Jean-François Tilquin has joined Convictions Asset Management as head of fixed income. More particularly, he is manager of the Convictions Classic fund, a new fund in the product range from the French asset management firm. Tilquin previously worked at the consulting firm CII Finance, where he was an investment and asset allocation adviser. Between July 2002 and 2008, he was chief investment officer at the Scor group. He has also been head of bond and diversified management business at Axa IM in Tokyo.

The Additional public function retirement establishment (ERAFP) has awarded two asset management mandated and four stand-by manager mandates under its policy to extend its investment universe, in line with its SRI charter. The ERAFP in February 2012 launched a restricted request for proposals, composed of two lots, with the objective of awarding convertible bond management mandates for the European region, with the ability to invest up to 20% outside Europe, in the Global region. Following the selection procedure, the ERAFP has decided to award the first lot, Convertible bonds in the European region – non-benchmarked SRI management, to the Schelcher Prince Gestion company. Acropole Am and Natixis Asset Management are the stand-by managers. Lot no. 2, Convertible bonds in the Global region – non-benchmarked SRI management, has been awarded to the Lombard Odier Gestion company. BNP Paribas Asset Management and Fisch Asset Management are the stand-by managers.

In third quarter, investment funds managed by ABC Arbitrage attracted a net total of EUR21.5m in net subscriptions, bringing the total in the first nine months of the year to EUR250m. Assets as of the end of September totalled EUR450m.The firm states that the funds “have posted attractive returns in light of the context, but below the group’s profitability objectives.”

For the fiscal year to September, 30th, 2012, Raymond James Financial reached a record USD295.87m net income vs USD278.35m, which includes 6 month of Morgan Keegan operations, a company that has been acquired on April 2nd, 2012. Excluding pre-tax, acquisition-related charges of USD59m, net income would have been USD334.2m.As of end-September, the company achieved record assets under management of USD42.8bn vs USD32.1bn and record assets under administration at USD390.3bn vs USD255.7bn

For the first nine months of this year, T. Rowe Price Group declares a net profit of USD647.8m, of which USD247.3m for Q3, versus USD584.8m and USD185.5m for the corresponding periods of 2011.As of September, 30th, AUM reached a record USD574.4bn, of which USD 342,9bn in US mutual funds. The USD84.9bn increase from USD489.5bn at end-2011 comes from USD.21.4 net new money and USD63.5bn in market appreciation. .

Franklin Resources (Franklin Templeton Investments) has reported an operating margin of 35.4% for the fiscal year to September, 30th, 2012, compared to 37.3% for 2010-2011, but its net income rose to USD1.9314bn vs USD1.9236bn.At end-September, AUM landed at USD749.9bn vs USD659.9bn twelve months before, the USD90bjn increase (14%) coming from USD96.4bn of market appreciation, minus mainly USD2.3bn in net outflows (vs USD34bn in net inflows for the preceding fiscal year).

Ameriprise Financial’s asset management operation delivered USD155m in pre-tax earnings for Q3, 2012, vs USD119m in the corresponding periode last year and assets under management as of September, 30th, reached USD461bn vs USD417bn. At Columbia Asset Management, AUM was USD340bn vs USD325bn while UK-based Threadneedle recorded a 28% rise to USD124bn.However, the group once again suffered net outflows, of USD3.5bn vs USD5.2bn, which is attributable to institutional investors for USD2bn (of which USD1.1bn at Threadneedle), just like for Q3, 2011, and to alternatives, mainly hedge funds, with outflows of USD1.6bn vs 0.1bn in July-September 2011. Retail net flows were slightly positive, with USD.0.1bn, as strong net inflows at Threadneedle were offset by net outflows at Columbia. Ameriprise Financial declared USD174m in net income for the quarter under review vs USD322m for Q3, 2011, while operating earnings remained unchanged at USD289m.

Andreas Dahl has left Cheuvreux to join the team managing the hedge fund Carve at the Swedish firm Brummer & Partners, Realtid.se reports. Carve is managed by four managers, led by Per Josefsson.

AXA Investment Managers (AXA IM) has appointed Qi Sun as an economist specialised in Asian emerging markets. Qi, based in Hong Kong, will report to Franz Wenzel, chief strategist at AXA IM in Paris, and will be responsible for analysis of markets and economic research in the emerging Asia region. As a member of the Research and Investment Strategy team, led by Eric Chaney, head of Research at Axa IM and chief economist for the AXA group, he will send global analyses to clients based in Asia, a statement says. Qi had previously been an economist at the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, and was specialised in economic and financial reforms in China.

The Italian asset management firm Arca SGR, with EUR16bn in assets under management, has signed a distribution agreement with the Italian bank Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara. Under the agreement, funds will be offered for sale at the 137 branches of the affiliate establishment in Italy. The agreement has been signed for a period of 10 years.

Invesco has posted net inflows in September of EUR301m in Italy, Bluerating reports, citing Assogestioni. The US firm thus becomes the largest foreign actor in terms of net inflows for the second time in three months. Sergio Trezzi, managing director of Invesco for Italy, and co-head of European retail activities in Europe, estimates that the Italian market offers great opportunities for asset management firms able to stand out due to the quality of their products, their global product range and their independence.

A new asset management firm has been created in Paris. Cedrus Asset Management specialises in multi-managed responsible and sustainable investment. Cedrus AM is planning to offer a range of actively-managed funds of funds which will be based on its expertise in responsible and sustainable investment. The asset management firm, specialised in SRI since 2004, has taken over the institutional advising mandates for sustainable investment of Cedrus Partners within the structure, which now has a total of EUR300m in assets under management. The new structure, led by Benoit Magnier, is 80% controlled by Cedrus Partners, an investment advising firm aimed at institutional investors. The remaining 20% are controlled by NexT AM, the stakeholding arm of La Française AM. The team has a total of five professionals, including the director of management and research, Annie Martinet-Villalon, former head of fund of fund management for European and global equities at Amundi. The first product of the range, the fund of funds Cedrus Sustainable Opportunities, has received its license. It will be officially launched in early November. The profile of the fund is “balanced,” and will combine equity management with money market management. Exposure to equities may vary from 0% to 100%, with an ambition to expose itself strongly to the equity markets when the market environment permits it. For risk management within the product, Cedrus AM has formed a partnership with the financial engineering firm Active Asset Allocation International Consulting (AAAIC). Together, the two firms will determine a model portfolio each month, to manage allocation to equity markets. The ambition of Cedrus AM is to “hit hard,” says Magnier at a presentation of the asset management firm. With EUR15m in seed capital from the NExT Invest FCP, Cedrus Sustainable Opportunities is expected to receive investments from several French institutional investors in the next few weeks. Magnier expects assets in the fund of funds to reach EUR100m by the end of the year. Cedrus AM is concentrating on French institutionals for the moment. “But in a few quarters, we will attack the foreign markets,” Magnier adds. The range is also expected to grow, as the new asset management firm’s ambition is to launch three mutual funds in the next three years.

In 12 months, assets in funds at Banco Sabadell have increased by 4.2%, to a total of EUR8.56bn as of September, while pension funds have gained 32.2% to EUR3.58bn. Funds People reports that these gains are due to the integration of the savings bank CAM, and are not due to any deliberate actions; to the contrary.Sabadell has in fact been encouraging its clients to move to liability-side products, like savings deposits. Management commission levels have fallen in the first nine months of the year by 15.9%, to EUR76.1m, for precisely this reason, deputy director Jaime Guardiola explains.The Sabadell group has posted a decline of 56.3% in its net profits in January-September, to EUR90.6m, due to provisions related to real estate.

According to the quarterly report from the Santander group, net profits in the asset management unit from investment funds have totalled EUR48m in the first nine months of the year, 49.9% more than in January-September 2011, while profits from pension funds have totalled EUR7m, up 7.6%.Assets as of 30 September totalled EUR140.1bn, 1% more than at the end of 2011, of which EUR103bn are in investment and pension funds. Traditional management represented a volume of EUR137bn, while alternative management accounted for the remaining roughly EUR3bn.Over the Santander group as a whole, net profits in the first three quarters are down 66% to EUR1.804bn, after EUR3.475bn in provisions to cover real estate risks in Spain.

The British firm Barclays has recruited Adeline Chien as managing director and head of ultra high net worth (UHNW) clients in Hong Kong, Asian Investor reports. Chien had previously worked at EFG Bank, where she was head of a team in charge of high net worth clients in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. She has also worked for UBS and Goldman Sachs.

A regulatory requirement for all constant net asset value European money market funds to switch to a partial variable net asset value model would have little impact on fund ratings, Fitch Ratings says. Fitch thinks a move to partial variable net asset value (VNAV) funds - where assets with a residual maturity of less than three months continue to be priced on an amortised cost basis - along with new rules to combat liquidity risk, are among the most likely outcomes of the reviews of MMF regulation taking place in Europe. Liquidity risks could also be subject to new rules. The main uncertainty would be the reaction of investors and whether the switch could lead to significant disruption or outflows from a EUR500bn market segment. Fitch will be conducting a survey of investors in the coming weeks to identify the main implications of any regulatory changes.

Crispin Odey, the famous London-based hedge fund manager specialised in taking stakes in undervalued businesses, has bought a 5% stake in his rival Man Group, the Financial Times reports. He thus becomes the second-largest shareholder in the hedge fund group, after BlackRock, which owns 9%. Shares in Man have lost 40% of their value this year.

Schroders has announced that Philipp Mallinckrodt, group head of private banking, has taken the position of CEO of Schroders Private Bank, left vacant by the resignation of Rupert Robinson, effective immediately, Fundweb reports.Investment Europe reports, meanwhile, that Klaus Oestergaard has left the hedge fund management firm Brevan Howard (USD36.7bn), where he was a partner.

Le gestionnaire central des caisses d'épargne allemandes, DekaBank, a annoncé le 25 octobre le lancement d’une «solution de retraite immédiate» pour la prévoyance vieillesse destinée à la tranche des 60-67 ans. Le Deka-RenteDirekt permet, moyennant un versement unique d’au minimum 10.000 euros, de percevoir des prestations viagères à minimum garanti combinées avec un des investissements souples.Les placements se poursuivent jusqu’au 85ème anniversaire dans des fonds de Deka Investment tandis que les prestations suivent d’abord un plan de remboursements avant de passer à une rente viagère servie par Öffentliche Versicherung Braunschweig à partir du 85ème anniversaire.Les frais de dossier se situent à 10 euros par an. Au moment du démarrage du plan de remboursement, les souscripteurs devront acquitter un droit qui sera fonction des différents fonds utilisés. Sur la base de l’allocation de départ ( 1/3 actions Deka-ZukunftsPlan I et 2/3 obligations RenditDeka), le droit d’entrée est de 2,7 %. Quant aux frais de gestion, ils peuvent évoluer en fonction de l’allocation aux actions entre 0,48 et 0,52 % par an.

Depuis le 25 octobre, la cote du segment XTF de la plate-forme électronique Xetra (Deutsche Börse) compte un 1.006ème ETF avec l’admission à la négociation du SPDR Dow Jones Global Real Estate ETF de State Street Global Advisors (SSgA).Ce produit de droit irlandais réplique le Dow Jones Global Select Real Estate Securities Index. Il s’agit d’un ETF d’actions de sociétés immobilières du monde entier. C’est le 43ème ETF de SPDR a être coté en Europe et il marque l’ouverture de cette gamme à une nouvelle classe d’actifs. Il s’agit d’un fonds à réplication physique qui bénéficie aussi d’agréments de commercialisation pour l’Irlande, l’Italie, la France, les Pays-Bas, la Suède et le Royaume-Uni.CaractéristiquesDénomination : SPDR Dow Jones Global Real Estate ETFCode Isin : IE00B8GF1M35TFE : 0,40 %

Le 25 octobre, la Deutsche Bank a annoncé la nomination d’un comité des rémunérations indépendent présidé par Jürgen Hambrecht, ancien président du directoire de BASF, qui est actuellement président du conseil de surveillance de Fuchs Petrolub et administrateur de Daimler, Lufthansa et Trumpf.Les autres membres du comité sont Michael Dobson (CEO de Schroders), Morris W. Offit, président d’Offit Capital et administrateur indépendant d’AIG, Michael Otto, président du conseil de surveillance d’Otto Group et Theo Waigel, député CSU et ancien ministre fédéral des Finances.

Crispin Odey, le célèbre gérant de hedge funds londonien spécialiste des prises de participations dans des sociétés sous-valorisées, a bâti une participation de 5 % dans son concurrent Man Group, rapporte le Financial Times. Il devient ainsi le deuxième actionnaire du groupe de hedge funds derrière BlackRock, qui en détient 9 %. Les actions de Man ont chuté de 40 % cette année.

MAM Funds envisage de distribuer l’ensemble de ses fonds sous l'étiquette Miton d’ici à la fin de l’année, rapporte Money Marketing. Le site d’information précise toutefois que la décision n’aurait pas encore été définitivement prise.La société propose actuellement ses fonds sous trois marques, Miton, Midas et Acuim à la suite de plusieurs fusions au cours des cinq dernières années.

Schroders a annoncé que Philipp Mallinckrodt, group head of private banking, a pris avec effet immédiat le poste de CEO de Schroders Private Bank laissé vacant par la démission de Rupert Robinson, rapporte Fundweb.De son côté, Investment Europe annonce que Klaus Oestergaard a quitté le gestionnaire alternatif Brevan Howard (36,7 milliards de dollars), dont il était un des associés.

Nouvellement admise à la cotation, EFG Financial Products a annoncé avoir été avisée le 19 octobre que le fonds souverain Government of Singapore Investment Corporation Pte. Ltd (GIC) et JPMorgan Chase, par le biais de JPMorgan Asset Management et JPMorgan Investment Management, ont franchi le seuil des 3 % de son capital et détenaient respectivement 3,38 % et 3,24 % des titres émis et en circulation.

La société de gestion italienne Arca SGR, gérant 16 milliards d’euros, vient de signer un accord de distribution avec la banque italienne Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara. De cette manière, ses fonds seront commercialisés via les agences des 137 filiales de l’établissement en Italie. L’accord a été noué pour une durée de 10 ans.

Invesco a enregistré pour septembre des souscriptions nettes de 301 millions d’euros en Italie, rapporte Bluerating, citant Assogestioni. La société américaine est ainsi le premier acteur étranger en termes de collecte nette pour la deuxième fois en trois mois. Sergio Trezzi, managing director d’Invesco pour l’Italie et co-responsable de l’activité européenne retail en Europe, juge que le marché italien offre de grandes opportunités aux sociétés de gestion capable de se distinguer par la qualité de leurs produits, leur offre mondiale et leur indépendance.

La distribution des bonus annuels reste un moment fort dans la vie de chaque professionnel de la finance. Les attentes ne sont toutefois pas les mêmes d’un coté et de l’autre de l’Atlantique. Selon deux récentes études menées par eFinancialCareers, les professionnels de la City sont 41% à se déclarer «plus inquiets» sur ce sujet qu’ils ne l’étaient en 2011. 29% des financiers londoniens s’attendent à recevoir des bonus inférieurs à ceux perçus en 2011. Ils sont même 18% à penser qu’ils n’en auront pas du tout. En 2011, ils n'étaient que 11% à estimer qu’ils n’auraient pas de bonus. Le pessimisme semble bien ancré dans les esprits des professionnels de la City puisque 52% s’attendent à une diminution du bonus sur les trois prochaines années. De l’autre côté de l’océan, le moral semble en revanche au beau fixe. Pour 48% des professionnels de la finance de Wall Street, soit 7 points de pourcentage de plus que l’an passé, le bonus 2012 sera supérieur à celui de 2011. Ils ne sont que 10% à déclarer qu’ils ne pensent pas recevoir de bonus cette année. 58% s’attendent à ce que leurs bonus continuent de croître ou restent stables au cours des trois prochaines années. Parmi ceux-là, 53% envisagent un retour aux bonus versés en 2006-2007. 44% des sondés aux Etats-Unis considèrent l’argent comme leur principale motivation au travail.

Le pôle Global Multi-Asset de JP Morgan vient d’annoncer le lancement d’une nouvelle série de fonds à horizon comportant une composante passive.Les dix nouvelles stratégies proposées par JP Morgan, SmartRetirement Blend, utilisent les mêmes modèles d’allocation que ses fonds à horizon de référence, les fonds SmartRetirement, dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à plus de 12 milliards de dollars. Ces derniers fonds sont gérés activement alors que les nouveaux fonds utiliseront des ETF sur indices pour certaines classes d’actifs, comme les actions américaines.

Le pôle gestion d’actifs d’Ameriprise Financial a dégagé au troisième trimestre 2012 un bénéfice avant impôt de 155 millions de dollars contre 119 millions pour la période correspondante de l’an dernier, et l’encours au 30 septembre ressortait à 461 milliards de dollars contre 417 milliards. Les actifs gérés par Columbia Management ont représenté 340 milliards contre 325 milliards tandis que ceux du britannique Threadneedle affichaient un gonflement de 28 % à 124 milliards de dollars.Néanmoins, en juillet-septembre, le groupe a encore accusé des remboursements nets de 3,5 milliards de dollars contre 5,2 milliards pour la période correspondante de l’année. Ces sorties sont imputables à la clientèle institutionnelle pour 2 milliards de dollars (dont 1,1 milliard chezThreadneedle), comme au troisième trimestre 2011, et à la clientèle des produits alternatifs, essentiellement des hedge funds, qui a retiré en net 1,6 milliard de dollars contre seulement 0,1 milliard en juillet-septembre 2011. En revanche, le retail a collecté en net 0,1 milliard de dollars contre des sorties nettes de 3,1 milliards, car les fortes souscriptions nettes de Threadneedle ont été presque entièrement compensées par des sorties nettes chez Columbia.Ameriprise indique que son bénéfice net pour juillet-septembre s’est situé à 174 millions de dollars contre 322 millions pour la période correspondante de l’an dernier, alors que son bénéfice d’exploitation est demeuré inchangé à 289 millions de dollars.