Selon nos informations, à l’issue d’un appel d’offres lancé le 13 juin 2012 avec l’aide du consultant Fixage, la Mutuelle de la Société Générale a sélectionné Amundi et Oddo AM pour investir 15 millions d’euros sur deux OPCVM ouverts sur les obligations convertibles euro.

Greg Ehret, head of EMEA à Londres, a été nommé mardi au poste nouvellement créé de global chief operating officer du gestionnaire d’actifs State Street Global Advisors (SSgA). Il sera responsable des ventes, des produits, du marketing et des opérations.Son successeur à Londres comme head of EMEA est Mike Karpik, head of UKMEA and Ireland et head of investment.

Swiss Life vient de créer une direction transversale «Assureur gestion privée», regroupant des équipes dédiées de la banque privée et de la compagnie d’assurance. Rattachée à la direction de la distribution Swiss Life, elle sera pilotée par Christophe de Vaublanc, précédemment directeur des partenariats banques et CGPI. L’objectif de Swiss Life est double. Il s’agit de mieux traiter les problématiques des clients patrimoniaux via des compétences cumulées et une approche patrimoniale globale (banque privée et assurance), et aussi de mettre en place des process et services transversaux avec une approche segmentée des réseaux de distribution, et notamment les courtiers experts vie, les CGPI et les banques privées, indique un communiqué.La nouvelle direction favorise une plus grande transversalité entre les équipes commerciales des différents réseaux de distribution et se traduit par la capacité à mieux partager les moyens mis en support du développement sur la clientèle patrimoniale et à optimiser la contribution des équipes de SwissLife Banque Privée et de sa société de gestion au service du développement des réseaux de la Compagnie sur la clientèle patrimoniale. Enfin, elle doit mieux coordonner les attentes des réseaux vis à vis des autres directions qui accompagnent le développement sur la clientèle patrimoniale : Ingénierie patrimoniale, Corporate finance, middle office, Services Client, Juridique, SwissLife AM, …

Mark R. Fetting, chairman et chief executive officer de Legg Mason depuis 2008, a donné sa démission, laquelle prendra effet le 1er octobre, annonce la société de gestion américaine le 11 septembre. L’intéressé restera consultant jusqu’à la fin de l’année. Son remplaçant est en cours de recrutement par le conseil d’administration. «Le conseil d’administration a formé un comité de recherche pour étudier des candidatures internes et externes et engagera une société de recrutements de dirigeants pour l’aider dans le processus», précise un communiqué de presse. En attendant, ses fonctions seront réparties entre W. Allen Reed, actuel administrateur indépendant, qui devient non-executive chairman, et Joseph A. Sullivan, responsable de la distribution mondiale, nommé CEO par intérim.Legg Mason gérait 636 milliards de dollars d’encours au 31 juillet 2012. Sur son dernier exercice au 31 mars, la société de gestion a vu ses encours reculer de 5 %, notamment en raison de rachats nets. Ces sorties et la pression de l’activiste Nelson Peltz auraient conduit au départ de Mark Fetting.

Weinberg Capital Partners a effectué une série de nominations au sein de son équipe de capital investissement. Benjamin Rousseau-Calisti, qui a rejoint Weinberg Capital Partners en 2010, a été promu au poste de directeur adjoint. La société d’investissement indépendante annonce également l’arrivée de Joanne Dubail et de Baptiste Fournier en tant que chargés d’affaires.

Morgan Stanley et Citigroup ont accepté mardi le verdict de Perella Weinberg qui valorise la gestion de fortune de la co-entreprise Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB) à 13,5 milliards de dollars.Sur cette base, Morgan Stanley pourra acquérir par étapes d’ici au 1er juin 2015 les 49 % de MSSB détenus par Citi, en commençant par 14 % et des dépôts de 5,5 milliards de dollars maintenant, puis par 15 % d’ici au 1er juin 2013. Le reliquat des dépôts à transférer à Morgan Stanley sera d’environ 48 milliards de dollars.Initialement, Morgan Stanley estimait Smith Barney à 9 milliards de dollars tandis que Citi l’évaluait à 22 milliards.

Groupama Asset Management va dans les prochains jours débuter la commercialisation active de son fonds de trésorerie longue (horizon 12 mois) G Fund Alpha Fixed Income. Face à l'érosion des rendements monétaires, la société de gestion a cherché de nouvelles opportunités de croissance, notamment dans les pays émergents. Le produit est donc investi sur des obligations (privées investment grade, haut rendement, souveraines émergentes, souveraines pays développés et convertibles), largement diversifiées géographiquement. Soit un univers d’investissement qui compte les pays de l’OCDE, les pays du G20 et les pays de l’Union Européenne. G Fund Alpha Fixed Income suit une gestion dynamique du budget de risque et permet une flexibilité entre les différents moteurs de performance que sont les devises, la volatilité, la courbe etc.. Les positions sont pilotées selon une perte maximale définie à 2 % par an. La gestion du G Fund Alpha Fixed Income est assurée par Laurent Fabiani Lagarde depuis un an. Le gérant a hérité d’une coquille juridique vide (créée en 2010) qu’il a adaptée aux nouvelles données du marché pour répondre aux besoins d’une clientèle qui cherche à maximiser sa trésorerie tout en la protégeant. Amorcé par Groupama AM à hauteur de 40 millions d’euros, «le fonds a les capacités d’atteindre 200 millions d’euros au cours des prochains 18 mois».La gestion de trésorerie de Groupama AM totalise aujourd’hui 5 milliards d’euros. CaractéristiquesPart distributionCode Isin : LU0571101715Souscription minimum : 150.000 eurosCommission de gestion annuelle : 0,5 %Commission de surperformance : 20 % de la performance au-delà de Eonia Capitalisé + 1,5 %Commission de souscription maximum : 4 %Commission de rachat : 0 %Commission d’administration maximum : 0,3 %Part capitalisationCode Isin : LU0571102010 Souscription minimum : 1 partCommission de gestion annuelle : 1 %Commission de surperformance : 20 % de la performance au-delà de Eonia Capitalisé + 1,5 %Commission de souscription maximum : 4 %Commission de rachat : 0 %Commission d’administration maximum : 0,4 %

La société de gestion KBL Richelieu Gestion travaille sur un fonds de court terme pour les investisseurs souhaitant avoir plus de rendement que celui offert par le monétaire, quitte à accepter un peu plus de volatilité dans les performances, a indiqué Roland Fernet, directeur général de KBL Richelieu Gestion, le 11 septembre à l’occasion d’un point de presse.Cette stratégie sera soumise à moins de contraintes que KBL Monétaire pour le choix des signatures, avec la possibilité d’intégrer des sociétés non notées et du high yield. La durée de placement minimum recommandée devrait être de deux ans et, sur une échelle de 1 à 7, le profil de risque devrait se situer au niveau 3.Roland Fernet a par ailleurs indiqué à Newsmanagers que les actifs sous gestion de la société tutoyaient le milliard d’euros, à environ 950 millions d’euros contre 870 millions d’euros à fin décembre 2011. La décollecte sur les actions, intervenue surtout en début d’année, a été compensée par les souscriptions sur les taux et l’effet marché.

Thomas Freese has been appointed as director of marketing at the German financial services provider MLP, and will report directly to the chairman of the board, Uwe Schroeder-Wildberg. Freese had most recently been head of marketing corporate clients & specialized finance at WestLB.

From the beginning of October, the real estate fund management firm Deka Immobilien will work only with seven major property management firms for 179 of its 235 office and commercial properties in Germany, compared with 19 previously. Following a request for proposals, Deka will now work only with Hochtief Solutions, HSG Zander, OM-Service, Sauter FM, Strabag Property and Facility Services and WISAG, whose contracts have been renewed, and with RGM FM, which has recently been added to this group of strategic partners.Assets in open-ended real estate funds from Deka total EUR23bn (as of 30 June).

According to reports in Die Welt, the board of directors at DekaBank, the central asset management firm for the German savings banks (EUR88bn) will this Wednesday appoint Victor Moftakhar, 45, as head of the operational affiliate Deka Investment, alongside Thomas Neiße, 64, whose term will end in August 2013. The appointment will take effect from 1 October. Deka had no comment on the reports.The position of head of investment strategy will pass from Moftakhar to Frank Hagenstein, 47, who is presently head of bond fund management.Neiße will also retain his position as chairman of the BVI association of asset management firms, and his role as trustee at Deutsche Börse.

The private bank Hauck & Aufhäuser (USD27bn in assets) on Tuesday confirmed the resignation of the chairman of its board and managing partner, Michael Schramm, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. The departure is said to be due to a disagreement with one of the firm’s most influential managers, Jürgen Heraeus.The bank will initially be led by the only remaining managing partner, Jochen Lucht, in charge of finance and IT. It is likely that the two partners, Michael Bentlage and Stephan Rupprecht, will be quickly promoted to the position of managing partners. Bentlage is the head of the asset management unit (175 funds) and relationships with independent wealth managers.

The 2015 strategic plan unveiled on Tuesday by the two co-chairmen of the board at Deutsche Bank, Anshu Jain and Jürgen Fitschen, calls for cost savings of EUR4.5bn per year until 2015, and a reduction of the cost/income ratio below 65%.In organisational terms, Deutsche Bank will create a fourth fully integrated unit, asset and wealth management (AWM), alongside private & business clients (PBC), corporate banking & securities (CB&S), and global transacton banking (GTB). AWM will combine active and passive management with retail asset management in a single division, to fully exploit the potential of its approximately EUR900bn in assets.After examining the case, the German group has called off plans to sell off DWS Americas and DB Advisors, Deutsche Insurance Asset Management and RREEF, which will be integral parts of AWM. The new unit will also include passive management and third-party asset management activities for CB&S, such as ETFs (db x-trackers and db ETC).The objective is to create an efficient platform, by eliminating as many redundancies as possible. This will make it possible to double pre-tax profits from AWM to about EUR1.7bn in 2015, compared with EUR08bn in 2011, and to increase assets to about EUR1trn.

Credit Suisse has appointed Serge Fehr as head for the Geneva region, Agefi Switzerland reports. He succeeds Manuel Jetzer, who wanted to serve in other positions at the bank. Fehr, 46, takes charge of the Geneva region, where Credit Suisse has about 1,200 employees. He will also be responsible for private banking activities for the entire canton, and the district of Nyon. Fehr, who joined Credit Suisse in 1996, has nearly 30 years of professional experience in banking and finance, especially in client advising.

Morgan Stanley and Citigroup on Tuesday accepted the verdict of Perella Weinberg, which valued the wealth management operations of their joint venture, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB), at USD13.5bn.On this basis, Morgan Stanley may acquire the 49% stake in MSSB held by Citi in instalments between now and 1 June 2015, beginning with a 14% stake and deposits of USD5.5bn, followed by instalments of 15% at a time until 1 June 2013. The remaining deposits to be transferred to Morgan Stanley will total about EUR48bn.Initially, Morgan Stanley had estimated the value at Smith Barnet at USD9bn, while Citi had valued it at USD22bn.

In the first seven months of this year, La Banque Postale Asset Management (LBPAM) has posted a net inflow of EUR3.5bn from institutions, the chairman of the board at LBPAM, Jean-Luc Enguéhard, has told Newsmanagers. This confirms a trend observed in first half, which ended with net inflows of EUR2.6bn from institutional investors. Net inflows overall totalled EUR2bn, due to redemptions of EUR600m to retail investors. Taking into account net inflows and positive market effects, assets under management at La Banque Postale as of the end of June totalled EUR130bn, compared with EUR125bn at the end of June 2011, an increase of 4% year on year. Earnings at La Banque Postale AM, for their part, rose 2.5% to EUR41m, due to inflows and volume effects on bonds and money markets. Overall, LBPAM has therefore done better than the market, despite the difficulties it has encountered in the retail segment. However, says Enguéhard,” LBPAM is not doing so badly on the retail market. Outflows to retail investors remain high, but they are lower than in first half 2011, when they were EUR878m. Given what continues to be a highly difficult environment for all of the sector, we have gained market share in retail. Our market share for mutual funds, excluding mandates, has risen from 3.89% as of the end of June 2011 to 4.08% at the end of June 2012.” Enguéhard says that LBPAM has ambitions to make additions to its mid/long term product ranges. This will include setting up a new debt management range in the infrastructure and real estate sectors. “This June, we recruited a team of three managers specialised in debt funds, led by René Kassis. The new range, which will be unveiled in the next few weeks, will give our institutional clients a new way to diversify,” says Enguéhard. LBPAM, which works directly with 325 key clients, is also hoping to develop its product range aimed at business clients of La Banque Postale, who will now be offered financing solutions. “We have a range which is complementary to that of La Banque Postale, whose pool of clients represents a real opportunity for us. La Banque Postale is only in its first year of financing activity, and we have already signed some significant investment agreements.” In this context, Enguéhard estimates that LBPAM already has a lot on its plate. “We don’t have any external growth plans as LBPAM. The expertise that we are building up gradually will allow us to continue our dynamic growth serving our clients,” says Enguéhard.

Greg Ehret, head of EMEA in London, was on Tuesday appointed to the newly-created position of global chief operating officer at the asset management firm State Street Global Advisors (SSgA). He will be responsible for sales, products, marketing and operations.Ehret’s successor in London as head of EMEA is Mike Karpik, head of UKMEA and Ireland and head of investment.

Schelcher Prince Gestion in July hired Fabrice Neyroumande as head of distribution, a newly-created position. He had previously been head of sales for France and head of investment solutions at AGF Asset Management and Allianz Global Investors. Neyroumande will work in close collaboration with Bruno Promonet, deputy CEO and director of development at Schelcher Prince Gestion, and will be in charge of operations and development for brokers and independent financial advisers (IFAs), private banks, platforms, funds of funds and multi-management.

Legg Mason announced on September 11 that Mark R. Fetting, chairman and chief executive officer, has decided to step down effective October 1, and will remain as a consultant to the company through year end. Lead independent director W. Allen Reed will become non-executive chairman and Joseph A. (Joe) Sullivan, head of global distribution, will become interim chief executive officer while the board conducts a search for a permanent CEO."The board has formed a search committee to consider both internal and external candidates and will be engaging a leading executive search firm to assist with the process,» according to a press release.Legg Mason is under pressure from activist investor Nelson Peltz to halt client withdrawals that have persisted for five years, according to the Financial Times.

Swiss Life has created a “private management insurer” unit, including teams dedicated to private banking and insurers. The unit will be led by Christophe de Vaublanc, previously director of banking partnerships and IFAs, who will report to the distribution director of Swiss Life. Swiss Life has two objectives. One is to provide better handling of wealth management clients with collective expertise and a global wealth management approach (private banking and insurance), while the other is to set up transverse processes and services with a segmented approach to distribution networks, including life insurance brokers, IFAs and private banks, a statement says. The new office of the director will operate more transversally between sales teams for various distribution networks, and will result in better capacity to share resources to support development of the wealth management client base, optimise contributions from the SwissLife Private Banking teams, and from its asset management firm, to develop the Company’s network of wealth management clients. It will also help to better co-ordinate network expectations in relation to other offices which are involved in the development of the wealth management client base: wealth management engineering, corproate finance, middle office, client services, legal, SwissLife AM, and others.

On 11 September, Juilus Baer Group announced that it has successfuly placed, after a short book-building process, CHF 250 million of subordinated, unsecured debt with institutional and private investors. The perpetual non-cumulative Additional Tier 1 Securities carry a coupon of 5.375% and include an optional redemption call on 19 March 2018 and any interest payment date thereafter. The bonds will be issued in denominations of CHF 5,000. The proceeds will be used for the partial financing of the acquisition of Merrill Lynch’s International Wealth Management business outside the US and Japan.

Aviva Investors closed its Italian office last February, Bluerating reports, in an article on the career of the former country head of the asset management firm. Gabriele Miodini has become an IFA in the Banca MPS network, the Italian website says.

In an effort to compete with the major private banking groups, Bankinter has decided to reshuffle its private banking unit, and to break it down into smaller parts, Funds People reports. Bankinter will be creating a personal banking arm for clients with total financial assets of EUR75,000 to EUR1m, led by Jorge Sánchez-Mayendía, and a private banking arm, led by Adela Martin, to serve clients with over EUR1m.Currently, assets at Bankinter in private banking total about EUR11bn.Martin had previously been head of the personal finance segment, while Sánchez-Mayendía was head of the sales network.

Standard Life Investments has announced that Wesley McCoy has rejoined the company as an investment director in the global equities team.Having joined Standard Life Investments in 1999, Wesley McCoy left in 2008 to pursue charity work in Malawi with the Microloan Foundation. Since his return, he has worked for Odey Asset Management on their global multi asset hedge fund.

The tenth annual survey by the British investment management association (IMA) has found a steep decline in investors’ interest in British equities. Of the total invested in equities in 2011, only 37% was invested with an exposure to British equities, compared with 42% the previous year, and nearly 60% in 2006. International equities, North America, Japan and Asia-Pacific ex Japan, however, gained ground in the past twelve months, with a special mention for international equities. Exposure to international equities held out well, at 19.5% in 2011, compared with 20% the previous year.

Bond funds on sale in Sweden recorded net inflows in August of SEK2.5bn (EUR0.3bn), according to statistics from the Swedish fund association, Fondbolagens Förening. It is the only category of funds to have posted inflows for the month. Equity funds have seen outflows of SEK0.6bn, while balanced funds had outflows of EUR0.8bn, and money market funds SEK1.2bn. Overall, Swedish funds have seen net redemptions of SEK0.8bn in August. Since the beginning of the year, bond funds also stand out, as they account for all inflows: SEK13.5bn (EUR1.6bn), out of overall inflows of EUR13bn. Equity funds and balanced funds show net inflows of SEK4.5bn each. As of the end of August, assets under management by Swedish funds totalled SEK1.922trn (EUR226.5bn), compared with SEK1.935trn as of the end of July, of which 52% are in equity funds.

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has fined BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited (BIM) GBP9,533,100 for failing to protect client money adequately by not putting trust letters in place for certain money market deposits, and for failing to take reasonable care to organise and control its affairs responsibly in relation to the identification and protection of client money.The FSA’s client money rules are designed to protect client money in the event of a firm’s insolvency, reminds a press release. A firm must have a trust letter from any bank holding its client money to ensure that, in the event of the firm’s insolvency, client money is clearly identifiable and is ring-fenced from the firm’s own assets so that it can be promptly returned.Between 1 October 2006 and 31 March 2010, BIM failed to obtain such letters in relation to some of the money market deposits it placed with third party banks, explains the UK regulator. The error occurred as a result of systems changes that followed on from BlackRock group’s acquisition of BIM, which had previously been known as Merrill Lynch Investment Managers Limited. These changes rendered BIM’s procedures for setting up trust letters ineffective. The average daily balance affected by this failure was over £1.36 billion. Had the firm become insolvent at any time during this period, clients would have suffered delay in securing the return of their funds and may not have recovered their money in full.In determining the penalty the FSA took into account that the misconduct was not deliberate, and that the firm reported the issue to the FSA and has since remedied the situation and put in place robust systems and controls relating to client money protection. No clients suffered any losses as a result of the error. The firm agreed to settle with the FSA at an early stage. In doing so it qualified for a 30% discount on the financial penalty. Had it not been for this discount the penalty would have been GBP13,618,800.

«Les stocks de pétrole brut de l’OCDE restent à des niveaux confortables, surtout sur le marché américain», estime l’Opep dans son rapport mensuel publié mardi. «En conséquence, toute pénurie pourrait être rapidement compensée par l’utilisation de capacités inemployées dans un marché où l’offre de brut est abondante». L’Opep précise avoir augmenté sa propre production de 254.000 barils par jour en août, en dépit de l’embargo européen sur les exportations de l’Iran.

Selon des données provisoires du Département du Commerce, le déficit commercial américain est ressorti à 42 milliards de dollars en juillet, contre 41,9 milliards en juin (révisé de 42,9 milliards). Conséquence d’une baisse de la demande en Europe, les exportations vers l’Union européenne ont chuté de 11,7%, avec des ventes vers l’Allemagne au plus bas depuis février 2010. Les exportations américaines dans leur ensemble ne subissent un repli que de 1% seulement par rapport à juin.

Le directeur général du gérant américain, Mark Fetting, démissionnera le 1er octobre. Ce dernier fait les frais d’une décollecte continue depuis 19 trimestres consécutifs. La société a notamment souffert du retrait de son gérant vedette Bill Miller, dont le fonds avait surperformé l’indice S&P 500 pendant 15 ans. Mark Fetting, qui a reconnu des difficultés à redresser l’entreprise, sera remplacé par Joseph Sullivan, qui assurera l’intérim.