As Newsmanagers reported last week, Philippe Couvrecelle has officially launched PTH-Conseil, his own asset management consulting firm. The former chairman of the board of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EdRAM) will collaborate with Jean Maunoury, previously head of strategy and a fund of funds manager at EdRAM. In practice, PTH-Conseil, the announcement of whose launch coincides with that of the 2013-2016 strategic plan at La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild (see elsewhere in Newsmanagers), «will provide strategic guidance to both local and global asset managers, with a particular emphasis on European, American and Asian markets. In light of the challenges and changes facing the asset management industry, they are poised to step in with a differentiated approach to help companies to re-think and re-shape their business architecture,» a statement says.

In November, assets at Legg Mason, Franklin Templeton, Invesco and AllianceBernstein increased to a total of USD31bn.As is frequently the case, Franklin Templeton has posted by far the largest increase in its assets, which in November increased by USD14.9bn to a total of USD768.8bn. This time, however, this largely reflects the firm’s acquisition of K2 Advisors and of USD8.7bn which came in as an addition to hybrid assets of USD118.9bn. The volume of assets in bond products increased by USD6.6bn to USD341.9bn.At AllianceBernstein, total assets in November increased by USD7bn to a total of USD426bn, largely due to fixed income products, while at Invesco, an increase of USD6.4bn to USD683.8bn went to various sectors (equities, fixed income, mixed, money markets and alternative).Lastly, at Legg Mason, an increase of USD2.7bn, to USD648.3bn, resulted in an increase of USD6.6bn only for money market funds.

The structure born of the merger of Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management and Edmond de Rothschild Investment Managers, which now represents the unified asset management unit for the Edmond de Rothschild group, has set itself the goal of increasing its assets from EUR24bn to a total of EUR35bn by 2016, Christophe de Backer, CEO, has announced, presenting the group’s 4-year strategic plan on Wednesday. The merger of the two French asset management firms resulted in the loss of 66 jobs out of 250, de Backer confirms. These layoffs were largely in support roles, marketing, and sales, where the overlaps were, says Marc Samuel, head of the bank in Paris. The resulting structure, which will have a new head in first quarter, and which will be known as EdRAM, will become the core of asset management at the group, with EUR50bn worldwide and a target of EUR70bn by 2016. The profession overall, in several geographical regions, will also undergo some rationalisation. This will include a consolidation of the product range, so as to have funds with over EUR1bn in assets, Samuel explains to Newsmanagers. “We are seeing that inflows in Europe are going to large funds,” he says. However, he has not said what the target is in terms of the number of funds. He also says the bank is considering options for fund domiciles, between Paris and Luxembourg. In addition to these cost reductions, gathering forces in asset management also response to a desire to position the group as a major player in Europe and to develop internationally, which is also intended to be a driver of asset growth. The group is particularly targeting Switzerland, where it has a presence primarily in private banking, its other core profession, and “two enormous and virtually unexplored markets: the United Kingdom and Germany,” de Backer says. In order to increase assets, de Backer has not ruled out external growth, through small operations. These objectives come as part of an overall plan to increase assets under management at the Edmond de Rothschild group from EUR125bn to EUR158bn by 2016, to lower the cost/income ratio from 85% to 66%, and to offer returns for shareholders of 11%, up from 5% currently. This will involve a 10% reduction in costs by 2016.

The board of directors at Janus Capital Group (JCG) has decided to pay a quarterly dividend of 6 cents per share on 31 December, to shareholders registered as of closing on 21 December. This replaces a payment which would have come in January 2013.As of the end of September, assets under management at JCG totalled USD158.2bn.

Franco-Belgian group Dexia announced on Wednesday it had signed an agreement to sell Dexia Asset Management to Hong Kong based GCS Capital for EUR380 million.The scope of the transaction includes the full perimeter of Dexia Asset Management, and it falls within the context of the plan for the orderly resolution of the Dexia Group undertaken in October 2011.Finalisation of this transaction could take place in the first quarter 2013.

From 1 January 2013, Fidelity Investments will be slashing the TER for eight tracker funds of its Spartan range. The minimal subscription for the 14 Spartan funds will also be lowered from USD10,000 to USD2,500 for investor share, and USD100,000 to USD10,000 for advantage shares. Minimal subscription for the other eight Fidelity funds will be reduced to USD2,500 from USD10,000.

According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, in early 2013, Natixis Asset Management (NAM) will release a UCITS-compliant fund which already has comfortable seed capital for active sale in the long/short segment. It is a highly actively managed credit arbitrage fund, which uses the resources of the quant and credit teams, and aims to earn returns 250 basis points higher than the Eonia, although the portfolio currently in incubation is generating far higher returns.The portfolio, which will be highly actively managed, uses pair trade and directional trade techniques. It is active in all fixed income segments, and uses options on CDS.

On the basis of research by Efficient Capital Management, Stoxx Limited is launching the iSTOXX Efficient Capital Managed Futures 20 Index, which includes 20 of the largest Commodity Trading Advisors (CTA) by asset volume. This may be used as an basis for financial products.

Heads of investor relations at a publicly-traded business are increasingly important. 65% of the time, this head reports directly to the chief financial officer, and 26% of the time to the CEO, according to an international survey of 140 heads of investor relationships undertaken by CA Cheuvreux, in partnership with investor relationship associations in France and Germany, CLIFF (the French investor relationship association) and DIRK (Deutsche Investor Relations Verband). Communications about sustainable development and management of relationships with bond investors/analysts are the primary current concerns of heads of investor relationships. The survey also finds that less than one out of every two investor relationship teams is responsible for sustainable development communications. Heads of investor relationships at mid-sizes businesses more often serve in complementary roles than their counterparts at larger market caps, primarily those of chief financial officer, head of management controls or communications. 85% of the time, heads of investor relationships are present at some meetings with the board of directors. However, only 12% participate in all meetings, and 3% are members of the board. 9 times out of 10, heads of investor relationships estimate that the importance of their role is duly recognised by the CEO and CFO as well as by financial analysts and investors. However, the responses are more nuanced for the auditing and advisory boards. Lastly, only one third of firms say they use social networks as communication tools. Twitter was the most frequently-cited, more often than LinkedIn.

The former CEO of the Financial Services Authority (FSA) until January 2012, Hector Sants, will on 21 January join Barclays Plc as head of compliance & government & regulatory relations. He will report directly to Antony Jenkins, group chief executive.In this newly-created position, he will be responsible for all compliance issues at the Barclays group worldwide. In other words, this means that for the first time, all personnel in the area of compliance will all report to a single person, and will act independently of their profession and regional heads.

The Scottish asset management firm Aberdeen Asset Management has won a USD200m mandate to manage emerging market bonds for the Danish pension fund PKA, Citywire reports. The mandate will be managed by the emerging market debt team at Aberdeen. Assets under management at PKA total USD34.5bn.

Threadneedle Investments on Wednesday announced that Campbell Fleming will become chief executive officer of Threadneedle, replacing Crispin Henderson who will become vice chairman of Global Asset Management for Ameriprise Financial, the parent company of Threadneedle. In their new roles, both Henderson and Fleming will report to Ted Truscott, CEO of Global Asset Management for Ameriprise. Crispin Henderson has served Threadneedle for more than a decade, since 2007 as chief executive.Campbell Fleming joined Threadneedle in 2009 as head of distribution and is a member of the Threadneedle executive committee.

EFG Funding (Guernsey) Limited, an affiliate of EFG International, on 12 December announced a public request for proposals and a bid to holders of EFG fiduciary certificates. EFG Funding (Guernsey) Limited (“EFG Funding,”) an affiliate of EFG International AG, invites holders of EUR400m EFG fiduciary certificates (ISIN XS0204324890, currently EUR264,781,000 in circulation), issued on a fiduciary basis by the Bank of Luxembourg, to offer all EFG fiduciary certificates for sale, at 60% of the nominal price plus costs. In addition, holders of EFG fiduciary certificates are asked to approve certain changes to the terms and conditions for EFG fiduciary certificates at an extraordinary resolution, by which EFG fiduciary certificates are required to comply with owners’ equity requirements established as part of Basel III, which will come into force in Switzerland on 1 January 2013. Approval from FINMA is also required.

La banque centrale suisse a souligné sa détermination à plafonner le franc suisse à 1,20 pour un euro et a averti qu’elle pourrait prendre des mesures supplémentaires en cas de menace de dégradation de l’activité économique. «Le franc demeure à un niveau élevé. Une appréciation de notre monnaie menacerait la stabilité des prix et aurait de graves conséquences sur l'économie suisse», a averti la Banque nationale suisse, à l’issue d’une réunion trimestrielle.

La crise politique déclenchée en Italie par l’annonce de la démission du président du Conseil Mario Monti aura un impact limité sur sa note de crédit, a annoncé jeudi l’agence de notation Moody’s Investors Service.«Nous nous attendons à ce que l’agenda des réformes soit maintenu», a dit l’agence dans une note de recherche. Moody’s accorde actuellement un Baa2 à la signature transalpine, deux crans au-dessus de la catégorie spéculative, avec une perspective négative.

Afin de stimuler le marché actions local, les autorités taïwanaises ont adopté des mesures encourageant les investissements étrangers et notamment chinois en assouplissant les conditions d’introduction en Bourse d’entreprises étrangères. Les banques chinoises pourraient ainsi être autorisées à investir à la Bourse de Taïwan et le quota d’investissement maximum doublé à un milliard de dollars.

Le fabricant d’outillage industriel a offert 4 milliards de dollars pour racheter son concurrent Gardner Denver, selon des sources citées par Reuters, raflant la mise aux fonds Advent et KKR, ainsi qu’à un consortium composé de TPG Capital et Onex. D’après ces sources, l’offre est tellement alléchante que la direction de Gardner Denver n’a pas jugé nécessaire de mener un second tour d’enchères.

La plate-forme va racheter les activités relations avec les investisseurs, relations publiques et solutions multimédia de Thomson Reuters pour 390 millions de dollars en cash. Nasdaq OMX s’attend à ce que l’acquisition développe ses revenus non transactionnels, qui représentent déjà plus de 70% du chiffre d’affaires total.

Le Parlement européen a donné son accord à une coopération renforcée entre onze Etats de l’Union pour mettre en place une taxe sur les transactions financières. L’avis du parlement a été adopté par 533 voix contre 91 et 32 abstentions. Cette étape obligée ne préjuge pas de l’issue du processus qui doit encore obtenir une majorité qualifiée au sein du Conseil. Il faut neuf pays pour lancer une coopération renforcée.

Directeur général depuis 2007 de la société de gestion Threadneedle Investments, Crispin Henderson va devenir vice-président de la division mondiale de gestion d’actifs d’Ameriprise Financial, la maison-mère. A son poste est nommé Campbell Fleming. Responsable de la distribution depuis 2009 et membre du comité exécutif, il est notamment passé par JPMorgan AM.

La Banque centrale sud-coréenne a laissé ce matin ses taux directeurs inchangés à 2,75% après des baisses de 25 points de base en juillet et octobre dernier. « La banque de Corée devrait certainement laisser ses taux inchangés jusqu’à l’année prochaine, à moins qu’il n’y ait un signe clair de reprise économique » estime Yoon Yeo Sam, analyste chez Daewoo Securities.

La France et l’Allemagne tentent de parvenir à un accord concernant la présidence de l’Eurogroupe, et un nom pourrait émerger d’ici quelques jours, a annoncé le Premier ministre finlandais Jyrki Katainen. Pro-européen et ancien ministre des Finances, ce dernier a ajouté qu’il n’avait pas envisagé de prendre la direction de l’Eurogroupe, mais qu’il ne l’excluait pas. La Finlande est l’un des rares pays de la zone euro à avoir conservé son triple A.

Sur neuf mois, l'activité locative de bureaux en province a chuté de 16%. Les situations sont contrastées selon les villes

Les ventes de produits de gestion de fortune (WMP) ont explosé de 85% pour atteindre 1.475 milliards d’euros, soit 16% des dépôts, selon Fitch

Le modèle tourné vers les régions et associant les métiers adjacents tels que le conseil aux entreprises a vocation à être dupliqué dans les autres pays

Le groupe, qui lance un plan stratégique à quatre ans, entend accroître ses actifs d’un quart et adopte une gouvernance plus centrale. Le bureau parisien, tourné vers les régions et associant les métiers adjacents tels que le conseil aux entreprises, a vocation à servir de modèle.

En reportant l’espoir d’une nouvelle baisse des taux sur le début 2013, la BCE a favorisé le statu quo sur la volatilité implicite du Bund

Le groupe vise 158 milliards d’euros d'encours, dont 88 milliards en banque privée. Il repense son organisation avec une gouvernance plus centrale

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Les transactions ont chuté de 9% sur douze mois. Le volume des opérations reste toutefois dans la moyenne des dix dernières années