Invesco has now fully implemented Eagle Investment Systems’ performance measurement solution to manage its retail and institutional business in Continental Europe, leveraging the existing production instance of the Eagle platform in North America, BNY Mellon said in a press release. Eagle is a subsidiary of BNY Mellon. As a result of this deployment, Invesco now has a consolidated view of its business across North America and Continental Europe.The investment manager is also utilizing Eagle’s data mart for enhanced reporting across performance, holdings, transactions, fund rankings/ratings, and risk metrics. Additionally, the Eagle platform helps support Invesco’s client reporting, P&L reporting and fact sheet development for their Paris and Frankfurt businesses.

Generali Investments France last week announced in a note to investors that it is reorganising its asset management activities in Europe, in an operation which has been approved by the relevant regulatory authorities. Generali Investments Frence will merge its activities eligible for the European passport with Generali Investments Italy S.p.A. Società di gestione del risparmio, an Italian-registered asset management firm domiciled in Trieste. From 1 October, the asset management firm will become known as Generali Investments Europe SpA Società di gestione del risparmio, and will have a French affiliate, which will substitute for Generali Investments France in all relationships existing prior to that date. The UCITS-compliant security investment organisms will be transferred to Generali Europe Investments, while non-UCITS-compliant funds will on 19 September 2012 be transferred to Generali Investments Opera, a new French-registered asset management firm which received a license from the AMF on 13 September.

UK-based fund manager Jupiter announced it will launch the Jupiter Merlin Conservative Portfolio on 28th September 2012 to meet demand for a more cautious Jupiter Merlin range of multi-manager portfolios. The new fund, which has FSA approval, will sit within the IMA «Mixed Investment 0-35% shares» category.The Conservatice Portfolio will be managed by the Jupiter Independent Funds team comprising John Chatfeild-Roberts, Peter Lawery, Algy Smith-Maxwell, Amanda Sillars and David Lewis. The team currently manage GBP7.5bn of assets in four funds: Jupiter Merlin Income, Jupiter Merlin Balanced, Jupiter Merlin Growth and Jupiter Merlin Worldwide.

The French regulator, AMF, is preparing to publish an «administrative agreement» on its website by the end of this week, which it has reached with the asset management firm Carmignac Gestion. The asset management firm, based in place Vendôme in Paris, will pay a total of EUR500,000, following an audit by the regulatory authority undertaken between summer 2008 and summer 2010.All infractions by the asset management firm have been addressed; these mostly concerned flaws in information/reporting and internal controls at the firm. The first complaint concerned the Carmignac Patrimoine and Carmignac Investissement funds, for which the regulator found insufficient information concerning strategies based on derivative products. This is despite the fact that the latest were significant drivers of performance during the period under consideration.The AMF’s second compliant concerned human resources dedicated to risk controlling, with only one person at that time dedicated to the investigation undertaken by the regulator, and not two as originally planned. The Authority also found that for some funds which rely on derivative products, calculation of risk using a probabilistic “value at risk” method would have been necessary.In another area, the AMF also expressed regrets that controls on the development of bond liquidity levels was not in place.When asked about these developments by Newsmanagers, Eric Le Coz, deputy CEO of the asset management firm, first of all admitted that the AMF was acting within its capacities, and that Carmignac Gestion entends to fulfil its responsibilities. “Between the end of 2010 and early 2011, all the points raised by the AMF have been corrected,” Le Coz says. To respond to the first complaint, he says, “we have since been releasing information about the risk exposure of our portfolios and on the constitution of their performance. In relation to the second point raised by the AMF, the options which were used as part of what are considered complex operations on derivative products were bought up by the asset management firm in such a way that the risk clients were subject to was limited to only the premium.”In response to the third complaint, “personnel dedicated to internal controls includes six people, of whom three are dedicated to risk control,” Le Coz says, “and we have our own internal control system, which allows us to undertake our own stress tests, and all of this has been further reinforced since last year.”Lastly, the director of management points out that no clients were subjected to any losses during this period. “To the contrary,” he exclaims. The EUR500,000 fine may appear to be high, and this is the outcome of negotiations. On this point, Le Coz states that “the amount should be viewed in the context of owners’ equity at Carmignac Gestion of EUR1.2bn, and assets under management of EUR52bn.”

The Omaha, Nebraska-based third-party money manager CLS Investments (USD6.5bn in AUM as of-end July) has promoted Todd Clarke from president to CEO.The firm also hired Ryan Beach to take his place; he most recently oversaw legal matters as associate general counsel of CLS’ parent company, NorthStar Financial Services Group.John Russel «Rusty» Vanneman has been hired as new CIO. He previously worked as a CIO and PM at Kobren Insight Management.

US financial institutions now hold more than two thirds of shares in businesses in the United States, which gives them total control over votes, John C. Bogle, founder of Vanguard, observes in a column in the Financial Times. This capital is concentrated at a few major asset management firms: of USD9trn in shares held by the 300 largest US asset management firms, USD6trn are held by the 25 largest companies. The top 5 (Vanguard, BlackRock, State Street Global, Fidelity and American Funds) control about USD3trn. But so far, these companies have stood out for the lack of influence they exercise on the businesses in which they collectively invest. Bogle claims it is time for asset managers to assume their responsbilities in governance, and to break their silence.

For an undisclosed amount, Franklin Resources (Franklin Templeton Investments) on September 19th announced that it has agreed to acquire a majority stake in K2 Advisors Holdings («K2»), an independent fund of hedge funds manager with USD9.3bn in AUM as of end-August).The proceeds of this acquisition by Franklin Templeton will be used by K2 to purchase all of the equity currently held by TA Associates and to retire all of K2’s debt obligations. The current management of K2 will not sell any of its interests at this time. Beginning in 2016, Franklin Templeton will acquire the remainder of K2 over a multi-year period.

Ali Ould Rouis has left Robeco Gestions, the French affiliate of the Netherlands group, where he had been chairman, a statement released on 19 September states. His departure comes in the wake of the closure of the firm’s asset management activities in Paris, while resulted in the loss of 20 jobs, equivalent to two thirds of Paris staff. The remaining structure will concentrate exclusively on distribution, and will now become known as Robeco France. It will be led by Philippe Sabbah. Sabbah joined the Robeco group in August 2011 as CEO and board member in charge of commercial and marketing activities at Robeco Gestions, after previously working at Threadneedle. “Philippe Sabbah will work to ensure the growth of Robeco on the French market, and to extend the product range on offer to French institutionals,” a statement says.

FundQuest will become an advising structure, according to reports in Citywire Global. The firm, which has about EUR33bn in assets under management, will cease to be an asset management firm. The new entity will be renamed as FundQuest Advisors. Asset management will be transferred to BNP Paribas Asset Management. The reorganization will be announced in early October.

AllianceBernstein on 19 September announced the recruitment of George Yepes and Jeff Saltzman to assist with development of the firm’s alternative asset management activities (multi-management strategies, proprietary hedge funds and closed funds). Yepes previously worked at Financial Risk Management, where he had been in charge of client management and distribution for North America. Saltzman joins from Bank of America Merrill Lynch, where he had worked in the Cross Asset Solutions and Strategies unit.

Assets under management in Swiss investment funds, according to statistics from Swiss Fund Data SA and Lipper, totalled CHF699bn as of August 2012, CHF4.8bn more than the previous month, according to a statement released on 19 September by the Swiss Fund Association (SFA). Of this total, CHF273.3bn are allocated to funds dedicated to institutional investors. Net inflows totalled CHF2.2bn. Subscriptions were mostly invested in bond funds (+CHF2.3bn), followed by money market funds (+CHF498m) and commodity funds (CHF366m). However, strategic investment funds have seen redemptions totalling CHF179m, while equity funds have seen outflows of CHF755m, particularly from UK, USA, Global and Emerging Markets Global equity funds.

Julius Baer has taken a further step towards its acquisition of the wealth management activities of Merrill Lynch outside the Unuted States from Bank of America. At an extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting in Zurich, shareholders in the Zurich-based private bank approved a capital increase for this purpose, according to a statement released on 19 September. The owners of the wealth management firm on Wednesday agreed to constitute capital totalling up to CHF500m, via an issue of a maximum of 37.5 million new shares. These shares will be used exclusively to partially finance an acquisition of the wealth management activities of Merrill Lynch outside the United States and Japan. Of the 37.5 million newly-issued securitie, up to 7.5 million share will be issued or transferred to Bank of America (BofA), in keeping with an agreement for the transaction. According to the most recent estimates, BofA would hold a total stake in Julius Baer of between 2% and 4% following the integration of activities. The capital increase is to be held in October.

The Cantonal Bank of Basel has announced in a statement released on 19 September that it has appointed René Bürgisser as director of Private Banking activities in Zurich. Bürgisser will begin in his new role by 1 April 2013 at the latest. Bürgisser has spent 17 years in various positions at Credit Suisse, and was director of the Banque Cial affiliate in Zurich. Since 2007, he has had a seat on the board at AKB Privatbank Zürich.

Lazard Asset Management is this week opening a customer service office in Zurich, Agefi Switzerland reports. The reports have been confirmed to Le Temps by Andreas Hübner, director at Lazard Asset Management. There are two motives for the decision: on the one hand, changes in the Swiss banking market, including opportunities for asset management boutiques thanks to an increase in open architecture, and on the other, Lazard Asset Management is taking advantage of its specialisation in certain investment categories. Lazard AM says that it has EUR108bn in assets under management, of which 30% are on emerging markets.

Dedicated short bias and CTA Global were the only strategies to show losses last month, out of the 13 strategies monitored by the Edhec Risk Institute, with losses of 3.24% and 0.90%, respectively. The best returns were for event-driven, with gains of 1.38%, and distressed securities (+1.21%), followed by long/short equity (+1.02%).The best strategy since the beginning of the year is convertibles arbitrage, with gains of 6.7%, followed by distressed securities (+6.3%). Only dedicated short bias shows losses in the first eight months of the year, with losses of 10.9%.

Yvonne Silden Langlo has left Storebrand, where she had served in external fund selection, to join Norges Bank Investment Management, the asset management firm for the Norwegian fund, the Swedish website Fondbranschen reports.

Australian hedge funds and asset management boutiques, supported by allocations from pension funds, have over AUD200bn in assets under management – to be more precise, AUD208.4bn, or nearly USD220bn, Asian Investor reports. This total represents about 17% of the AUD1,190trn in total in the Australian asset management sector. Of this total, assets at 62 hedge funds total AUD42.8bn, according to statistics from the Triple A Partners/Basis Point Consulting Australian Hedge and Boutique Fund Directory. The top five hedge funds based in Australia are Platinum Asset Management, with AUD14bn in assets under management, BlackRock Investment Management Australia (AUD5.8bn), GMO Australia’s Systematic Global Macro Trust (AUD1.9bn), Macquarie Group’s MQ Specialist Investment Management (AUD1.6bn), and PM Capital (AUD1.6bn). In the asset management boutique sector, there are 102 independent asset management firms, with AUD165.6bn in assets, mostly invested in long-only strategies.

Pimco is launching fourteen funds of the “Global Investment Series” (GIS) family on the Belgian retail market, Investment Europe reports. As a part of the initiative, Pimco, which is hoping to take advantage of its presence on the Belgian institutional market, is including a strategy of partnership with intermediaries to ease distribution and growth in sales. The funds on offer, registered in Dublin and compliant with UCITS, include the Total Return Bond fund, managed by Bill Gross (EUR22.5bn in assets under management), the Global Multi-Asset Bond fund, managed by Mohamed El-Erian (EUR2.8bn), and the Diversified Income Fund from Eve Tournier (EUR5.6bn).

La Banque cantonale de Bâle a annoncé dans un communiqué publié le 19 septembre la nomination de René Bürgisser à la direction des activités Private Banking Zürich. René Bürgisser devrait prendre ses fonctions au plus tard le 1er avril 2013.René Bürgisser a travaillé 17 ans dans diverses fonctions au Credit Suisse et a dirigé la filiale de la Banque Cial à Zurich. Depuis 2007 il siège à la direction d’AKB Privatbank Zürich.

Lazard Asset Management ouvre cette semaine un bureau de service à la clientèle à Zurich, rapporte L’Agefi suisse. L’information a été confirmée au Temps par Andreas Hübner, directeur chez Lazard Asset Management. Deux raisons motivent cette décision: d’une part les changements intervenus sur le marché bancaire suisse, notamment les chances offertes aux boutiques de gestion en vertu du principe d’architecture ouverte; d’autre part, Lazard Asset Management profite de sa spécialisation dans certaines catégories de placements. Lazard AM déclare gérer 108 milliards d’euros d’actifs, dont environ 30% dans les pays émergents.

Weinberg Capital Partners annonce le renforcement de son pôle immobilier avec l’arrivée de Cyrille Viotte au poste de directeur adjoint. L’intéressé était auparavant dirigeant de Cordillera Capital, société dont il est le co-fondateur. Il a notamment réalisé des acquisitions immobilières pour des investisseurs privés et du conseil opérationnel dans le domaine de l’hôtellerie principalement en France.Auparavant, de 2005 à 2008, il a été responsable investissement chez ING REIM.

FundQuest va devenir une structure de conseil, selon les informations de Citywire Global. La société, qui gère environ 33 milliards d’euros d’encours, va cesser d’être une société de gestion. La nouvelle entité va être renommée FundQuest Advisors. La gestion va être transférée à BNP Paribas Asset Management. La réorganisation doit être annoncée début octobre.

Selon L’Agefi, le groupe de private equity Blackstone a conclu le rachat de Vivint, société américaine d’automatisation domestique (alarmes, climatisation, gestion énergétique), pour plus de 2 milliards de dollars. Vivint (exAPX Alarm Security Solutions) était détenue jusqu'à présent par la direction et des investisseurs financiers (Goldman Sachs, Jupiter Partners, Peterson Partners).

Pour un montant non divulgué, Franklin Resources (Franklin Templeton investments) a annoncé le 19 septembre l’acquisition d’une participation majoritaire dans le gestionnaire indépendant de fonds de hedge funds K2 Advisors Holdings (9,3 milliards de dollars fin août).Le montant tiré de cette cession sera utilisé par K2 Advisors pour racheter ses actions détenues par TA Associates et pour rembourser toutes ses obligations.Le management actuel de K2 ne vend pas de titres cette fois. A compter de 2016, Franklin Templeton achètera sur plusieurs années le reliquat du capital de K2.

L’AMF s’apprête à publier sur son site d’ici à la fin de la semaine un accord de composition administrative conclu avec la société Carmignac Gestion. La maison de la place Vendôme versera la somme de 500 000 euros à la suite d’un audit mené par l’autorité de tutelle entre l'été 2008 et l'été 2010. Trois reproches ont été adressés à la société de gestion. Essentiellement sur l’information et le contrôle interne de la société. Ainsi, le premier grief concerne les fonds Carmignac Patrimoine et Carmignac Investissement, sur lesquels le régulateur a relevé une information insuffisante concernant ses stratégies sur les produits dérivés. Et ce d’autant que ces derniers ont constitué des moteurs de performances importants durant la période considérée.Le deuxième reproche de l’AMF a porté sur les fonds profilés de la gamme et sur le fonds Carmignac Latitude sur lesquels des opérations sur produits dérivés complexes – options sur volatilité, options à barrières sur euro/dollar - ont été menées et où un déficit d’information a également été constaté.Le troisième reproche concernait l’effectif humain dédiée aux contrôles des risques, une seule personne y étant affecté à l'époque de l’examen menée par le régulateur et non deux comme cela était prévu. D’autre part, l’Autorité a estimé que, pour un certain nombre de fonds ayant recours à des produits dérivés, un calcul des risques selon la méthode probabiliste de la «value at risk» aurait été nécessaire.Dans un autre registre, l’AMF a aussi regretté qu’un contrôle sur l'évolution de la liquidité des obligations n’ait pas été mis en place. Interrogé par Newsmanagers, Eric Le Coz, directeur général adjoint de la société a tout d’abord reconnu que l’AMF avait été dans son rôle et que Carmignac Gestion entendait assumer ses responsabilités. «Dès fin 2010, début 2011, tous les points relevés par l’AMF ont été corrigés», a insisté Eric le Coz. «Concernant le premier reproche», a t-il détaillé, «nous communiquons depuis sur l’exposition au risque de nos portefeuilles et sur la constitution de la performance. En outre, à propos du deuxième point souligné par l’AMF, les options qui s’inscrivent dans le cadre des opérations sur produits dérivés réputés complexes avaient été achetées par la société de gestion de telle sorte que le risque encouru par les clients était juste limitée à la prime.» Concernant le troisième reproche, «le dispositif dédié au contrôle interne compte désormais six personnes dont trois au contrôle du risque», a ajouté Eric Le Coz, «et nous disposons de notre propre système de contrôle interne nous permettant de mener nos propres stress test, le tout ayant été de surcroît revu et renforcé depuis l’an dernier.» Enfin, le directeur de la gestion a tenu à rappeler qu’aucun client n’avait été lésé durant cette période. «Bien au contraire», a-t-il précisé… Reste que la transaction de 500 000 euros peut paraître élevée et ce, d’autant qu’elle est le fruit d’une négociation. Sur ce point, Eric Le Coz a indiqué que «le montant est à mettre en regard avec les fonds propres de Carmignac Gestion de 1,2 milliard d’euros, et des encours sous gestion de 52 milliards d’euros». Mais, a-t-il conclu, «il faut reconnaître que l’on assiste aussi à un relèvement général des transactions imposées en Europe et que les négociations sont désormais nettement plus âpres».

Pioneer Investments annonce le lancement du fonds Pioneer Funds - Emerging Markets Corporate Bond High Yield. Le compartiment est investi principalement dans des titres de créances et instruments apparentés à des titres de créance libellés en dollars ou en monnaies de pays membres de l’OCDE émis par des sociétés de qualité inférieure à Investment Grade ayant leur siège social ou leurs activités principales dans les marchés émergents, ou en instruments de ce type dont le risque de crédit est lié aux marchés émergents. C’est Greg Saichin, directeur High Yield et Obligations Emergentes de Pioneer Investments qui est gérant principal du fonds. CaractéristiquesPart A : LU0765561054Frais d’entrée : 2,50%Frais courants : 2,00%Part C : LU0765561997Frais d’entrée 0,00%Frais courants 1,21%

La société de gestion Comgest a annoncé le 19 septembre le lancement du fonds Comgest Growth Emerging Markets Flex (CGEM Flex) à sa sicav irlandaise à compartiments conforme à la directive OPCVM IV, Comgest Growth Plc.Ce nouveau produit offre à l’investisseur la possibilité de s’exposer au potentiel de croissance des pays émergents tout en réduisant son risque de pertes. L’objectif de CGEM Flex (qui a déjà 75 millions d’euros d’encours est de réduire encore les pertes extrêmes et la volatilité par rapport aux stratégies classiques de Comgest.Comme le précise le gestionnaire, le Comgest Growth Emerging Markets Flex est construit autour d’un portefeuille d’actions de pays émergents très proche de celui de Magellan ou de Comgest Growth Emerging Markets.A ce portefeuille d’actions s’ajoute en fonction du stress des marchés un panier de couverture composé exclusivement des futures sur indices actions. L’exposition aux marchés d’actions pourra au final osciller entre 20% et 100%. L’ajustement du niveau de couverture est réalisé quotidiennement, et suit une stratégie automatique, simple et transparente dépendant du niveau de l’indice VIX.Le fonds est déjà enregistré à la commercialisation en France, au Luxembourg, en Allemagne, en Autriche. L’enregistrement est en cours pour la Belgique, l’Italie, la Grande Bretagne, les Pays-Bas et la Suède.Code Isin : Part I IE00B8J4DR61 ; Part R IE00B8J4DS78

Generali Investments France a annoncé la semaine dernière, dans une note adressée aux investisseurs, une opération de réorganisation de ses activités de gestion en Europe, opération qui a reçu l’agrément des autorités de tutelle compétentes.Generali Investments France fusionnera les activités éligibles au passeport européen avec Generali Investments Italy S.p.A. Società di gestione del risparmio, société de gestion de droit italien domiciliée à Trieste.Avec effet du 1er octobre, celle société se renommera Generali Investments Europe SpA Società di gestione del risparmio, société de gestion de droit, et disposera d’une succursale française qui se substituera à Generali Investments France dans toutes les relations qui existaient avant cette date.Les organismes de placement en valeurs mobilières coordonnés seront transférés vers Generali Investments Europe tandis que les fonds non coordonnés seront transférés le 19 septembre 2012 dans Generali Investments Opera, une nouvelle société de gestion de droit français agréée par l’AMF le 13 septembre dernier.

Le gestionnaire d’actifs ALPS Advisors qui conseille fonds ouverts, fermés et des ETF d’un encours de 6,6 milliards de dollars, indique avoir conclu un accord de licence avec Goldman Sachs pour utiliser des indices de ce dernier comme référence pour de nouveaux ETF. Ces indices seront développés par l’équipe de structuration d’ETP de Goldman Sachs basée à New York.

AllianceBernstein a annoncé le 19 septembre le recrutement de George Yepes et de Jeff Saltzman pour accompagner le développement des activités de gestion alternative de la société (stratégies de multigestion, hedge funds propriétaires et fonds fermés).George Yepes travaillait précédemment chez Financial Risk Management où il était responsable de la gestion de la clientèle et de la distribution en Amérique du Nord. Jeff Saltzman vient de Bank of America Merrill Lynch où il travaillait au sein du pôle Cross Asset Solutions and Strategies.