Morgan Keegan, a Tennessee investment bank, has agreed to pay USD210m to settle civil suits claiming that it defrauded investors in five bond funds, by overstating the value of mortgage securities during the financial crisis, the Financial Times reports. The Securities and Exchange Commission has now collected about USD1.6bn from major institutions over transactions related to the financial crisis. The settlement follows a deal on Tuesday with JP Morgan Chase, which paid USD154m to settle accusations related to CDOs.

Institutional portfolios in Asia excluding Japan grew by 20% last year, to USD7.4trn, from USD5.4trn previously, as the percentage of assets given to external managers came to 15% of the total, or USD1.1trn, compared with 11% of the total in 2010, according to estimates from the research agency Greenwich Associates, released at an investor forum organised by Asian Investor and FinanceAsia. Not counting central banks and commercial banks, which manage most of their assets internally, the percentage of Asian institutional assets which are allocated to external managers accounts for more than 30% of the total. For the first time since 2008, investors have increased their allocation to equities for an average portfolio to 22%, compared with 13% last year. They have virtually doubled allocation to alternative management to 11%, compared with 6% previously. All of this works to the detriment of bond allocations. This trend is likely to continue in the next three years.

The Wealth Management Solutions unit of the US group Prudential Financial has announced the appointment of John Yackel as senior vice president in charge of sales and clients. He previously worked at Fortigent.

Just before the “Entretiens de l’AF2i», the French association of institutional investors AF2i held its ordinary general meeting on 22 June 2011, and at its conclusion, elected Jean Eyraud, head of the asset management division at EDF SA as president of the association.In this position Eyraud succeeds Jean-Pierre Grimaud, chief investment officer at SwissLife France, and chairman of Swiss Life Asset Management (France), who did not stand for another term, after four and a half years as head of AF2i. He will remain, to the satisfaction of his successor, as a trustee of the Association.At the AGM, four new trustees were elected: Philippe Desfossés, representing ERAFP, Jean Eyraud, representing EDF, Olivier Mareuse, representing the CDC, and Hubert Rodarie, representing SMABTP.At the conclusion of the «Entretiens», Grimaud drew the attention of participants to two subjects of concern for institutional investors in the months and years to come: on the one hand, the “damaging” effects of high frequency trading, and on the other, misuse of ratings in the regulatory system.

At the “Entretiens de l’AF2i» held on Wednesday in Paris, Francis Weber, CFO of Réunica and vice president of the French association of institutional invetors AF2i, announced that assets in the sector had risen to EUR2.1075trn as of the end of December (considerably higher than France’s annual GDP), compared with EUR1.9733trn twelve months previously, and EUR1.6839trn as of the end of 2008. The rate of growth fell, however, to 6.8% in 2010, compared with 12.6% in 2009.Meanwhile, a trend to concentration in the sector continued, with an 11% decline to 1,129 actors, compared with 1,268 as of the end of 2009. There were 1,712 as of the end of 2006.Vincent Ribuot, chief investment officer at the Union Mutualiste Retraite and vice president of AF2i, for his part, presented the 6th annual AF2i survey of its members. The survey received responses from 55 of them, or slightly over 75% of members representing over 90% of assets. According to estimates in the study, assets are likely to increase this year, barring any accidents, by 5.2%, to nearly EUR2.214trn (110% of France’s GNP).The survey finds that allocation to equities will remain stable (for 84% of respondents), and that 35% of heads surveyed are planning to lower exposure to government bonds, while 70% are planning to increase their exposure to corporate bonds. Meanwhile, 44% are planning to increase their allocation to real estate, and 41% are planning to increase their exposure to private equity.In the equities asset class, 65% of respondents are planning to increase their exposure to SRI, and 39% are planning to increase allocations to emerging markets.The study finds that institutional investors surveyed say they contract out management of 57% of their assets. Of management which is contracted out, 44% goes to mandates, 29% to mutual funds, and 23% to dedicated funds.

JPMorgan passe à la vitesse supérieure dans les services aux hedge funds, rapporte L’Agefi. La banque d’investissement dispose aujourd’hui de l’infrastructure nécessaire pour proposer à ses clients l’ensemble de ses produits cash et synthétiques. Pour ce faire, JPMorgan a musclé son équipe dirigeante en vue de ce déploiement.Cela dit, précise le quotidien, les lignes devraient continuer à bouger. BNP Paribas, qui a repris le prime brokerage de Bank of America aux Etats-Unis en juin 2008, a l’intention de déployer cette activité en Europe et en Asie. L’opération pourrait se faire à partir du second semestre 2011.

Following a SEC filing on 10 June, Pimco on 21 June launched a new bond ETF, the Pimco 0-5 Yeah High Yield Corporate Bond Index Fund, which charges fees of 0.55%. The product is managed by Vineer Bhansali, and replicates the BofA Merrill Lynch 0-5 Year US High Yield Constrained Index, with coupons reinvested (total return), before fees.

The CAC 40 has passed the threshold of 20% women on the boards of directors of its businesses, with a percentage of 20.8% in 2011. Of 573 board seats (compared with 573 in 2010), 105 women occupy 119 seats (compared with 88 in 2010), according to the annual Capitalcom barometer of the gender mix on boards. Among these, six women were elected by employees, independently of general shareholders’ meetings. More than half of CAC 40 businesses have already topped 20% women on their boards. Publicis, a new entry to the CAC 40 this year, tops the rankings, with 43.8% women on its board. According to Caroline de la Marnierre, chairwoman of Capitalcom, “the trend is on! The rapid rise in the power of women on boards is impressive, as the rate has simply doubled in the space of 2 years, from 10.5% to 20.8%. The recommendations of AFEP-Medef, followed soon after by the passage of the Cope-Zimmermann law, clearly initiated and accelerated the trend. This is proof that regulation in this area was more than necessary!” The gender balance on boards had been in stagnation for at least five years, when the first Gender Balance Barometer put it at about 10%. The other major trend is a rise in the percentage of women on boards of directors: nearly 60% in 2011, compared with only 46% previously, which has resulted in increased involvement and responsibility, which has also been necessary for this trend to take hold. Publicis has also announced at its general shareholders’ meeting that it has created a strategy board which will be 100% women.

As Greece faces a potential default, some US regulators and congressmen are concerned about the exposure of US money market funds to European banks, the Wall Street Journal reports. Direct investment by the largest funds in Greek debt is minimal, but they hold about USD1trn in debt issued by the major European banks, such as BNP Paribas, Barclays and Deutsche Bank, analysts say. These establishments are holding a lot of Greek and European bonds in their portfolios, which exposes them to losses if the government debt crisis gets more severe.

Since 20 June, Michael Lee has joined Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP) as head of consultant relationships. He will report to Gordon Philips, interim head of institutional sales, and will be in charge of development for UK institutional clients. Lee has recently left BlackRock London, where he was global consultant relationship director in charge of relations with all UK consultants, with a particular emphasis on defined contribution retirement savings plans.

Alliance Trust on 21 June announced the appointment of Ilario Di Bon as head of its international equities unit. Di Bon will start in his new position on 1 July, and will report to Katherine Garrett-Cox, chief executive at Alliance Trust. He previously worked at Fidelity International as head of the Institutional Global Equities unit, where he managed the Global Opportunities fund, whose assets under management went from USD250m to over USD1bn in less than two years.

Lombard Odier Investment Managers has appointed Ian Clarke as deputy chief investment officer for its fixed income and currencies business. He will report to Stéphane Monier, chief investment officer of fixed income and currencies and focus on developing the unit’s investment processes. Ian Clarke was most recently head of internal fixed income at Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in Abu Dhabi, where he worked since 2003, including three years with Stéphane Monier. He was also head of fixed income and currencies at the investment authority, and prior to joining that business, worked at Deutsche Asset Management in London, where he was chief investment officer of fixed income (UK). The appointment underscores LOIM’s determination to continue building its London-based expertise; the firm already has more than 20 staff in London.Geneva-based LOIM, a unit of private bank Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch & Cie., managed 35.8 billion Swiss francs on behalf of clients at the end of March, of which 13.6 billion francs was in fixed income strategies.

First State Investments is proposing to launch a growth fund dedicated to Australia, the First State Australian Growth fund. The fund, denominated in US dollars, will be doniciled in Ireland. It will be primarily dedicated to Australian firms, but also to firms which realise most of their activities in the Australian market. It will have 20 to 30 positions, and its benchmark index will be the S&P/ASX 100 index.

Jean-Pierre Grimaud, président depuis plus de quatre ans de l’association française des investisseurs institutionnels (AF2I) a laissé hier sa place à Jean Eyraud, chef de la division gestions d’actifs d’EDF. Jean-Pierre Grimaud est par ailleurs président de Swiss Life Asset Management.

L’agence de notation a apporté une touche finale aux modifications portant sur sa méthodologie de notation des obligations adossées à des prêts (CLO). Elle s’attend à ce que ces changements entraînent des relèvements dans la majorité des tranches de CLO existantes.

«En dépit de perspectives encourageantes dans un avenir proche, les administrateurs (du FMI) considèrent que les risques économiques restent biaisés à la baisse», a souligné le Fonds monétaire international lors d’une table ronde de son conseil d’administration sur l'économie néerlandaise.

La banque centrale norvégienne a maintenu son principal taux directeur à 2,25%, ce qui est conforme aux prévisions, et dit qu’elle relèverait progressivement les taux afin de stabiliser l’inflation. La Norges Bank a souligné la baisse du taux de chômage et l’embellie économique, ajoutant que l’inflation était basse bien qu’elle doive sans doute progressivement augmenter.

La Banque centrale ne lancera pas de QE3 et reconduit sa politique de taux directeurs exceptionnellement bas

La Banque centrale ne lancera pas de QE3 et reconduit sa politique de taux directeurs exceptionnellement bas

Banquiers et assureurs européens ont été conviés à prendre part au débat sur les conditions de leur participation au plan d'aide

Le consortium financier relève son offre de 48 à 50 dollars canadiens par titre et augmente la part maximum payée en numéraire

La rationalisation de la gamme de produits devrait être achevée en fin d’année, la cible apportant notamment une offre actions marchés émergents

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Les charges budgétaires d'intérêts ont augmenté de plus de 7 % l'an dernier, conséquence mécanique de l'alourdissement de la dette

De nouveaux rachats d'actifs pourraient être lancés par la BoE si l'inflation retombe et si l'activité reste faible

Remises en question au faîte de la crise financière au profit des conseillers indépendants, les banques privées recueillent à nouveau les suffrages

Les filiales de gestion de fortune des grandes banques semblent avoir regagné la confiance de leurs clients, écornée par la crise, selon le World Wealth Report.

Le poids de la dette corporate dans la poche taux est encore inférieur à celui des obligations souveraines d'après l'enquête de l'AF2I

Sur les neuf membres du Comité de politique monétaire de la Banque d’Angleterre, sept ont voté pour un statu quo et deux pour une hausse des taux lors de la réunion de début juin, selon les minutes de la BoE publiées mercredi. Ben Broadbent, qui a remplacé le faucon Adam Posen, s’est rangé du côté de la majorité. Autre changement notable, «certains membres» ont envisagé la nécessité de nouveaux rachats d’actifs si les risques baissiers sur l’inflation à moyen terme se matérialisent. L’effet sur les marchés a été immédiat, avec des anticipations de hausse des taux désormais reportées à juillet 2012 et une baisse de 0,6% du sterling face au dollar.

Bridgewater Associates, premier hedge fund au monde avec 100 milliards de dollars d’actifs, est sur le point de boucler le lancement d’un nouveau véhicule de 10 milliards, selon le Wall Street Journal. Le nouveau fonds, Pure Alpha Major Markets, a commencé ses activités en novembre avec 2,4 milliards, et les clients de Bridgewater lui ont confié depuis 7,5 milliards, dont la moitié vient des profits réalisés sur le précédent fonds Pure Alpha.