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10/10/2012

Santander AM recruits for credit team

The fixed income team at Santander Asset Management UK, led by Azim Meghji, has been strengthened with the recruitment of two credit analysts, Fundweb reports.They are Elena Kstova-Oksanen, who joins as senior credit analyst, and will be in charge of covering European telecommunications and utilities, areas which she had previously covered at Baring Asset Management.The other new recruit is Andrew Shenton, who had been director of financial institutions at Fitch Ratings, and who becomes a credit analyst for the same sector of financials at Santander AM UK.
10/10/2012

Foreign asset management firms gain a lot of ground in Spain

According to the most recent quarterly bulletin from the CNMV, assets in funds from foreign promoters distributed in Spain totalled EUR34.5bn as of the end of June, 8.4% more than at the end of March, and 15% more than on 31 December 2011.The asset management firms which posted the strongest growth in their assets under management in first half were, according to Funds People, Pictet AM (+47.9% to EUR1.32bn), Morgan Stanley (+34.7% to EUR1.31bn), Axa IM (+31.6% to EUR882m), BlackRock (+31.1% to EUR4.26bn), and M&G Investments (+30.4% to EUR1.28bn).For Amundi Iberia, gains totalled 15% in six months, to EUR3.15bn, while BNP Paribas saw growth of 1.3% to EUR2.28bn.
10/10/2012

C-Quadrat eyes central Europe

The Austrian-German asset management firm C-Quadrat on 8 October announced the recruitment of Jiří Kučera as director of sales for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. He had most recently been head of distribution partners for the Czech settlement platform Atlantik.Günther Pahl, head of Central & Eastern Europe and head of sales Austria, says that C-Quadrat has seen very strong growth in central and eastern Europe, which justifies the recruitment.
10/10/2012

Pascale Seivy joins Pictet in Paris

Pictet on 9 October announced the recruitment of Pascale Seivy as head of the Advisory service at its bank branch in Paris. Seivy had previously worked at JP Morgan in Paris, London, and Geneva. The Advisory service, founded in 2009, is aimed at clients seeking advising on international investments and allocation over all asset classes.
10/10/2012

Defection by Vanguard will cost MSCI dearly

The decision by Vanguard to discontinue use of MSCI indices for 22 of its funds which will now replicate FTSE and CRSP indices (see Newsmanagers of 3 October) will cost MSCI USD24m per year, according to the ratings agency Moody’s, cited by Fundweb.The reports are considered “credit negative” for MSCI, which currently has a Ba1 rating, as Vanguard (USD131bn in assets) is one of the largest clients of MSCI for ETFs.
10/10/2012

Korean ETF market may double by 2015

Samsung Asset Management estimates that the South Korean ETF market may more than double by the end of 2015, to a total of USD26bn, compared with about USD12bn currently, Asian Investor reports.Samsung adds that its ETF assets may also double in the period, to a total of USD13bn, compared with USD6.2bn currently, putting it in third place in the rankings of ETF managers in the Asia-Pacific region. Currently, the Samsung ETF unit is in sixth place in the region, after Nomura Asset Management (USD25bn in assets), State Street Global Advisors, Nilo Asset Management, Daiwa Asset Management and BlackRock.
10/10/2012

Three recruitments for management at Financière de l'Echiquier

Financière de l’Echiquier has announced the recruitment of Marie-Christine Korniloff as head of socially responsible investment (SRI) at the asset management firm, as Newsmanagers has recently announced. The position had been held until June by Marie-Ange Verdickt. Damien Mariette, for his part, is preparing to join the team dedicated to European value investments. Bond management will also be strengthened with the arrival of a new manager, Philippe Garrau.With 30 years of experience, Korniloff takes over as head of the SRI team. From 2004 to 2010, she served as deputy director of sustainable development at BPCE. Mariette, for his part, will reinforce the management of Echiquier Quatuor, the fund from Financière de l’Echiquier dedicated to European value stock-picking. He will be the manager of the fund from 1 January 2013. The new recruit previously served as an equity portfolio manager for the Fonds de Garantie Automobile, where he spent three years.Garrau is joining Financière de l’Echiquier, where he will assist Olivier de Berranger as junior manager. He will work on the Echiquier Oblig fund, which is largely dedicated to the selection of euro zone corporate bonds, as well as the diversified Arty fund, and the allocation from Echiquier Patrimoine invested in fixed-income products, a statement says. Since 2010, Garrau had worked as part of the teams at Monte Paschi Invest as a junior manager.
10/10/2012

BofA veteran joins a Swedish hedge fund

Lidia Filo, who has for the past two years worked for Bank of America in London, is joining Sentat Asset Management, a Swedish hedge fund firm, as CEO, Realtid.se reports. She arrived on 1 October, and replaces Inge Heydorn, founder and manager of Sentat AM, who is planning to dedicate her time exclusively to asset management. The firm manages two funds, Thyra Global Technology and Sentat Event Driven.
10/10/2012

How asset managers incentive fund sales

In Italy, several asset management firms pay their fund distributors – banks or financial advisers – advances on commissions, Plus, the supplement of Il Sole – 24 Ore, reports in a vast investigative report on the subject. These payments are accompanied by exit or redemption fees and a temporal horizon. A saver who subscribes to a product which has been subject to an advance on commissions will have to retain it for 3 to 4 years. If the investor pulls out earlier, he or she will have to pay withdrawal penalties. The newspaper observes that this practice, which is legal, is not neutral to investments, as the distribution network is likely to sell one fund rather than another. And though the advantage for the distributor is clear, the advantage for the client has yet to be demonstrated. Among firms which have adopted this practice are Agorà, Aletti Gestielle, Anima, Arca, Azimut, Carmignac Gestion, Eurizon Capital, Natixis, Pioneer Investments, Ubi Pramerica.In addition to this, a number of firms didn’t want to say whether they pay advances on commissions: Amundi Group, Barclays, Invesco, JP Morgan AM, Legg Mason, Morgan Stanley, Nordea and Pimco.
10/10/2012

CNMV investigates fund investments in bank savings accounts

José María Marcos, MD for entities at the CNMV, has announced that the Spanish regulatory authority is currently undertaking an horizontal analysis of investments made by investment funds in bank deposits, to determine whether they were made at market conditions, Expansión reports. This affects 8% of assets in the funds concerned.The CNMV head has also announced that less than 2% of assets under management by Spanish funds come from abroad.
10/10/2012

Stoxx releases a range of low-risk indices

The Swiss firm Stoxx Ltd on 9 October announced the launch of the Stoxx Europe Low Risk Weighted 100 range of indices, which aim to replicate a hypothetical portfolio which would focus on 100 shares of the Stoxx Europe 600 which have the lowest volatility over 12 months. The components are weighted depending on the inverse of their volatility, in order to minimise the risk for the new product: backtesting the Stoxx Europe Low Risk 100 to 16 March 2001, annual volatility would have been 13.28%, while the volatility of the Stoxx Europe 600 over that period was 21.16%.The new index is designed to serve as underlying both for actively-managed funds and for ETFs and other investable products. Weighting will be adjusted in February, May, August, and November, and no share will be allowed to represent more than 10% of the index.The range includes the indices listed in the attachment.
10/10/2012

IOSCO publishes recommendations for money market funds

The International Organization of Securities Commission (IOSCO) published on Tuesday a final report on Policy Recommendations for Money Market Funds, which proposes recommendations to be the basis for common standards for the regulation and management of money market funds across jurisdictions. The 15 recommendations for MMFs seek to supplement the existing frameworks where IOSCO considers there is still room for further reforms and improvements, following reforms undertaken on MMFs both in the United States and in Europe in 2010. While it was noted that a majority of the Commissioners of the US Securities and Exchange Commission did not support its publication, there have been no other objection. The MMF industry is significant in size, since it represents approximately US$ 4.7 trillion in assets under management at first quarter 2012 and around one fifth of the assets of Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) worldwide.
10/10/2012

versiko recruits head of sales

From 1 September, the German sustainable investment advising firm versiko has recruited Ludoph van Hasselt as head of distribution on its board. He will primarily be responsible for developing the client base in the areas of life insurance and asset management.versiko has an SRI fund management affiliate in Luxembourg, ökoworld Lux (EUR475m in assets as of the end of April).
10/10/2012

Large hedge funds outperform small ones in falling markets

Since 1996, large hedge funds have on average seen less severe losses than small funds during periods of negative performance, PerTrac finds in its sixth annual analysis of the «Impact of Size and Age on Hedge Fund Performance: 1996 – 2011.» In the 41 months since 1996 in which hedge funds of all sizes saw losses, large funds lost less on average than small ones 61% of the time.In 2011, large hedge funds (more than USD500m in assets) lost an average of 2.63%, compared with 2.95% for mid-sized funds (USD100-500m), and 2.78% for small funds (less than USD100m).However, small hedge funds outperformed mid-sized and large ones in 13 of the past 16 years.
10/10/2012

Lawsuit against execs of Reserve Primary Fund begins

The Wall Street Journal reports that a civil case brought by the SEC against Bruce Bent Sr. and Bruce Bent II, the managers of the Reserve Primary Fund, the first money market fund whose net asset value fell below one US dollar («broke the buck») in September 2008, began on Tuesday before a New York Federal court.Attorney for the regulator, Nancy Brown, described the accused as managers who sought to save their business at the expense of investors. She accused the two men of violating Federal securities regulations by lying to investors, administrators and regulators during the financial crisis.The Reserve Primary Fund (USD65bn) had invested USD785m in bonds from Lehman Brothers.
10/10/2012

Net inflows up in August to European long-term funds

The European funds industry fared relatively well in August with net sales levels nudging up slightly (to EUR18.5bn) from those posted in July (EUR15.5bn) to top EUR100bn over the year-to-date (excluding money market funds), according to the lastest Lipper’s FundFlash. This may well have been boosted by a reduction in investor withdrawals from funds compared to last month and not simply more new money coming in.Including money market funds, the picture looks rosier, with net sales of EUR24.4bn for the month and a year-to-date total of EUR111.3bn.The similarity to last month’s activity can be seen at asset class level, with European investors again contributing more than EUR20bn to bond funds (EUR20.8bn) but withdrawing an increasing amount from equity funds (-EUR5.7bn). Interest in bonds remains dominated by high yield products, which enjoyed inflows of EUR5.7bn.The Italian market’s contribution to the European industry total has been healthy again this month (EUR780m). By contrast, UK investors’ moves out of equity funds (-EUR2.8bn) again dragged down the market total.
10/10/2012

Hedge funds profit from MBS market

Hedge funds have made their largest gains on the mortgage-backed securities (MBS) market since 2007, the Financial Times reports. Tilden Park, a hedge fund with USD1bn managed by the former MBS team from Goldman Sachs, has gained 30% from the beginning of the year to the end of September. Obsidian, a fixed income fund from BlackRock, showed gains of 25% as of the end of August.
10/10/2012

Lombard Odier fundamental bond strategy tops EUR3bn

Stéphane Monier, deputy head of management at Lombard Odier, has recently announced in a presentation in Paris that the fundamental weight driven (FWD) fixed income approach which he created (see Newsmanagers of 25 May 2010) already represents assets of EUR3.5bn out of EUR13bn in FI assets at the Swiss firm, which manages a total of EUR117bn.The fundamental strategy makes it possible to far outperform the results of a cap (issue)-weighted approach, and limits maximal drawdown.As an illustration, the OECD government debt index in its FWD version between 2001 and the end of August 2012 has gained 105.48%, compared with 62.29% for the cap-weighted index. The same works for the euro-hedged version, with respective results of 83.53% and 73.47% for the same reference period.Monier says the fundamental approach is inevitable since one no longer knows whether there is a lender of last resort, which requires lenders to acertain of the quality of assets. Ratings agencies are also behind the market, which may induce investors to sell at a wrong timing.
09/10/2012

L’inflation progresse au Mexique

Selon les données de l’agence nationale de la statistique, le taux d’inflation a atteint 4,77% sur un an en septembre, son plus haut niveau en deux ans et demi. Il dépasse désormais depuis quatre mois la limite de 4% fixée par la banque centrale. Mais les responsables de la politique monétaire estiment cette évolution transitoire. Le marché table d’ailleurs sur une stabilité des taux.
09/10/2012

L'OICV progresse dans la régulation des fonds monétaires

L’Organisation internationale des commissions de valeurs (OICV ou IOSCO en anglais) a publié ses recommandations définitives sur une nouvelle réglementation du marché des fonds monétaires, en dépit de l’opposition de son associé américain. Ces recommandations - qui seront appliquées par chacun des membres au niveau local - portent sur les valorisations, la gestion de la liquidité, l’usage des ratings et la communication aux investisseurs.
09/10/2012

Feu vert des députés à la ratification du traité européen

Les députés français ont adopté aujourd’hui par 477 voix contre 70 le projet de loi qui autorise la ratification du traité sur la stabilité, la coordination et la gouvernance (TSCG) au sein de l’Union économique et monétaire. Le Sénat examinera à son tour ce projet de loi de ratification à partir de demain. Le texte sera définitivement adopté dans la foulée par le Parlement français.
09/10/2012

La BaFin pour un report de la supervision bancaire en zone euro à 2014

L'échéance fixée au 1er janvier 2013 pour la mise en place d’une supervision bancaire à l'échelle de la zone euro sera probablement repoussée d’un an, a déclaré la présidente de la BaFin, l’autorité allemande de régulation financière. «J’imagine que nous pourrions y arriver en janvier 2014. C’est une supposition», a déclaré Elke König à la télévision allemande.
09/10/2012

Baisse de 0,8% du PIB italien au deuxième trimestre

L'économie italienne s’est contractée de 0,8% au deuxième trimestre 2012 par rapport au premier et le produit intérieur brut (PIB) a reculé de 2,6% d’une année sur l’autre, selon des chiffres définitifs publiés mardi par l’Istat, qui confirment des estimations précédentes. L’agence de statistiques a par ailleurs révisé en légère hausse l'évolution sur un an du PIB du premier trimestre, à -1,4% contre un précédent chiffre de -1,5%.
09/10/2012

Jean-Pierre Jouyet se dirige vers la présidence de la BPI

La piste de Jean-Pierre Jouyet, patron de la Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC), pour la présidence de la Banque publique d’investissement s’est précisée hier mais le poste stratégique de directeur général suscite toujours autant de spéculations. Selon le journal Le Monde, Jean-Pierre Jouyet cumulerait ses fonctions actuelles avec la supervision de la BPI, un scénario confirmé à Reuters par trois sources proches du dossier. Le quotidien Les Echos souligne pour sa part que le gouvernement souhaiterait «fusionner et non faire coexister» au sein de la BPI les activités d’Oséo, de CDC Entreprises et du Fonds stratégique d’investissement (FSI). L’objectif serait ainsi de rassembler ces entités dans une structure unique, «sur le modèle de la banque publique allemande KfW» comme le souligne le quotidien, «afin d’éradiquer les doublons et d’offrir un guichet unique pour les entreprises en quête de financements».
09/10/2012

Des fonds de private equity ciblent Allscripts

Le fournisseur de solutions logicielles pour les acteurs de la santé a reçu une offre de rachat de second tour de la part d’un consortium de fonds comprenant notamment Blackstone et Carlyle. Un porte-parole de la société a refusé de commenter l’information rapportée par Bloomberg.
09/10/2012

L’Europe accorde la prochaine tranche d'aide au Portugal

Satisfait des efforts budgétaires réalisés par Lisbonne, l’Eurogroupe a approuvé le versement de la prochaine tranche d’aide de 800 millions d’euros au Portugal, auxquels s’ajoutent 3,5 milliards versés à la fin du mois par la zone euro et le FMI. Le projet de budget 2013, qui sera remis au Parlement d’ici le 15 octobre, devrait comprendre «une hausse importante de la charge fiscale» a prévenu Lisbonne.

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