguard plans to shift the indices of a European stock index fund and a Pacific stock index fund, Mutual Fund Wire reports.The European fund, which formerly followed the MSCI Europe Index, will now follow the FTSE Developed Europe Index, while the Pacific fund, which formerly followed the MSCI Pacific Index, will now follow the FTSE Developed Asia Pacific Index.

Guinness Atkinson, the money manager known for its active mutual funds focused on alternative energy and Asia, filed regulatory paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission to gain permission to market index-based exchange-traded funds, IndexUniverse reports.The exemptive relief filing implied the company could end up sponsoring equities as well as fixed-income funds focused on the United States and on international markets including Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, the Netherlands and the U.K.Guinness Atkinson, the sponsor of eight no-load open-ended mutual funds, is the latest mutual fund company to lay the regulatory groundwork necessary to join the rapidly expanding world of ETFs

Andrew Fleming stepped down as joint CEO and CIO at Kames Capital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Aegon Asset Management, after eight years with the company. Sarah Russell, CEO of Aegon Asset Management, will assume the role of interim CEO at Kames Capital while the search is conducted for Fleming’s replacement.Stephen Jones, currently Co-Head of Fixed Income together with David Roberts, has been appointed as CIO. The roles of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Chief Investment Officer (CIO) will be split.

First State Investments has appointed Paul Griffiths to the newly created role of chief investment officer, fixed interest and credit. Paul Griffiths has over 22 years of fixed income experience and joins First State from Aberdeen Asset Management, where he was the global head of fixed income. In this role he was responsible for 15 principle strategies and managed 130 investment professionals in London, Philadelphia, Singapore and Sydney.Reporting to chief executive officer, Mark Lazberger, Paul Griffiths will be responsible for the Global Fixed Interest and Credit, Short Term Investments and the Global Emerging Markets Debt teams. As a result of this appointment head of fixed interest and credit Tony Adams, head of short term investments, Tony Togher and head of global emerging market debt, Helene Williamson will all report directly to Paul Griffiths once he commences with the business on 1 July.

Alberto d’Avenia on March 12th joined Allianz Global Investors (AGI) as director and head of business development for Souther Europe, with a specific focus un the «PIGS» (Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain). He spent 13 years at BNP Paribas Investment Partners, most recently as head of distribution sales for Italy and Mediterranean countries.At AGI, d’Avenia reports directly to Nick Smith, head of retail sales Europe (ex Germany). He will be a member of the executive distribution committee.

Credit Suisse on Wednesday announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire Morgan Stanley’s wealth management businesses in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), excluding Switzerland. The businesses with a total of over USD13bn of assets under management are based in the UK, Italy and Dubai, serving predominantly international Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) and High Net Worth (HNW) clients across Europe.The transaction complements Credit Suisse’s wealth management business in Europe and reinforces the bank’s focus on growing its UHNW and HNW client segments. The acquisition will add scale to the bank’s core growth markets in EMEA including the UK, Italy, Nordics, Russia and the Middle East. In the UK market, the acquisition will significantly increase Credit Suisse’s client base, making the bank a top ten player and leading wealth manager, according to a press release.The businesses acquired will be integrated into Credit Suisse’s Private Banking & Wealth Management division. The acquisition will offer Morgan Stanley’s private banking clients, relationship managers and other employees an opportunity to benefit from a leading product platform and client offering, broad expertise and the highest quality standards of one of the world’s longest established private banks, Credit Suisse says.

Gregory Herbert has been appointed manager of the GBP35m (as of Feb. 28) Jupiter European Income Fund with effect from 2 April 2013, Jupiter Asset Management announced.Herbert, who has worked at Jupiter since 2005, joined the European equities team in 2007 to assist Cédric de Fonclare whose team cumulatively manages some GBP1.1bn (as of December, 31st).De Fonclare, who will retain involvement on the Fund, supporting Herbert as deputy manager, has produced a return of 14.5% against 11.8% for the IMA European ex UK sector average and 10.2% for the MSCI Europe ex UK index since he took over the portfolio on 15 July 2011

Fitch Ratings has affirmed ECM Asset Management Limited’s (ECM) ‘M2' Asset Manager rating. The rating covers the company’s London-based investment activities. Asset manager operations in the ‘M2' category demonstrate low vulnerability to operational and investment management failure.The affirmation recognises the deep staffing resources, highly formalised investment process and robust outsourced operating model. The firm continues to make progress in expanding its fund offering and related investor base, a strategic priority to reduce reliance on MTN programmes which feature notes with fixed maturities, still representing 60% of the firm’s AUM. The rating action also takes into account the enhancement and integration of research portals and risk analytics which add transparency to an already highly disciplined investment process.

Schroders will build a multi-manager arm to rival Jupiter Merlin range once Cazenove’s Marcus Brookes and Robin McDonald join the company, global head of equities Peter Harrison has said, according to Investment Week. Following the acquisition of Cazenove, Schroders plans to combine the Cazenove funds to its own multi-asset range, led by Johanna Kyrklund.

BlackRock, Inc. on March 27 announced that David Blumer, previously chief investment officer (CIO) at Swiss Re, will join BlackRock as head of EMEA, a newly-created position, on April 8. Meanwhile, James Charrington, chairman for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), will assume a new role with a focus on regulation, governance and people. David Blumer will be responsible for developing BlackRock’s strategic plan for EMEA, building strategic client and partner relationships, and ensuring strong investment performance, operating and regulatory standards in the region. As head of EMEA, he will serve as BlackRock’s executive representative with the UK Financial Services Authority. He will chair BlackRock’s EMEA Executive Committee and join its global executive committee as a senior managing director.James Charrington, who remains chairman for EMEA, will engage on broad regulatory issues as BlackRock’s primary liaison with the UK government and the firm’s representative on the board of the UK Investment Management Association. He will continue to serve as chairman of BlackRock Group Limited and the firm’s other UK-regulated entities, and will also focus on people, talent and culture in the region. “

BlackRock a annoncé hier l’arrivée, à compter du 8 avril prochain, de David Blumer au poste de head of EMEA (Europe, Moyen-Orient et Afrique), une fonction créée pour la circonstance. David Blumer remplacera James Charrington qui occupait, pour sa part, la fonction de chairman pour la région EMEA. Ce dernier reste néanmoins dans la société mais est appelé à d’autres fonctions en lien notamment avec les questions liées notamment à la réglementation et la gouvernance. Le nouveau responsable qui était précédemment chief investment officer chez Swiss Re sera chargé d'élaborer le plan stratégique de BlackRock pour la région EMEA, et d'établir des relations stratégiques entre clients et partenaires. En tant que head de la région EMEA, il représentera également BlackRock devant la Financial Services Authority (FSA) au Royaume-Uni et présidera le comité exécutif de la région EMEA. Il rejoint enfin son comité exécutif mondial comme senior managing director, précise un communiqué. Interrogé par Newsmanagers, Eric Wohleber, directeur général de BlackRock en France a insisté sur la symbolique de cette nomination, qui propulse à la tête de la région EMEA un européen, suisse en l’occurrence, et jeune – 44 ans – qui doit contribuer selon le responsable basé à Paris à conforter la notion de société de croissance chère à BlackRock. «Nous avons l’ambition de grandir encore», a insisté Erick Wohleber, «quand bien même nous occupons la place de leader en Europe». Et de rappeler que la collecte mondiale en 2012 a atteint le chiffre record de 262 milliards d’euros dont 32,7 milliards pour le vieux Continent. «Sur ce montant», a-t-il ajouté, «18,5 milliards ont été captés par BlackRock et ce sur 181 fournisseurs d’ETF recensés dans le monde». Il y a incontestablement «une prime aux gros» a analysé le dirceteur de BlackRock en France qui a également rappelé que sur le plan mondial, le shéma se répètait. «A fin février dernier, la collecte 2013 s’est élevée à 47 milliards de dollars dont iShares et Vanguard drainent 74 % de l’ensemble. Sur la France, BlackRock a enregistré un milliard d’euros de collecte en 2012, «une année exceptionnelle qui aurait pu l'être plus encore», a rappelé Eric Wohleber, «qui a dû faire face au rachat dans le cadre d’un mandat indiciel.

Sweden’s asset manager Gustavia Fonder is taking over the management of the Tangent fund managed by Tanglin Asset Management. Tangent is a small cap fund. It will be merged into Gustavia Smabolag.

A joint subsidiary of Munich Re and Ergo, MEAG Munich Ergo Asset Management (EUR238bn) on March 27th confirmed that one of its managing directors, Dieter Wolf (62), will be retiring at the end of this month.Wolf joined as MD at MEAG in August 1999. He played a key role in the initial phase of MEAG, and was responsible for the establishment of new asset classes in the fields of bonds, renewable energies, new technologies and infrastructure as the head of portfolio management.Wolf’s successor is Philipp Waldstein Wartenberg, who took over the portfolio management for securities, monetary instruments and forex at the beginning of 2013.

Luc D’hooge has been appointed to head emerging markets fixed income to strengthen the investment capabilities and further develop the product offering in that asset class at Vontobel Asset Management. Additionally, Wouter Van Overfelt joins the team as portfolio manager and quantitative analyst.The former joins from Dexia Asset Management where he was head of emerging markets bond funds while the latter joins from GDF Suez but previously worked for Dexia as senior credit risk modeller and quantitative analyst.

Nikko Asset Management has announced that Bill Wilder, President of Nikko Asset Management, has decided to retire at the end of this fiscal year. Effective April 1st, Charles Beazley will take over as President as part of the firm’s long agreed succession plan. Bill Wilder joined Nikko AM in 2004 as President and Chief Investment Officer, overseeing the firm’s global investment teams. In January, recent hire Yu-Ming Wang was appointed International Chief Investment Officer and Hiroki Tsujimura was promoted to Chief Investment Officer, Japan, to allow for a smooth transition of Wilder’s investment oversight responsibilities. Established in 1959, the Nikko Asset Management group manages AUM of USD154bn.

BlackRock a annoncé hier l’arrivée, à compter du 8 avril prochain, de David Blumer au poste de head of EMEA (Europe, Moyen-Orient et Afrique), une fonction créée pour la circonstance. David Blumer travaillera aux côtés de James Charrington qui occupe, pour sa part, la fonction de chairman pour la région EMEA et se focalisera désormais sur les questions liées notamment à la réglementation et la gouvernance. Le nouveau responsable qui était précédemment chief investment officer chez Swiss Re sera chargé d'élaborer le plan stratégique de BlackRock pour la région EMEA, et d'établir des relations stratégiques entre clients et partenaires. En tant que head de la région EMEA, il représentera également BlackRock devant la Financial Services Authority (FSA) au Royaume-Uni et présidera le comité exécutif de la région EMEA. Il rejoint enfin le comité exécutif mondial de la société de gestion comme senior managing director, précise un communiqué.Interrogé par Newsmanagers, Eric Wohleber, directeur général de BlackRock en France a insisté sur cette nomination qui doit contribuer à conforter la notion de société de croissance chère à BlackRock. «Nous avons l’ambition de grandir encore», a insisté Eric Wohleber, «quand bien même nous occupons la place de leader mondial». Et de rappeler que les encours mondiaux de BlackRock se sont accrus de 279 milliards de dollars en 2012 (à 3 792 milliards). En Europe, alors que le marché des ETF a enregistré une collecte de 32,7 milliards de dollars en 2012, avec 39 fournisseurs, iShares s’est octroyé une part de marché de 57%. «Il y a incontestablement «une prime aux gros» dans la gestion indicielle a analysé le directeur de BlackRock en France qui a également rappelé que depuis le début de l’année, et au niveau mondial, le schéma se répéte. «A fin février dernier, la collecte s’est élevée à 47 milliards de dollars dont iShares et Vanguard drainent 74 % de l’ensemble. «Sur la France, les encours de BlackRock se sont accrus d’un milliard d’euros en 2012 (à 14,8 milliards)», a précisé Eric Wohleber. Une année exceptionnelle selon le dirigeant et qui aurait pu l'être plus encore si sa maison n’avait dû faire face à un rachat important dans le cadre d’un mandat indiciel.

Alberto d’Avenia a rejoint le 12 mars Allianz Global Investors (AGI) comme directeur et responsable du développement pour l’Europe méridionale, avec un «focus» géographique sur le Portugal, l’Italie, la Grèce et l’Espagne.Il a travaillé treize ans chez BNP Paribas Investment Partners comme responsable commercial de la distribution pour l’Italie et les pays méditerranéens.Chez AGI, le nouvel arrivant est subordonné directement à Nick Smith, head of retail sales Europe (ex Germany). Il fera partie de l’executive distribution committee.

Les plates-formes coordonnées de Bank of America Merrill Lynch et de Morgan Stanley viennent d’accueillir deux fonds de matières premières, un long/short de droit luxembourgeois proposé par Van Eck Absolute Return Advisers, le Van Eck Commodities Long-Short Equity UCITS Fund, pour la première, et un global macro, le MS Discretionary Plus UCITS Fund de Mesirow Financial Commodities Management, pour la seconde.Ces fonds coordonnés sont chargés respectivement à 1,5 % et 2,15 %. Ils comportent chacun une commission de performance de 20 %. Dans les deux cas, la souscription minimale est fixée à 1 million d’euros.

Avec le compartiment BNPP L1 Equity World Aqua (*), BNP Paribas Investment Partners propose désormais son premier fonds maître-nourricier transfrontalier, lancé le 15 février. Il s’agit de la version nourricière luxembourgeoise d’un FCP de droit français BNP Paribas Aqua, qui a été pour sa part lancé en décembre 2008.La stratégie a fortement collecté ces derniers temps, pour atteindre 232 millions d’euros contre 150 millions fin janvier et 100 millions début décembre. Il est surtout demandé par les réseaux retail et banque privée et fera partie de l’offre-phare pour 2013.Le fonds, qui bénéficie du label écologique LuxFlag, est géré par Simon Gottelier et Bruce Jenkins Jones de la boutique londonienne Impact Asset Management dont BNPP IP contrôle un peu plus du quart du capital.Depuis le lancement du produit de droit français, la performance annualisée est ressortie à 18,3 %, donc supérieure à celle des stratégies similaires sur le marché ainsi qu’au MSCI World. Il est vrai qu’il a été lancé quasiment au creux du marché… L’adoption du domicile luxembourgeois doit permettre de commercialiser le fonds nourricer en Belgique, au Danemark, en Espagne, en Finlande et en Suède, tout en continuant de la distribuer en France, en Italie et en Suisse.Eric Borremans, head of CSR & SRI Development de BNPP IP, a indiqué à Newsmanagers que le portefeuille comporte environ 50 lignes (sur un univers de 300 valeurs), avec un taux de rotation de 30 %. Le fonds est alloué à 20 % à des actions de sociétés de services aux collectivités (poche défensive), à 50 % à des équipementiers et constructeurs d’infrastructures liées à l’eau (poche cyclique), les 30 % restants étant consacrés à des sociétés dans le domaine des technologies pour le traitement et l'épuration de l’eau (poche défensive).La gestion s’effectue par sélection de valeurs, mais avec égard à l’allocation sectorielle entre valeurs défensives et cycliques. Par rapport aux principaux concurrents du «peer group», BNPP IP estime que son fonds s’avère plus «pur», avec une exposition au thème de l’eau de 64 % en moyenne contre 55 % pour le principal rival. D’autre part, le gestionnaire français veillera à ne pas dénaturer la stratégie, ce qui pourrait se traduire par un plafonnement de l’encours aux alentours de 750 millions d’euros. (*) codes Isin : LU0831546592 (parts P) : LU08311546675 (parts I)Frais de gestion : 2,20 % (P) / 1,21 % (I)

Le spécialiste des mutual funds dédiés aux énergies alternatives et à l’Asie, Guinness Atkinson, a déposé une demande d’autorisation auprès de la Securities & Exchange Commission pour commercialiser des ETF, rapporte IndexUniverse.Guinness pourrait proposer à la fois des fonds actions et obligataires dédiés aux Etats-Unis et aux marchés internationaux y compris l’Australie, le Canada, la Chine, la France, l’Allemagne, Hong Kong, l’Italie, les Pays-Bas et le Royaume-Uni.

First State Investments vient de nommer Paul Griffiths au poste nouvellement créé de chief investment officer pour l’obligataire et le crédit. Paul Griffiths vient tout juste de quitter Aberdeen Asset Management où il était le responsable mondial de l’obligataire.Paul Griffiths sera directement rattaché au CEO de First State, Mark Lazberger. A compter du 1 juillet 2013, Tony Adams, responsable fixed interest and credit, Tony Togher, responsable des investissements à court terme et Helene Williamson, responsable de la dette émergente, seront directement rattachés à Paul Griffiths

BNP Paribas Real Estate Transaction France a annoncé mercredi 27 mars une nouvelle organisation pour son pôle Activité-Logistique. René Jeannenot, directeur du pôle Activité/Logistique Ile-de-France, associé, se voit confier en plus la direction de l’équipe Logistique nationale, soit au total une équipe de 45 collaborateurs. Au sein de son équipe, Jean-Baptiste Roulleau devient directeur de l’équipe Activité Nord et Est Ile-de-France, suite au départ de Christian Commissaire qui a fait valoir ses droits à la retraite.

Andrew Fleming a démissionné de son poste de directeur général (CEO) et directeur des investissements (CIO) de Kames Capital, filiale à 100 % d’Aegon Asset Management, après avoir passé huit ans au sein de la société.Sarah Russell, CEO d’Aegon AM, va reprendre le rôle de CEO par intérim en attendant qu’un remplaçant permanent soit trouvé. Parallèlement, Stephen Jones, actuel co-responsable de l’obligataire avec David Roberts, a été nommé CIO. Kames Capital a en effet décidé de séparer les fonctions de CEO et CIO.

D’après les statistiques de VDOS, les fonds espagnols auraient collecté entre le 1er et le 21 mars 939 millions d’euros de souscriptions nettes. Ce qui, avec un effet de marché positif de 705 millions d’euros, aurait généré une hausse de 1.645 millions d’euros de l’encours, à 133.337 millions, soit 1,25 % de plus qu’à fin février.Si ces chiffres se confirment, les fonds espagnols auraient enregistré une hausse de 5.600 millions d’euros de leur encours au premier trimestre 20134, récupérant ainsi un peu plus que les 5.400 millions de la baisse constatée pour l’ensemble de 2012. Cela en partie grâce à des souscriptions nettes de 3.200 millions d’euros, soit plus d’un euro sur trois qui avaient été retirés l’an dernier.