Assets under management at Comgest as of the end of September totalled EUR15.5bn, compared with EUR13.5bn as of the end of December 2011, Vincent Strauss, head of Comgest, has said at a pres conference. Assets at the asset management firm have returned to their all-time highs of late 2010.But this rebound in assets is largely due to market appreciation, as inflows have remained at modest levels, Strauss says, adding that the past few weeks have been better.Investors are expected to continue to avoid equities, which in relative terms are expected to continue to have highly attractive valuations. In macroeconomic terms, many signs are turning positive, both in the United States and in China, meaning that there are real investment opportunities.Comgest finds, however, that in the next ten years, businesses in emerging markets will have more trouble capturing growth due to increases in labour costs, social benefits, real estate and infrastructure costs, at a time when sale prices are expected to stabilise or fall.However, businesses in developed markets with improving profits are expected to help them benefit from improved economic activity.Comgest is already much more exposed to developed countries than three years ago. Exposure to developed countries for Comgest Monde has increased from 66% to 84%, while exposure to emerging markets has fallen to 16% (of which a stable 10% is China) compared with 34% previously.

Stolen data concerning clients of UBS which was obtained by the tax authorities of North Rhine-Westphalia were photographed by an employee of the bank, the Tages Anzeiger newspaper reports in its 4 December issue, citing a German lawyer. The attorney general of Bochum is continuing his investigations.“The data were photographed with a screen, and assembled piece by piece,” Jörg Schauf, a tax lawyer representing a client of the Swiss bank, says. “It was the work of an internal source,” the lawyer adds, claiming that the data which the tax authorities of the German region are of “remarkable” quality.“Everything is listed: structures, comparison before and after the financial crisis, basic data, the structure of foundations, a complete view of the wealth of clients, and the names of advisers,” he told the newspaper.The CD purchased by the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia is said to have contained information on 750 foundations and investments totalling CHR3.5bn overall. The most recent data is from March 2010. The Bochum attorney general has so far examined 115 cases out of a total of 1,300. The cases of fraud discovered total EUR204m.

Nicholas Rowe de Focus Capital Wealth Management a été condamné par le régulateur, la Finra, à rembourser 1,8 million de dollars de pertes subies par ses clients sur des ETF à effet de levier ou inversés, rapporte le Handelsblatt. Il est reproché au conseiller en investissement des négligences, une escroquerie et d’autres fautes.Dans cette affaire, les clients lésés percevront 1,3 million de dollars de dédommagement et 500.000 dollars pour les droits, les intérêts et les dépenses.

Le Comité de politique financière (FPC), une nouvelle autorité issue de la refonte complète de la réglementation outre-Manche et dépendant de la Banque d’Angleterre, estime que les banques britanniques devraient afficher des ratios de fonds propres reflétant une « valorisation appropriée » de leurs actifs et des « estimations réalistes » du coût des scandales dans lesquels elles sont impliquées, rapporte Les Echos. Ce forum chargé de veiller aux risques systémiques enjoint donc certaines banques à se restructurer ou à renforcer leurs fonds propres. S’il n’a pas précisé le montant, les analystes ont déduit de ses publications qu’entre 20 et 50 milliards au total pourraient être nécessaires.

The German firm Deka Immobilien has acquired the International Business Center in Warsaw, an office and commercial property, from the Munich-based GLL Real Estate Partners GmbH, for about EUR148m.The property, which is wholly leased, will be added to the portfolio of the open-ended real estate fund Deka-ImmobilienEuropa, whose exposure to Poland increases from 4.3% to 5.6%. The eight Polish properties owned by the group have a market value of EUR590m.

Les banquiers suisses ont très vivement réagi à la publication récente par l’Autorité fédérale de surveillance des marchés financiers (Finma) de nouvelles et très strictes exigences concernant le traitement des rétrocessions, pour adapter sa pratique à un récent arrêt du Tribunal fédéral (Newsmanagers du 4 décembre), rapporte L’Agefi suisse.En obligeant les banques à contacter tous les clients potentiellement concernés par cet arrêt, le régulateur s’immisce dans leurs relations privées avec leurs clients et cela, sans consultation préalable, estime l’Association suisse des banquiers (ASB). Doublement impensable pour l’Association suisse des banquiers, qui demande le «réexamen» de ces mesures.

The number private bank branches of UBS Germany will be reduced to ten, and as many as 35 employees will be laid off as a result of the cuts.In a note to German clients, the Swiss group has announced that at the end of 2012, the Wiesbaden branch will be closed, with clients now served from Frankfurt, and that in July 2013, the Dortmund and Essen branches will disappear, to be served from Düsseldorf, and the Rosenheim branch will be closed, with clients served from Munich.From July 2013, the private banking network at UBS in Germany will thus only include Berlin, Bielefeld, Bremen, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Cologne, Munich, Nuremberg and Stuttgart.

Nearly half of European institutional investors say that the financial crisis has had no impact on their integration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria into asset management, according to a Novethic study published on Tuesday. Even 10% consider it an obstacle. The annual study of the integration of ESG criteria by European institutional investors was undertaken with the support of BNP Paribas Investment Partners, and covered 115 directors of major financial institutions in 111 countries with a total of EUR4,470trn in assets under management.With more precise regard to ESG analysis of governments, three quarters of investors say that the euro zone crisis has had no decisive influence on the evolution of ESG ratings charts of countries. It has led only one quarter of investors to revise their analysis of sovereign issuers.ESG practices are changeing nonetheless. For three years, the notion of control of long-term risks with the objective of helping institutional investors to integrate ESG criteria has been gaining popularity. 30% now cite this factor as a reason to practice this type of management, compared with 19% in 2010, while the factor “contribution to sustainable development,” which remains the most popular with 43%, is trending down (46%).The study also finds that normative exclusions are the dominant practice, as 57% of institutional investors say they have defined lists which exclude businesses responsible for severe violations of human rights and damage to the environment. These are often associated with engagement policies, which are deployed by 54% of respondents. The best in class approach has gained popularity, and now stands at 37%.This is a sign of a considerable diversity of approaches, which can also be found across countries. “In terms of SRI, European countries don’t speak the same language,” says Anne-Catherine Husson-Traore, CEO of Novethic, who presented the study on Tuesday.

The Munich-based DAB bank has announced the creation of the security indices FIPOX-S and FIPOX-C, which aim to measure the performance of independent asset managers, the first being a prudent (Safety) version, and the other more dynamic (Chance).The indices replicate the exposures of the ten best portfolio managers among clients of DAB bank, which include two thirds of German professionals in the sector with a BaFin license. The direct bank will each year establish which managers generated the best returns over the past three years. The best in the bond and fixed income funds categories will be included in the FIPOX-S, while the best in equities, certificates and diversified funds will be included in the FIPOX-C. The weighting of assets will be updated monthly.The calculation, composition and publication of the two indices will be released by ICF Kursmakler with a per-minute value for each index.

The markets are more attractive for investors when there is strong competition between traditional and alternative platforms, according to a study recently published by the CFA Institute.The study, “Dark Pools, Internalization, and Equity Market Quality,” evaluates the impact of dark trades, which take place often in dark pools and internationalization of brokers, on measures related to the quality of the market such as bid/offer spreads and the depth of the market. The study finds that although originally an increase in dark trading is synonymous with an improvement in the quality of the markets, they deteriorate when a majority of trades are conducted opaquely.The CFA Institute study proposes that regulatory measures be put in place to encourage healthy competition and protect investors who make trades on traditional markets. These recommendations include the following points: Internalisation of orders placed by retail investors should be required. It brings a real improvement in prices, which means significant savings for small shareholders, and protection for those who make their trades on traditional markets. Regulators should monitor and measure transactions in dark pools and take necessary measures if they increase excessively; Alternative platforms should voluntarily allow investors and regulators to take clearer decisions about their use.

Europeans failed to reach a compromise on the creation of a single supervisory authority for the 6,000 banks in the euro zone, Les Echos reports. Divisions remain significant, particularly between France and Germany. “We are going to get closer to Germany, we are working on it. We have not completely succeeded, but the spirit is there,” finance minister Pierre Moscovici said yesterday. The 27 finance ministers will meet again on 12 December.

Top directors in France are far from the salary highs of Europe, Les Echos reports. They are in fifth place in rankings for 2011 of 14 European countries by Expert Corporate Governance Service (ECGS), which collected information from more tan 400 companies belonging to the MSCI Europe index, of which about 70 are French. Top directors in France made an average of EUR3.48m last year (EUR4.2m counting only the CAC 40). They finished behind their British counterparts, who made an average of EUR5.34m, to place at the top of the rankings. They are followed by German, Swiss, and more surprisingly Spanish and Italian directors.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on December 4 published its final guidelines on repurchase and reverse repurchase agreements for UCITS funds. The guidelines state that UCITS should only enter into such agreements if they are able to recall at any time any assets or the full amount of cash. The guidelines will now be translated into all EU languages and will be incorporated into ESMA’s Guidelines on ETFs and other UCITS issues, published in July 2012. The full set of guidelines will enter into force two months after the publication of the translations. This will result in a comprehensive framework for UCITS that will increase transparency and investor protection and contributes to safeguarding the stability of financial markets.

The head of institutional operation at F&C Asset Management, Richard Wilson, has been appointed CEO, and will begin in the new role on 1 January 2013. He joins the board immediately as executive chairman, as Edward Bramson will become non-executive chairman following the presentation of provisional financial results for the group for 2012 (see Newsmanagers of 3 December).

JP Morgan Asset Management has recruited Tai Hui to the newly-created position of chief strategist for the Asia-Pacific region, Asian Investor reports. Tai, who had previously worked at Standard Chartered, will be based in Hong Kong, where he will oversee the Global Market Insight Strategy team, in order to assist Asian clients with investment decisions. The Asian team, which includes five people, offers a quarterly guide, which follows a top-down approach covering equities, bonds, and to a lesser extent, commodities.

The executive director for Swiss & Global Asset Management for Swiss wholesale activities, Reto Meisser, on 1 December became CEO of Invesco Asset Management (Switzerland).He is joined by three others, Alexandre Sauteret, who had been senior sales director at Fidelity International, and who becomes head of Invesco for French-speaking Switzerland and key clients in Zurich.Martina Brückner (formerly legal & compliance officer at Xing) becomes director of compliance at Invesco Switzerland, while Emmanuel Armbruster joins the customer services team led by Rolf Hans Elsener.

The Edmond de Rothschild private banking group is looking to accelerate the growth of its assets under management in the period 2013-2016. It is aiming for an increase of over 20% to its assets under management, for an operating ratio of 66%, an improvement of about 17%. “These objectives are proportionately applicable to the Groupe Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild S.A.,” the Geneva-based private management bank announced in a statement released on 4 December. The objectives are a part of the strategic plan for 2013-2016 unviled to employees by the new CEO, Christophe de Backer. In an environment of economic pressure and regulatory requirements, the plan aims to harmonise the organisation of the group in order to accelerate domestic and international development. “The strategic plan continues and amplifies the strategy engaged since 1997,” which had no concrete figures, the statement says.

At the beginning of next year, DoubleLine Capital will launch its sixth fund, DoubleLine Floating Rate Fund, Investment News reports, relaying information in Mutual Fund Wire. The portfolio will be invested in bank loans, inflation-linked bonds, MBS and ABS. It will be managed by Bonnie Baha and Robert Cohen.

The New York-based asset management firm Wisdom Tree (USD17.2bn in assets) has announced the liquidation of three ETF funds whose assets were insufficient on 3 December.The funds are the WisdomTree LargeCap Growth Fund (NYSE Arca ticker: ROI), with USD13.9m under management, the WisdomTree Dreyfus South African Rand Fund (SZR), with USD4.4m in assets, and the WisdomTree Dreyfus Japanese Yen Fund (JYF), with USD6.2m in assets. The funds represent only 0.15% of ETF assets at Wisdom Tree.Shareholders who have not requested redemption of their shares by 10 December will automatically receive a redemption in cash corresponding to the net asset value of their shares at the close of the trading day.

On 6 December, Invesco PowerShares Capital Management LLC (USD74bn in assets) is planning to launch the PowerShares S&P 500® Downside Hedged Portfolio (Arca ticker PHDG), an ETF which offers hedged positions on the US S&P 500 index.Through dynamic allocation to futures on the VIX and cash, depending on volatility, the actively-managed product, which charges fees of 0.39%, aims to protect investors on the “broad” US equity market.PHDG will use a quantitative strategy which aims to generate returns corresponding to those of the S&P 500 Dynamic VEQTOR index.

Le 30 novembre, la CNMV a enregistré le Patrimonio III (ES0130358007), la troisième édition des fonds obligataire à échéance, mais sans garantie, du BBVA Bonos Patrimonio. L’objectif consiste à verser au 11 octobre 2016 la valeur liquidative du 11 février 2013 assortie d’une rémunération de 3,15 % annuels (contre 4,4 % pour la première édition et 3,25 % pour la deuxième).La souscription minimale est fixée à 600 euros et la commission de gestion à 0,95 % à partir du 11 février 2013 (0,02 % d’ici là) avec un droit de souscription de 5 % jusqu’au 12 février 2013 ou jusqu’au moment où l’encours aura atteint les 20 millions d’euros. Des «fenêtres de liquidité» sont prévues trimestriellement à partir du 14 mai 2013.

“In terms of integration of environmental, social and governance criteria, the Netherlands are the leading market at the moment,” says Anne-Catherine Husson-Traore, CEO of Novethic, who on Tuesday presented the findings of a étude pan-Euorpean study of the ESG strategies of institutionals. She claims that the pension funds APG and PGGM are powerful drivers of this market. The annual study of the use of ESG criteria by European institutional investors was undertaken with the support of BNP Paribas Investment Partners. It covered 115 directors of major financial institutions in 11 countries with a total of EUR4.47trn in assets under management. 77% of institutional investors in the Netherlands have already formed a socially responsible investment policy, and 15% would like to do so soon, the study finds. Control of long-term risks represents the most important factor supporting integration of ESG criteria (46%). But a growing number of respondents want to protect their reputation, the study finds: 31%, compared with 10% in 2011. It must be said that Dutch institutionals are regularly attacked in the media over the nature of their investments, Novethic notes. In 2007, an article in the press drove the pension fund APG, with EUR300bn in assets, to adopt ESG criteria. Adeline Diab, senior expert on integration of and engagement with responsible investment strategies by Netherlands institutionals, explains that the fund is accountable to the Dutch Parliament, as it manages the money of public employees. In terms of practices, Dutch institutional investors “are at the crossroads of Scandinavian markets and the British market, with a strong reliance on normative exclusion and shareholder engagement,” says François Passant, CEO of Eurosif. The two approaches are cited by more than 85% of respondents. At APG, a team of 9 people is responsible for integration of ESG criteria in various asset classes. In terms of alternative invesments (hedge funds, private equity, real estate, etc.), extra-financial criteria come at the time of due diligence. For capital markets (equities, bonds, etc.), specific strategies are applied to each asset class with a risk-targeted approach. Lastly, APG has a broad engagement policy which falls into three parts: engagement by businesses to adhere to the United Nations Global Compact; engagements from selected businesses each year in each sector; and lastly, participation in collective action in partnership with other institutional investors. However, unlike the practices common in the Netherlands, Diab says APG does not practice exclusion. The only exclusions are Wal-Mart and PetroChina, two businesses for which engagement, which in general lasts three years, failed.

The asset management firm TwentyFour Asset Management is launching an ABS bond fund, the TwentyFour Income Fund, which will allow it to collect up to GBP200m, Fund Web reports. The fund, domiciled in Guernsey, aims for total returns of 7% to 10% per year. The portfolio of the fund will include 30 to 50 positions, acquired on the secondary market. The fund charges fees of 0.75%.

The Dublin-based asset management firm Quilter has added a prudent euro strategy to its Managed Portfolio Service (MPS) aimed at financial advisers whose clients have a limited appetite for risk, Investment Europe reports. The strategy comes as a complement to the euro range from Quilter, which now includes the three approaches “prudent, diversified, and growth.” Quilter also offers eight strategies denominated in pounds sterling, managed in London. The new prudent strategy includes 32.5% equities, 57.5% bonds/cash, 7.5% hedge and alternative strategies, and 2.5% real estate.

Dans l’attente du rapport Berger-Lefebvre, les gérants français font entendre leurs voix. L’association française de la gestion financière (AFG) a ainsi dévoilé ce matin une série de propositions en vue d’encourager l’épargne longue. Aux côtés des OPCVM existants, à liquidité quotidienne, «nous réfléchissons à des OPCVM, qui pourraient être baptisés fonds communs d’investissement productif de long terme, dans la lignée de ce qu’a esquissé la commission européenne cet été», indique Paul-Henri de La Porte du Theil, président de l’AFG. Ce produit pourrait être investi à plus de deux tiers en titres longs d’entreprises avec une part minimum en actions. L’AFG préconise par ailleurs un élargissement du Perp (Plan d’épargne retraite populaire) à l’univers non assurantiel et plaide pour la levée de certaines contraintes européennes

L’Autorité des marchés britannique a lancé une consultation pour réformer le Libor, qui fait suite au rapport de l’un de ses membres, Martin Wheatley, et aux propositions d’amendements législatifs faits par le Trésor. Le Libor sera dans un premier temps le seul benchmark régulé en Grande-Bretagne, mai le cadre proposé pourra être étendu à d’autres indices de référence.

L’Espagne a adjugé 4,3 milliards d’euros de dette à échéances 2015, 2019 et 2022, non loin du maximum visé. Le Trésor espagnol a levé 2,124 milliards d’euros à échéance du 31 octobre 2015, avec un rendement moyen en baisse à 3,390% contre 3,617% lors de la précédente adjudication de ce type. Sur l'échéance 2019, il a adjugé 1,004 milliard d’euros de titres, à un rendement de 4,669% (contre 4,541% précédemment). Madrid a également émis 1,123 milliard d’euros de dette à échéance 2022. Le rendement ressort à 5,290% (5,458% précédemment).

Le rendement de l’emprunt d’Etat français à 10 ans (OAT) est tombé à un plus bas historique sur le système de transaction Tradeweb, passant sous le niveau de 2,010% atteint début août. Vers 13h20, le rendement de l’OAT 10 ans était 2,008%. L'écart de taux avec l’emprunt allemand à 10 ans (le spread) était quant à lui stable à environ 64 points de base. Les rendements français et allemands se sont détendus après une adjudication du Trésor espagnol qui n’a pas atteint l’objectif maximum annoncé.

La commission des sanctions de l’Autorité de contrôle prudentiel a prononcé un blâme et une sanction financière de 300.000 euros à l’encontre de Bank Tejarat Paris. Elle a également suspendu son directeur général adjoint Hossein Fazeli pour une période de trois mois. L’ACP reproche à la succursale française de la banque iranienne de ne pas avoir respecté les dispositions relatives au gel des avoirs.

La Banque du Canada n’a pas modifié ses taux directeurs mais indiqué qu’elle devrait sans doute les remonter ultérieurement, suivant une formulation déjà employée fin octobre. «Au fil du temps, une réduction modeste de la détente monétaire sera probablement nécessaire, de façon à atteindre la cible d’inflation de 2%», écrit-elle dans son communiqué.