Au travers de sa charte ISR, l’association Préfon a confirmé son ambition de : Etre un acteur conscient de l’impact de ses placements, prenant en considération les externalités qui y sont associées ; Contribuer à l’amélioration de l’environnement socio-économique et environnemental ; Défendre l’idée qu’au-delà du rendement financier, il existe des possibilités de création de valeurs extra-financières et de long terme ; Conforter l'épargne et sécuriser sur la durée la rente des affiliés. L’association traduit ainsi ses valeurs d'écoute, de transparence et son éthique dans le cadre de la stratégie d’investissements financiers du régime, tant vis-à-vis de ses affiliés que des actionnaires des sociétés dans lesquelles les portefeuilles du régime sont investis. « Le régime Préfon-Retraite est fondé sur un pacte de confiance qui exige vigilance dans la gestion et transparence dans l’information » explique Christian Carrega, directeur général de Préfon. « La Charte d’engagement voulue par le Conseil d’Administration, a pour objectif d’inciter les assureurs du régime Préfon-Retraite à intégrer progressivement les critères environnementaux, sociaux et de gouvernance dans leurs politiques, leurs stratégies et leurs pratiques de gestion ». « Notre démarche est originale et novatrice en ce sens que les indicateurs que nous allons suivre sont définis en commun avec les assureurs et les asset managers ».

« Dans le cadre de la mise en ??uvre d’une stratégie d’investissement guidée par le passif sur la période 2012-2016, qui ne tient pas compte des cotisations additionnelles qui accélèreront la croissance de l’allocation en titres à revenus fixes , le poids des investissements en revenus fixes va passer de 31 % à 38 %, celui des titres liés à l’inflation de 22 % à 29 %, tandis que l’exposition aux titres de croissance reculera de 47 % à 33 %. Nous prévoyons aussi de déployer une superposition obligataire correspondant à 20 % de l’actif », détaille Raymond Laurin, premier vice-président et conseiller stratégique à la Direction du Mouvement Desjardins. Les investissements en revenus fixes favorisent plus largement les placements traditionnels et l’exposition domestique. « Nous avons expérimenté la dette immobilière dans le cadre d’une stratégie de diversification en investissements alternatifs mais tous les marchés ont convergé après l'éclatement de la crise », commente Raymond Laurin. En réaction, le régime a décidé de réduire la diversité des thématiques d’investissement ainsi que le nombre de gestionnaires. La diversification internationale s’opère uniquement dans le cadre d’un mandat en dette émergente et son extension ne fait pas partie des priorités. En revanche, les obligations corporatives (crédit) suscitent l’intérêt en raison de la faiblesse des taux souverains. De plus, le calcul de la charge comptable enregistrée dans les états financiers de l’employeur fait directement référence au taux de rendement de ces obligations. De fait, « leur inclusion dans le portefeuille contribuerait partiellement à immuniser la charge ». S’il maintient une approche conservatrice dans la gestion de sa poche de titres à revenu fixe, le régime a significativement développé les investissements en « titres liés à l’inflation » au cours des dernières années. Cette catégorie concentre désormais 24 % des encours, contre 1,9 % en 2005-2006, répartis entre immobilier (13 %) et infrastructures (11 %). Cette dernière thématique a la particularité d'être la seule gérée en interne. « Nous avons développé notre propre expertise et mis en place un réseau pour réaliser des investissements en partenariat », indique Raymond Laurin. « Ce fonctionnement nous permet également de minimiser significativement les frais de gestion », précise-t-il. Pour l’heure, le régime privilégie les projets d’infrastructures matures (brownfield) à ceux en développement (greenfield). Les spécificités de cette poche de titres liés à l’inflation permettent au régime d’assurer l’indexation qu’il a garanti jusque là à ses bénéficiaires et qu’il continuera à financer malgré sa suppression. De fait, leur poids dans l’allocation d’actifs va continuer à augmenter. La poche présente également la particularité d’apporter des rendements relativement stables alors que l’introduction des normes comptables IFRS va contraindre les sociétés à reconnaître les variations de rendement directement en capitaux propres. Source : bfinance.fr

L’UMR a souscrit au FCP « Micado France 2018 », investi en obligations non notés. Il se positionne ainsi comme un des principaux sponsors de ce FCP qui a collecté 60 millions d’euros à l’heure actuelle, aux côtés de BNP Paribas Cardif, CCR, Prévoir et la mutuelle l’Auxiliaire. D’après Philippe Rey, directeur des investissements de l’UMR, cet investissement présente de nombreux avantages. Il permet tout d’abord à l’UMR, qui gère en direct son portefeuille obligataire, de « poursuivre sa stratégie de granularisation du risque, entamée début 2011 via des investissements high yield ». Tout en lui assurant « un rendement supérieur à 5 % » sur 6 ans, alors que les sociétés françaises notées BB proposent actuellement au maximum des rendements de 4% (Bonduelle a procédé récemment à une émission obligataire à un taux de 4%). Enfin, « dans un contexte d’accès restreint au crédit, ce fonds permet à des entreprises françaises de taille moyenne d’accéder au financement obligataire ». Certes, en payant un peu plus (le coût de financement devrait s'étaler entre 5 et 8%) mais avec l’assurance d’un financement stable sur six ans. « L’UMR remplit ainsi son rôle de financement de l'économie propre à un fonds de retraite de pension » ajoute le directeur des investissements du gérant de retraite complémentaire mutualiste. Sans que le risque ne soit trop important sur ces obligations non notées : « il y a eu un bon travail de due diligences de Portzamparc et nous avons au final un portefeuille diversifié et de qualité ». Une quinzaine d'émetteurs, des PME cotées aux capitalisations comprises entre 30 millions et 1 milliard d’euros, ont en effet été sélectionnées : Manitou, Homair, Orapi, Solucom ou encore Advanquest Software. Si l'émission minimum a été fixée à 4 millions d’euros, la souscription de nouveaux investisseurs d’ici à la fin de la commercialisation du FCP, fixée au 31 octobre, pourrait permettre de revoir ce seuil. « Micado France 2018 » est promu par Accola, Investeam et Middle Next.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The trustees of the Willis Pension Scheme, whose assets under management total about GBP1.5bn, have mandated Towers Watson to manage a significant part of its hedge fund portfolio, Hedge Week reports.The portfolio, which will initially total GBP100m, will be invested in a very wide range of alternative strategies.Towers Watson has management outsourcing mandates on over USD56bn in assets worldwide, including USD7bn invested in hedge funds.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners is launching two portage funds of corporate bonds from Norway and Sweden, BNP Paribas Obliselect Nordic HY 2015 and BNP Paribas Obliselect Nordic HY 2015 Hedged. The two products have the same investment strategy, but the second fund – a feeder of the first – offers hedging in euros of positions in Norwegian and Swedish kroner. The net annual performance objective is a total of 5% to 7% over the planned portage duration, which is only 2 years and 3 months. The fund ia managed by Alfred Berg, a wholly-owned Nordic subsidiary of BNP Paribas IP inherited along with its acquisition of Fortis Investments, and within that firm by the Scandinavian high yield team based in Oslo. The location is explained by the fact that the Norwegian high yield market is the largest in the Scandinavian region (nearly USD20bn out of USD30bn), due to a thick layer of mid-sized companies and a low rate of bank financing. The size of the Norwegian market is also one of the reasons that the funds will be primarily exposed to this country (85-90% of the model portfolio), while the remainder will be invested in Sweden. These two economies are also the most solid and healthy economies of the northern European region, and their currencies are expected to appreciate against the euro. A corollary of this Norwegian bias is that the portfolio will also be strongly exposed to energy (about 60% currently), a sector which predominates in the Scandinavian country, the world’s fifth-largest exporter of oil. But Torolv Hestad, an investment specialist at Alfred Berg, says that the sector is very diversified. And he says that there is very good visibility on plans by these businesses in the short investment period of the fund. All projects are also indexed to an oil price of 80 dollars per barrel, which leaves room for maneuver in case of a fall in oil prices (which are currently over 100 dollars). The fund will be available until 18 December to private banking clients, independent financial advisers, and platforms in France, Italy, Switzerland and Luxembourg. Mario Petrachi, director of partnership distribution in France, says he would be satisfied to raise EUR100m for the products.

Nordea will merge its North American growth equity strategy (USD100m) into its North American All Cap fund by the end of the year, Citywire reports. The fund was launched in March, and is managed by Eagle Asset Management.

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.

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).

A study published on 9 October by Fidelity in Germany demonstrates with several equity indices that long-term investment has a greater influence on the performance of a portfolio than the choice of a “good” investment date.As an illustration, an investor who bought shares of the MSCI Germany index on any day in 1982 and sold them on 30 June 2012 would have posted annual gains of 6.80%. If the investor got in at the bottom of the market in 1982, that investment could have earned an only slightly higher return (6.96%). The same observation applies to the MSCI US index (8.75% and 8.99%), MSCI UK (7.39% and 7.63%), and MSCI France (8.26% and 8.56%).However, the difference was much more measurable in the case of the MSCI Emerging Market index, with respective values of 8.43% and 9.78%.

Institutional investors are in the process of revising their traditional approach to asset allocation. According to a research by Pyramis Global Advisors of a sample of institutionals worldwide representing over USD5trn in assets, 37% of the largest pension funds and other large institutionals will rethink their strategy more aggressively in the next ten years. In the past few years, 35% of them have adopted a more tactical or opportunistic approach to their investment decisions, without hoping to achieve their performance objectives. Another Pyramis survey finds that in the short term, US institutionals are still preoccupied by risk issues as opposed to performance questions. 27% of institutionals surveyed say they are concerned primarily by volatility, compared with 22% in 2008, at the time when the crisis became more severe, while 26% cite the low interest rate environment, which penalises their search for returns. In this environment, 43% of institutionals will adopt a much more dynamic or tactical approach to their allocation strategy, compared with less than 55% in the early years after 2000.

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.

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.

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.

Nordea va fusionner sa stratégie actions Amérique du Nord de croissance (100 millions de dollars) dans son fonds North American All Cap d’ici à la fin de l’année, rapporte Citywire. Ce dernier a été lancé en mars et est géré par Eagle Asset Management.

La décision prise par Vanguard de renoncer à utiliser les indices MSCI pour 22 de ses fonds qui vont répliquer désormais des indices FTSE et CRSP (lire Newsmanagers du 3 octobre) va coûter 24 millions de dollars par an à MSCI, selon l’agence de notation Moody’s, citée par Fundweb.Cette information est jugée «credit negative» pour MSCI, actuellement noté Ba1, parce que Vanguard (131 milliards de dollars d’encours) est l’un des principaux clients de MSCI pour ses ETF.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners lance deux fonds de portage sur les obligations d’entreprises de la Norvège et de la Suède, BNP Paribas Obliselect Nordic HY 2015 et BNP Paribas Obliselect Nordic HY 2015 Hedged. Les deux produits ont la même stratégie d’investissement, mais le second fonds - nourricier du premier - offre une couverture en euros des positions en couronnes norvégiennes et suédoises. L’objectif de performance nette annualisée est compris entre 5 % et 7 % sur la durée prévue de portage qui est de seulement 2 ans et 3 mois.Ce fonds est géré par la société scandinave Alfred Berg, filiale à 100 % de BNP Paribas IP héritée de l’acquisition de Fortis Investments, et plus particulièrement par l’équipe haut rendement nordique de la société basée à Oslo. Cette localisation s’explique par le fait que le marché high yield norvégien est le plus important au sein de la zone nordique (près de 20 milliards sur 30 milliards de dollars), compte tenu d’un épais tissu d’entreprises moyennes et d’un faible recours aux banques.La taille du marché norvégien est aussi l’une des raisons pour lesquelles les fonds seront principalement exposés à ce pays (85-90 % du portefeuille modèle), le solde étant investi en Suède. Ces deux économies sont aussi les plus solides et saines de la région du nord de l’Europe et leurs devises devraient continuer à s’apprécier face à l’euro.Corollaire de ce biais norvégien, le portefeuille sera aussi fortement exposé à l’énergie (à 60 % environ aujourd’hui), un secteur prédominant dans le pays scandinave, cinquième exportateur de pétrole au monde. Mais Torolv Hestad, spécialiste des investissements d’Alfred Berg, précise que ce secteur est très diversifié. Et il souligne qu’il a une très bonne visibilité sur les projets de ces entreprises sur la courte période d’investissement du fonds. En outre, tous ces projets sont indexés sur un prix du pétrole de 80 dollars, ce qui laisse une marge de manœuvre en cas de chute des cours (il est aujourd’hui à plus de 100 dollars).Les fonds seront commercialisés jusqu’au 18 décembre à une clientèle de banque privée, de conseillers en gestion de patrimoine, de plates-formes en France, mais aussi en Italie, en Allemagne et au Luxembourg. Mario Petrachi, directeur distribution partenariats France, serait satisfait de lever 100 millions d’euros sur ces produits.

Le Comité d’orientation de Proxinvest compte deux nouveaux membres. Caroline Weber, directrice générale de Middlenext, et Henri Lachmann, président de Schneider Electric, ont accepté de rejoindre ce comité.Ils remplacent Gérard Rameix, récemment nommé président de l’Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), et Guillaume Prache, président du Securities and Markets Stakeholders group de l’AEMF ou Esma (Autorité européenne des marchés financiers) et vice-président d’EuroFinuse et EuroInvestors.Composé de quatorze personnalités ayant une large expérience dans le domaine du gouvernement d’entreprise et siégeant à titre personnel, le Comité d’Orientation de Proxinvest examine à l’automne après échange avec les investisseurs le projet de politique de vote pour l’année suivante avant adoption et sa présentation en décembre aux sociétés cotées.Composition du Comité d’Orientation de Proxinvest:Dominique Biedermann, Ethos Services, présidentValérie Bardou, AmundiSophie Boegner, ministère de la Défense, FranceProf. Jean-Luc Chenaux, Université de NeuchâtelJean de Demandolx, GSP DemandolxOlivier Gindre, EPF PartnerPascal Girardot, FédéractiveOlivier de Guerre, PhitrustHenri Lachmann, Schneider ElectricColette Neuville, ADAMPascale Sagnier, Axa IMProf. Dominique Schmidt, Université de StrasbourgBruno de la Villarmois, Air LiquideCaroline Weber, Middlenext