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28/03/2012

Peter Schwicht replaces Jamie Broderick as head of JPMAM EMEA

The head of JPMorgan Asset Management Germany (USD15bn), Peter Schwicht, has been promoted to the position of CEO of JPMAM Europe/Middle East/Africa in London, replacing Jamie Broderick, whose departure at the end of this year was recently announced (see Newsmanagers of 14 March). Schwicht is currently head not only of Germany but also of Austria, Switzerland, Eastern Europe and Scandinavia.Christoph Bergweiler will now become the new CEO of JPMAM for Germany, where he is currently responsible for retail distribution of open-ended funds. Bergweiler will report to Schwicht, as CEO EMOA, and to Masimo Greco, who will become head of retail activities in Europe, and who is currently head of JPMAM in Italy.
28/03/2012

Gottex returns to operating profits

The alternative management firm Gottex Fund Management has reported a net loss for the 2011 fiscal year, taking minority interests into account, of USD2.5m, compared with a loss of USD3m the previous year. However, the firm has returned to operating profits, with a positive operating profit of USD0.7m, compared with a loss of USD5m in 2010. According to a statement published on 27 March, assets under management as of the end of December 2011 totalled USD7.34bn, compared with USD8.26bn at the end of December 2010, a decline of 11% year on year. This development is largely due to the conjunction of three factors: net outflows of USD240m, negative market impact of USD340m, and negative forex effects of USD250m. More than 90% of assets under management at Gottex are institutional in origin. The firm had previously stated that it was optimistic for 2012. Gottex would like to develop in the United States and Asia, and has not ruled out participating in non-organic growth opportunities, partnerships or acquisitions to increase its assets under management.
28/03/2012

German government backs off planned financial transaction tax

Agefi reports that the German government has decided that a proposed tax on financial transactions would not at all be what it had proposed to the European Commission, and which the French government had wanted to institute rapidly. The German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, claims that Germany needs to “try other things,” and will meet with his 26 EU counterparts on Friday in Copenhagen to discuss these. Schäuble would like to combine taxation and regulatory initiatives to meet both financial and prudential objectives.
28/03/2012

Poste Italiane brings life insurance management in-house

Poste Italiane is in the process of bringing the management of investments related to Poste Vita life insurance policies in-house, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. In February, the firm brought on board more than EUR7bn in assets, reducing a mandate to Credit Suisse. This strategy will be continued, and will affect other asset management firms. The objective is to increase assets with the goal of an IPO for Posta Italiana or a part of the group.
28/03/2012

Investors in DebiSelect fund have lost their money

A notice from the German fund manager DebiSelect has confirmed investors’ fears: the value of their shares, initially EUR115m, has fallen 90%, Handelsblatt reports. There will be no payments of interest or capital redemptions for the next four and a half years.DebiSelect admits that instead of investing in a diversified portfolio, concentrated its investments on the low-cost energy provider TelDaFax, which has gone bankrupt. It will be years until TelDaFax’s renewable energy projects are completed, and this is only if buyers are found to take over the business.The CEO of DebiSelect, Josef Geltinger, has recently resigned, and left the management of the firm to the lawyer Werner Klumpe, who says he has found no signs of the potential buyer claimed to exist by his predecessor, nor any trace of the payments that the buyer was said to have made.
28/03/2012

Commerzbank releases 12 ETNs in Frankfurt

Since Monday, the Xetra electronic trading platform from Deutsche Börse has listed 135 products in its ETN segment, with the introduction of 12 such products registered in Germany from Commerzbank. These are ETNs with a leverage of 3 or 4 in long and short versions based on the SGX Nikkei 225 Index Future, the Hang Seng Index future and the HSCEI Future (H shares). The list of new ETNs is available as an attachment.
28/03/2012

Lyxor lists 4 new commodities ETFs on Xetra

Four new Luxembourg-registered commodities ETFs were on 26 March admitted to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic trading platform from Deutsche Börse. The listings now include 952 products. The new products are from Lyxor Asset Management (Société Générale group).CharacteristicsName: Lyxor ETF Broad Commodities Optimix TRBenchmark: S&P Commodities Curve Momentum Beta+ TR TMISIN: LU0721447596TER: 0.35%Name: Lyxor ETF Broad Commodities Optimix TRBenchmark: S&P Commodities Optimix TR TMISIN: LU0721447919TER: 0.35%Name: Lyxor ETF S&P GSCI Aggregate 3 Months ForwardBenchmark: S&P GSCI 3-Month Forward Capped Sector Equal Weight Composite IndexISIN: LU0721447083TER: 0.35%Name: Lyxor ETF S&P GSCI Aggregate Inverse 1 Month ForwardBenchmark: S&P GSCI Inverse 1-Month Forward Capped Sector Equal Weight Composite Index Total ReturnISIN: LU0721446606TER: 0.40%
28/03/2012

LBO funds rediscover IPOs

Agefi reports that Blackstone and Bain Capital are preparing an initial public offering for Michaels Stores, six years after buying the business for USD6bn, relaying reports in several sources. JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Barclays Capital and Deutsche bank are already reported to have been mandated to handle the operation, and the IPO documents may be submitted to authorities as soon as next week. The IPO may reawaken the appetites of investors, and also of funds, form whom the stock markets are again becoming a means of exit from private equity investments, Agefi adds.
28/03/2012

La Française AM acquires 20% stake in Trecento AM

La Française Asset Management has acquired a 20% stake in the capital of the entrepreneurial asset management firm Trecento Asset Management. La Française AM is investing EUR15m in the young firm. The stake has been acquired via the La Française affiliate “Nouvelles Expertises et Talents (NEXT),” which is specialised in incubation and seed capital, and is led by Nicolas Duban.The range of funds from Trecento AM currently includes two funds: Trecento Market Neutral, an equities arbitrage fund, and Trecento European Equities, a European equities fund. The asset management firm was founded in late 2011.The firm is led by Alice Lhabouz, former equity manager at Turgot Asset Management, who previously spend several years as private manager at Meeschaert. Julien Jérémie, former deputy CEO of the business bank Croissance Partenaires, is its CEO.
28/03/2012

State Street confidence index up in March

Globally, the State Street Investor Confidence Index for March 2012 rose to 91.6, up 5.0 points from February’s revised level of 86.6. The increase was driven by North American investors, whose confidence rose 8.7 points to 89.5. The outlook of European investors was similarly improved, rising 5.4 points to 100.6 from a revised February reading of 95.2. Among Asian institutional investors, sentiment declined slightly, down 2.2 points from a revised February reading of 96.7 to end at 94.5.“This month we saw a significant curtailment of the selling that institutional investors have been engaged in since late 2011,” commented Harvard University professor Kenneth Froot, who developed the index. “Indeed we observed net buying of equities by real money investors in the week ended March 19th. As mentioned in past commentaries, institutions have been content to play the role of liquidity provider over much of the recent rally, taking the other side of non-institutional trades. This month they have engaged in more liquidity-taking behavior, adding further to core equity positions.”
28/03/2012

SGSS and Orient Capital cooperate in keeping of registries

Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) and Orient Capital have announced that they have signed a partnership agreement, by which Orient Capital will offer SGSS securities issuer clients its range of investor relationship management services, known throughout the securities industry. SGSS states that it has selected Orient Capital “for its ability to provide investor relationship management services of a high quality, based on its registry analysis service (SRA) and its proprietary online platform, “miraqle ®.” By providing this innovative service to its French issuer clients, SGSS offers them more detailed information and more refined analysis of their shareholders, including foreign shareholders.”
28/03/2012

Philippe Lecomte joins La Française AM

La Française AM on Tuesday confirmed the arrival of Philippe Lecomte as a member of its teams. Newsmanagers anticipated this news following the announcement of his departure from Schroders Investment Management, where he had been CEO. He joins the firm as CEO of La Française AM Finance Services and La Française AM International, in charge of institutional clients and international development. Lecomte will be based in Paris, and will join the firm in April 2012, and will be a member of the executive board at La Française AM.The arrival coincides with a development in the organisation of the French asset management firm. “We have decided to put the direction of institutional activities in France and international development under the same managerial responsibility. Philippe’s experience serving French and international institutional clients fully meets our objectives,” says Patrick Rivière, CEO of La Française AM.Meanwhile, La Française AM has also confirmed that it will be appointing Nicolas Duban, who had previously handled development of institutional activities in France at La Française AM, as president of NexT AM, New Expertise and Talent, its affiliate specialised in acquiring stakes in small businesses, in an announcement which Newsmanagers had also anticipated.
28/03/2012

Philippe Lecomte joins La Française AM

La Française AM on Tuesday confirmed the arrival of Philippe Lecomte as a member of its teams. Newsmanagers anticipated this news following the announcement of his departure from Schroders Investment Management, where he had been CEO. He joins the firm as CEO of La Française AM Finance Services and La Française AM International, in charge of institutional clients and international development. Lecomte will be based in Paris, and will join the firm in April 2012, and will be a member of the executive board at La Française AM. The arrival coincides with a development in the organisation of the French asset management firm. “We have decided to put the direction of institutional activities in France and international development under the same managerial responsibility. Philippe’s experience serving French and international institutional clients fully meets our objectives,” says Patrick Rivière, CEO of La Française AM. Meanwhile, La Française AM has also confirmed that it will be appointing Nicolas Duban, who had previously handled development of institutional activities in France at La Française AM, as president of NexT AM, New Expertise and Talent, its affiliate specialised in acquiring stakes in small businesses, in an announcement which Newsmanagers had also anticipated.
28/03/2012

Matmut board member joins OFI

Franck Dussoge is joining the OFI group, where he will serve as chairman of the board at OFI Mandates, an affiliate dedicated to the management of mandated institutional assets, replacing Maxime de Chayla, who will be appointed as deputy CEO of OFI Asset Management. Dussoge joins from the Matmut group, a shareholder in OFI Asset Management with a 34% stake, where he spent 5 years on the board in charge of accounting and finances. His arrival follows the recent departure of Thierry Callault, who had been deputy CEO of OFI AM, and who will be replaced by de Chayla and Jean-Marie Mercadal. At Matmut, Dussoge will be succeeded by Nicolas Gomart, who is leaving OFI Asset Management, where he had been deputy CEO. The appointments will take effect on 1 June 2012. OFI AM, owned by Matmut and Macif, had EUR49.6bn in assets under management as of the end of February.
28/03/2012

Sale of Korean asset management firm SEI is imminent

The sale of the Korean asset management firm SEI Asset Korea may be completed in the next few days, according to Asian Investor. Among the potential candidates are local actors and international heavyweights such as BNY Mellon. Assets under management at SEI Asste Korea totalled about USd7bn as of the end of February 2012.
28/03/2012

EDRAM releases Asia Leaders fund in Spain

Expansión reports that Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM) is releasing an Asian large caps fund in Spain, investing in firms which have good potential to rank among the leaders in their respective markets in the mid- to long-term. The Asia Leaders fund was launched on 26 October 2011 (see Newsmanagers of 14 November). Management commission is 2%, and the management firm charges 15% on performance exceeding the MSCI AC Far East index.
28/03/2012

CNMV registers first five ETFs from Amundi in Spain

On 23 March, the Spanish regulatory authority (CNMV) registered the first five ETF funds from the French firm Amundi for sale in Spain. The products are the Amundi ETF Euro Stoxx 50, MSCI Europe, MSCI Nordic, MSCI Spain and S&P 500 (see Newsmanagers of 7 February). Laure Peyranne, who has been based in Madrid since 2008, initially at Société Générale Asset Management, and then at Amundi, becomes Head of ETF Client Relationships, Iberia and LATAM.
28/03/2012

Catella launches three funds

Catella Fonder has filed an application with the Swedish market authority for three new funds which it would manage for ICA Banken, Investment Europe reports. The funds would be managed by Ola Mårtensson.
28/03/2012

Regulatory approval for ETFs based on CSI 300 index

The Chinese regulator, the CSRC, has granted permission for Harvest and Huatai-PineBridge to list ETFs based on the CSI 300 index in Shenzhen and Shanghai, respectively. Z-Ben Advisors remarks that these are the first cross-market ETFs in China, which will provide investors added ways to conduct arbitrage. After preparing the products for years, and given the support of regulators and the position of the two providers of the new products, Harvest and Huatai-PineBridge are expected to be able to bring in very high inflows in the initial launch period.
28/03/2012

Head of AIJ admits to falsifying fund performance data

Kazuhiko Asakawa, the head of the Japanese asset management firm AIJ Investment Advisors, who is suspected of having lost USD1.3bn of clients’ money, on Tuesday confessed to falsifying the performance figures for his funds in order to conceal losses, the Wall Street Journal reports. However, he denies having wanted to deceive his clients, and adds that no money went into his own pocket.
28/03/2012

Swiss wealth management facing considerable challenges

The Swiss financial market, and particularly wealth management, is confronting some major challenges, the director of the Swiss federal financial market surveillance authority (FINMA) Patrick Raaflaub, stated on 27 March at the institution’s annual conference. Although wealth management is working to defend its leading international position, the establishment of a strategy based on quality has become necessary, at three levels: financial establishments need to offer quality services, politicians need to work to optimise economic and regulatory conditions, and at the end of the chain, FINMA needs to work to ensure “attentively and integrally” that these requirements are adhered to in its day-to-day surveillance efforts. The surveillance authority aims to ensure the smooth functioning of the Swiss financial market and the protection of clients, says Raaflaub. To this end, FINMA must be able to rely on legal bases that allow it to act adequately at the place and time it deems necessary. Far from an obstacle in the eyes of the director of FINMA, regulations “create the required conditions for the Swiss financial market to be able to continue a strategy focused on quality.” “Switzerland is behind many other countries,” says Raaflaub. “Facilitating or tolerating tax evasion by foreigners is not in any way a sustainable business model. That’s why FINMA is in favour of orienting the financial markets to declared assets and increased exchange of information in the areas of surveillance and taxation.” he says.
28/03/2012

Italians return to bond funds

Bond funds on sale in Italy in February posted net subscriptions of EUR1.468bn, where they had seen net redemptions of EUR736m in January and EUR8.8bn in the year 2011 overall, according to the most recent statistics from Assogestioni, the Italian association of asset managers. This is the only category of funds to have posted inflows in January, as equity funds saw net outflows of EUR679m, and money market funds had outflows of EUR1.583bn. Overall, open-ended funds on sale in Italy posted net redemptions in February of EUR1.671bn. With the addition of dedicated funds, Italian collective management has seen net outflows of EUR1.703bn. With mandated management, the total is even lower, with outflows of EUR2.729bn. In terms of asset management firms, Poste Italiane has seen the largest inflows, with EUR7.350bn, while at the same time, Credit Suisse has seen outflows totalling EUR7.277bn, This is actually due to the fact that Poste Italiane has brought the management of investments related to its Poste Vita insurance offerings in-house, according to reports in Il Sole – 24 Ore. Excluding this transfer, Generali stands out with inflows of EUR389m, At the other end of the spectrum, Intesa Sanpaolo has seen outflows of EUR1.0544bn, and Ubi Banca has seen outflows of EUR918.7m.
28/03/2012

Profits down 8% at LLB in 2011

The Liechtensteinische Landesbank (LLB) has reported an 86% decline in its net profits in 2011, to CHF15.4m, compared with CHF108.5m one year earlier, according to the final results published on 27 March. In its initial estimates, the bank had projected profits of CHF15m. Net inflows in 2011 totalled CHF600m, compared with CHF2.7bn the previous year. Assets as of the end of December totalled CHF48.1bn, compared with CHF49.8bn as of the end of December 2010.
28/03/2012

John Clougherty leaves Aviva Investors

John Clougherty, CEO of the British fund activities of Aviva Investors, is leaving the firm, Investment Week reports. “We are making changes to the organisation of our life insurance activities in the United Kingdom. John Clougherty has decided that the time had come to pursure other opportunities,” a spokesperson for the firm says, cited by the website. At the end of January, Aviva Investors announced that it was laying off 160 employees, Investment Week reports.
28/03/2012

Man Group creates a website for managed accounts

The British Man group on 27 March announced that it has created an online tool for investors in managed accounts. The new system, Clarus, offers investors more transparency for underlying investments. It allows clients to view their exposure to underlying risk factors for their managed accounts, and more generally the overall exposure of their managed accounts within their portfolios. Among the information offered through Clarus are performance, performance breakdown, sources of performance, risk value, with analysis of sensitivity to exchange rates, commodities, equities and interest rates. Assets under management at Man in management accounts currently total USD8bn.
28/03/2012

Head of Aviva Investors reportedly preparing to leave the firm

Money Marketing reports that the head of Aviva Investors, John Clougherty, is about to leave the firm. The group announced in January that it is cutting back its staff by 12%, largely in London. Aviva Investors will remain active in the fixed income sector, real estate and multi-asset classes.
28/03/2012

Gary Shaughnessy leaves Fidelity

Gary Shaughnessy, the head of retail activities at Fidelity, is leaving the firm, Investment Week reports. He becomes CEO of the British life insurance activities of Zurich. He will report to David Sims, CEO of Zurich Global Life for Europe.
28/03/2012

KKR s’offre les services de «Mack The Knife»

Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co a nommé l’ancien patron de Morgan Stanley John Mack au poste de conseiller senior. Surnommé «Mack the Knife», il avait abandonné en 2010 le rôle de directeur général à James Gorman mais continuait d’assister la banque pour des opérations majeures. Rev Worldwide, une société de services de paiement, l’a également recruté en tant qu’administrateur.
28/03/2012

Les industriels américains échappent au collatéral pour les swaps

La Chambre des représentants a voté hier en faveur d’une exemption pour les utilisateurs non financiers de swaps des exigences de collatéral contenues dans le Dodd-Frank Act. MillerCoors et Constellation, qui utilisent des dérivés pour se couvrir face à la volatilité des prix des matières premières, avaient plaidé pour une telle mesure. Approuvée lors d’un vote bipartisan, elle doit désormais recueillir l’aval du Sénat.

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