After 14 years at AxaRosenberg in London as head of relationship management for institutional clients in Germany, continental Europe and the Middle East, Armin Gudat on 1 April joined the Hamburg-based Aquila Capital Institutional as senior fund manager in the quantitative team. As Roman Rosslenbroich, founder and CEO of Aquila Capital, states, the new recruit will assist in the development of quantitative investment strategies and products.

Total financial assets of euro zone insurance companies and pension funds in fourth quarter 2011 increased to EUR6.980trn from EUR6.919trn the previous quarter, according to statistics from the European Central Bank (ECB). In the same period, mandated insurance reserves, the major measure of liabilities for insurance companies and pension funds, have increased, from EUR6.113trn to EUR6.131trn. This increase is due in nearly equal proportions to positive transactions and valuation effects. In relation to ventilation of assets on the aggregate balance sheets of insurance companies and pension funds in the euro zone, assets in securities other than equities as of the end of December 2011 represented 39% of total financial assets in the sector. Shares in mutual funds represented the second largest exposure, with 23% of total financial assets. Lastly, equities and other participations represented 12% of the total.

Funds People reports that the Swiss firm Pictet has registered the Pictet-Global Flexible Allocation sub-fund with the CNMV for sale in Spain (see Newsmanagers of 8 March). The fund is a sub-fund of the firm’s Luxembourg Sicav.

Since 10 April, the Netherlands-registered emerging markets high yield bond fund BNP Paribas Fund III NV has been admitted to trading on Euronext Fund Services (EFS) from NYSE Euronext. It becomes the 186th investment fund to be listed on that platform.CharacteristicsName: BNP EM HIEF 5Unh)ISIN code: NL0010060604Benchmark: S&P Global Emerging Markets High Income Equity (Euro)TER : 1.6%

Last month, the Hennessee Hedge Fund Index posted returns of 0.59%, following gains of 1.68% in February and 2.25% in January, meaning that for first quarter, the average returns come out to 4.59%.Only three strategies saw losses in March: macro (-0.29%), short biased (-1.02%), and emerging markets (-1.28%). In January-March, only short bias shows losses (of 10.81%).

Although it welcomes the fact that the new ESMA consultation document issued in January 2012 extends its range to a more horizontal approach covering all UCITS-compliant funds, rather than focusing solely on UCITS-compliant ETF funds in a more vertical manner, the EDHEC-Risk Institute expresses regrets in its response to the consultation document that the text does not go further in several key areas.Specialists at EDHEC express regrets that the European regulator did not see fit to propose a definition of passive management which could be associated with an acceptable tracking error level. Meanwhile, they are critical of the fact that the ESMA proposal, although it recommends making information on the performance of indices available for free, does not require that all information on indices be published for free, particularly the composition history of the indices. Furthermore, EDHEC would like to see the quality of governance of indices and a way to audit the decisions of index committees receive more attention from the regulator.

The US regulator, the SEC, has begun processing data from the major hedge fund firms in the country, provided to the regulator by a deadline of 30 March under Dodd-Frank legislation, the Wall Street Journal reports. The objective is to identify firms whose behaviour may pose potential risks ot investors. About 1,400 new companies, including Moore Capital Management and Tiger Global Management, have provided new information on funds, investors, brokers, and other areas, the WSJ reports.

The California pension fund CalPERS on 10 April announced that it has been selected by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to become a member of the investor advising commission, newly created under Dodd-Frank legislation.Jow Dear, chief investment officer of CalPERS, will chair the 21-member commission, which will advise the SEC on regulatory questions and pricing issues, and which may also undertake initiatives to improve invetor protection and market confidence.

The college of the French prudential control authority (ACP) on 6 April announced that it has passed a recommendation to improve information and transparency in communications to retail lending clients about foreign currency risks. Credit establishments and intermediaries for banking operations are offering retail clients loans in currencies that carry forex risks, and promoting them on the grounds of the lower interest rates they charge than loans in euros, and limited variation of the exchange rate. An analysis of sales practices for loans of this type found that currency risks may be misunderstood by borrowers.As a result, the ACP is recommending that credit establishments and intermediaries in banking operations follow a code of best practices for advisers in contact with clients, advertising, explanations provided to the client before the loan is signed, and annual information to the borrower.

The Chinese securities regulatory commission (CSRC) has granted approval to a request from Huatia Securities to launch a private equity fund. The fund, Huatai Zijin (Jiangsu) Private Equity Investment Fund, will be managed by Huatai Ruitong Investment Management Company.Huatai is the second brokerage firm to have received such a license, after CICC, which launched its private equity fund in April 2011, with assets of CNY1.5bn, Z-Ben Advisors reports.

According to reports in Citywire, Felix Freund, star manager at Union Investment (German co-operative banks), has been recruited as director of credit for Europe at Standard Life Investments (SLI).Investment Week reports, meanwhile, that SLI has recruited Mark Kedar as sterling credit investment director. Kedar had previously been fixed income investment manager at Kames.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners has appointed Guy Williams, CIO FFTW, as head of BNPP IP’s Global Emerging Fixed Income team after the departure at BlackRock of Sergio Trigo Paz with a six person team. He will assume responsibility for the management of its worldwide EMD strategies managed out of London.BNPP IP also says that «its priority is now to rapidly strengthen its emerging market fixed income resources with the required investment talent, a process that has already begun». BNP Paribas IP manages over EUR 4.5 billion of emerging market fixed income (EMD) assets.

In the Swiss financial sector, the number of job openings as of the end of March was 20.5% lower than its level twelve months previously, with a 35.2% decline for banks and a 4% decline at insurers, finews reports.On the websites of 1,400 banks, insurers and other Swiss financial sector businesses (auditors, IT, consultants, etc.), as of 31 March there were 3,430 jobs announced, compared with 4,312 as of the end of March 2011, according to the Finews-JobDirectory-Index, published in cooperation with the website JobDirectory.ch. Of this total, job openings at banks totalled 1,144, compared with 1,765 one year preivously.However, finews states that there has been some stability since the beginning of the year at the two major banks (UBS and Credit Suisse), but that the decline is more pronounced at cantonal and private banks.

ETP provider Source and financial services group Nomura on 10 April announced the launch of anew ETF, the Nomura Voltage Short-Term Source ETF. The ETF aims tooffer reactive and tactical exposure to volatility, replicating theNomura Voltage Strategy Short-Term 30-day USD TR index, which seeksto profit from volatility peaks, while reducing costs associated witha permanent long position on volatility.This is the second Source ETF of theNomura Voltage range. The Nomura Voltage Mid-Term Source ETF, whichreplicates the Nomura Voltage Strategy Mid-Term 30-day USD TR, waslaunched in April 2011, and now has over USD540m in assets undermanagement. The two ETF funds are aimed at qualified investors, andoffers them various volatility investment options, in order to bettermanage their risk/return profile.Futures contracts on the CBOEVolatility index (“VIX”) are practical instruments for exposureto volatility. However, as curves in VIX futures may reach a state ofcontango, maintaining this exposure over the long term may be costly,a statement says. The Nomura Voltage Strategy Short-Term 30-day USDTR offers an effective alternative for investors seeking to adopt along position on volatility. The index reproduces exposure tovolatility via the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures TR index, butmay modify its level of exposure from 0% to 100% according to theNomura Voltage allocation model. In this way, the fund seeks toprofit from peaks in volatility while limiting the cost of rollingover positions on VIX index futures contracts.Primary characteristics of NomuraVoltage Source productsName of productNomura Voltage Short-Term Source ETF Nomura Voltage Mid-Term Source ETF Bloomberg codeVOLS LN VOLT LN (LondonStock Exchange) NVLT GR (Xetra) Currency of the fundUSD USD Trading currencyUSD USD (London StockExchange) EUR (Xetra) Management fees0.30% per year 0.30% per yearListed onLondon Stock Exchange (LSE) London Stock Exchange / Xetra Name of indexNomura Voltage Strategy Short-Term 30-day USDTR Nomura Voltage Strategy Mid-Term 30-day USD TR Bloomberg ticker for index NMEDVSU3 NMEDVMU3 DomicileIreland Ireland

In partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Deutsche Börse has placed climate change information concerning about 1,800 publicly-traded businesses online, free of charge, since the end of last week. The information makes it possible to compare the businesses in terms of their contribution to environmental protection and their transparency in terms of CO2 emissions.The data are available at http://www.boerse-frankfurt.com/.

Chong Jin Leow, head of Asia-Pacific at BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, has been appointed additionally as country executive and general manager for Singapore. He will continue to report to Tim Keaney, vice chairman of BNY Mellon and CEO of BNY Mellon Asset Servicing, but will also report to Steve Lackey, chairman of Asia-Pacific.In his new role as head for Singapore, Chong succeeds Jai Arya, who has been promoted to the position of head of the global sovereign institutions group at BNY Mellon. Arya will be in charge of coordinating services of the group to sovereign funds, sovereign pension funds, central banks and monetary authorities as well as government entities.

The British private equity investor CVC Capital Partners is hoping to make USD2bn for a sale of its 20% stake in the organiser of Formula 1 automotive races at its IPO, Cotizalia reports. According to Bloomberg, the IPO is to be held in Singapore, which could also be the case of the Manchester United football club.

The investment firm Aberdeen Development Capital is proposing to discontinue the activities of the company following a redemption of preferential shares to shareholders.Aberdeen Development has scheduled a general shareholders’ meeting for 30 April, in order to fulfil the firm’s final obligations. Shares in the company will be suspended from trading on the London Stock Exchange from 30 April.

Selon l‘observatoire de la dette des collectivités publié par Finance Active, la Caisse des dépôts et consignations se hisse au premier rang des prêteurs avec 22,1% du montant des prêts accordés aux collectivités en 2011. Devant BPCE, qui a totalisé 19,5% du flux. Les collectivités ont diversifié leurs sources de financement avec un peu plus d’un tiers des emprunts levés via des financements alternatifs. Les financements éligibles de la BEI et de la CDC représentant respectivement 5,9% et 22,1% des emprunts nouveaux, quand la proportion des émissions obligataires a atteint 7,7%.

Un troisième LTRO (opération de refinancement à long terme) ne s’impose pas pour le moment mais rien ne dit qu’il n’en ira pas autrement à l’avenir, selon Ewald Nowotny, membre du Conseil des gouverneurs de la BCE. «Je ne peux l’exclure mais je n’en vois pas la nécessité à présent». Ewald Nowotny a également dit qu’il n'était pas inquiet pour l’Espagne, le pays faisant ce qu’il faut pour remettre de l’ordre dans ses finances publiques.

La croissance économique devrait être nulle en France au premier trimestre 2012, confirme la Banque de France dans sa troisième estimation fondée sur son enquête mensuelle de conjoncture publiée hier. L’indicateur du climat des affaires dans l’industrie est stable en mars à 95. Dans les services, l’indicateur est stable d’un mois sur l’autre à 93.

L’Agence France Trésor a annoncé avoir servi hier 444 millions d’euros de soumissions non compétitives supplémentaires à l’issue de son adjudication d’OAT du 5 avril. Le montant total des OAT émises dans le cadre de cette opération s'élève à 8,883 milliards d’euros. Ce volume se répartit en 1,310 milliard d’euros d’OAT 4,25% 2017, 4,669 milliards d’euros d’OAT 3,00% 2022, 1,669 milliard d’euros d’OAT 3,50% 2026 et 1,235 milliard d’euros d’OAT 4,50% 2041.

La plus grosse société de gestion d’actifs alternative cotée a été placée sous revue en vue d’une possible dégradation de sa note par Moody’s qui évoque des pressions qui pèsent sur les résultats. La dette senior de Man Group est actuellement notée Baa2 par Moody’s, soit deux crans au-dessus de la catégorie spéculative. L’agence met également en avant la «sous-performance continue des principaux fonds ».

Edward DeMarco, responsable de la Federal Housing Finance agency a indiqué au Financial Times que Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac pourraient économiser environ 1,7 milliard de dollars en abandonnant certaines créances plutôt que de repousser leur échéance. «Les pertes des entreprises seraient réduites et les prix des maisons se stabiliseraient plus rapidement, ce qui engendrerait des benéfices pour l’ensemble des participants du marché» a-t-il estimé.

La Banque nationale suisse a cherché à rassurer sur sa capacité à maintenir son cours plancher de 1,20 franc pour un euro, son directeur général par intérim soulignant que la banque centrale pouvait négocier des centaines de milliards d’euros par jour. Jeudi dernier, le franc s’est brièvement traité à 1,1990 pour un euro, sous la barre de 1,20 fixée en septembre. Thomas Jordan a précisé que le franc était ensuite très vite reparti à la baisse grâce aux activités d’arbitrage.

Malgré la morosité économique et une baisse des prix de l'immobilier ancien, les analystes n'attendent pas de hausse rapide des défauts

Malgré le rally du premier trimestre, les fonds actions européennes ont décollecté. La prudence domine chez les investisseurs

Les indices actions ont violemment reflué malgré la bonne résistance des entreprises de la zone euro à la dégradation de l’activité en Europe

«Parmi tous les produits que les conseillers financiers introduisent dans leur sac à malices, la croissance enregistrée par les ETF est la plus significative», a confié au quotidien John Meunier de Cogent Research. Ce dernier a mené une étude reflétant le succès grandissant des fonds indiciels cotés auprès des conseillers outre-Atlantique. Leur taux d’utilisation a progressé de 20 points de 2007 à 2011 à 66%.

Le gestionnaire du financement de la construction du parc Disney dans la ville de Shanghai aurait obtenu une garantie de prêt syndiqué de quelque 12,9 milliards de yuans (1,6 milliard d’euros), selon le Shanghai Securities News. La construction du parc devrait coûter environ 24,5 milliards de yuans, auxquels s’ajoutent 4,5 milliards d’aménagements et hôtels afférents au parc.