La Banque populaire de Chine (PBOC) a fixé lundi le milieu de la fourchette du yuan a un point record à 6,4690 yuans pour un dollar. Ce niveau est supérieur au plus haut historique de 6,4696 pour un dollar atteint lundi par la devise chinoise.
L’Espagne a émis mardi 2,99 milliards de bons du Trésor à 3 et 6 mois à des taux en légère hausse alors que les investisseurs sont toujours dans l’attente des modalités d’un nouveau plan de soutien à la Grèce. Le montant servi se situe dans le haut de la fourchette annoncée par le gouvernement espagnol de 2,25 à 3,25 milliards et l’opération a suscité une solide demande. Le rendement sur le papier à 3 mois s’est tendu de 18 points de base par rapport à la précédente adjudication en mai et ils n’ont augmenté que d’un point de base sur l'échéance à 6 mois. L'écart de rendement à 10 ans entre les titres d’Etat espagnol et allemand est revenu mardi à 256 points de base, soit 9 points de base en-dessous de son niveau de la veille. L’adjudication espagnole de bons du Trésor était très attendue alors que les résultats décevants de l'émission obligataire de la semaine dernière avaient déclenché des dégagements sur le papier espagnol.
Le risque d’abaissement de la note attachée à la dette souveraine des Etats-Unis a augmenté faute de consensus politique sur la question de la limite d’endettement du pays, a déclaré mardi l’agence de notation Standard & Poor’s. «Les risques négatifs à moyen terme ont augmenté et nous avons en effet affecté une perspective négative, ce qui signifie qu’il y a une chance sur trois que la note soit abaissée dans les prochaines années», a déclaré Moritz Kramer, directeur des notations souveraines de l’agence en Europe.
La France relève ses prévisions de dette publique, lit-on dans un document diffusé par le ministère du Budget. La dette atteindrait 85,4% du produit intérieur brut fin 2011, 86,9% fin 2012, 86,4% fin 2013 et 84,8% fin 2014. Le gouvernement prévoyait auparavant un ratio de 84,6% fin 2011, 86,0% en 2012, 85,6% en 2013 et 84,1% en 2014. La trajectoire de réduction du déficit public est confirmée à 5,7% du PIB fin 2011, 4,6% fin 2012, 3,0% fin 2013 et 2,0% fin 2014.
Investment Week reports that Investec Asset Management has launched an investment grade emerging markets debt fund. The offshore fund, Investec GSF Emerging Markets Investment Grade Debt fund, will invest as its top priority in government bonds rated investment grade and denominated in local currencies, with a particular interest in developed emerging markets (Brazil, Mexico, Hungary, South Africa). The fund will include 10 to 20 long and short positions, selected from among the best-rated bonds, in order to profit from returns as well as appreciation of local currencies.
JP Morgan has taken over the management of two advising mandates which were previously held by AllianceBernstein, Mutual Fund Wire reports. The two mandates in question are the MassMutual Select Diversified International Fund (USD146.1m), and the MassMutual Select Overseas Fund (USD572.6m).
On 20 June, BNY Mellon Asset Servicing announced that it has been selected to provide custody, accounting and administration services to eight leveraged ETFs (leverage of 3) and one bear ETF recently released by Direxion Shares.The funds are the following:Direxion Daily Agribusiness Bull 3x Shares DAXglobal Agribusiness IndexDirexion Daily Agribusiness Bear 3x Shares DAXglobal Agribusiness IndexDirexion Daily Russia Bull 3x DAXglobal Russia+ Index Direxion Daily Russia Bear 3x Shares DAXglobal Russia+ IndexDirexion Daily Basic Materials Bull 3X Shares Russell 1000® Materials & Processing IndexDirexion Daily Basic Materials Bear 3X Shares Russell 1000® Materials & Processing IndexDirexion Daily Healthcare Bull 3X Shares Russell 1000® Healthcare IndexDirexion Daily Healthcare Bear 3X Shares Russell 1000® Healthcare Index and Direxion Daily Total Market Bear 1X Shares Russell 3000® Index.
Paulson & Co has lost more than USD500m after selling its entire stake in Sino Forest, the Chinese forestry company, which is suspected of fraud, the Financial Times reports. Paulson & Co was the largest shareholder in the firm, with a 14% stake as of the end of April. In May, Paulson & Co already saw a 6% fall in the value of its flagship fund, Paulson & Co Advantage Plus, bringing losses since the beginning of the year to 7.6%.
The British private equity investor AnaCap Financial Partners (EUR1.3bn in assets) has teamed up with the asset management affiliates of Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs to acquire Banco Popolare Česká Republika, the Czech affiliate of Italy’s Banco Popolare, for EUR48m, the Wall Street Journal reports. Banco Popolare Česká has only seven locations and 100 employees. The transaction will generate capital gains of EUR12m for the parent company.
The asset management arm of BHF-Bank, Frankfurt Trust, on 20 June announced the launch of the Luxembourg-registered fund FT Emerging ConsumerDemand, which is available in P (retail) and I (institutional) shares, and is managed by Thierry Misamer at Frankfurt Trust, and Tillo Wannow of BHF-Bank.In order to profit from growth in emerging markets, the fund will invest in companies in the consumer goods sector. Initially, the 40-position portfolio will be divided into two halves, one for consumer staples, and the other for discretionary consumer goods. The shares will be selected from among emerging markets companies as well as companies from developed countries which make more than 30% of their earnings in emerging countries.CharacteristicsName: FT Emerging ConsumerDemandISIN codes:P class: LU0632979331I class: LU0632979174Front-end fee:P class: 5%I class: no front-end fee at presentManagement commission:P class: 1.50%I class: 0.74%Depository banking commission: 0.04% (P and I classes)Minimal initial subscriptionP class: EUR2,500I class: EUR250,000
The CNMV on 10 June issued a sales license for Spain for shares in euros in the British-registered fund Ignis Argonaut Alpha Fund (EUR416m), which is managed by Barry Norris and Oliver Russ of Argonaut Capital Partners. The share classes, GB00B42LLR21 (A) and GB00B44P9H80 (I), will be available from RBC Dexia Investor Services España, and have received sales licenses for Germany and Austria. Ignis is also planning to register the fund shares for sale in France, Italy (only to institutional investors) and Switzerland.
The Corporate Bond trust from Prudential, with assets of GBP783m, was merged on 20 June with the M&G Corporate Bond fund, whose assets total GBP4.1bn, Investment Week reports. The fund, managed by Richard Woolnough, now has over USD5bn in assets. Another Prudential fund, the North American Trust (GBP60m) will be merged into the M&G American fund (GBP2.3bn). The Managed trust (GBP278m) will merge with the M&G Managed fund (GBP717m), while the European Trust (GBP90m) will be absorbed into the M&G Pan European fund (GBP175m).
Skandia Investment Group’s (SIG) portfolio manager Lee Freeman-Shor has brought in Marc Renaud of Mandarine Gestion and Cedric De Fonclare from Jupiter to manage mandates within the Skandia European Best Ideas Fund (EBI).The move sees the two Frenchmen join their countryman Damien Lanternier of Financiere de l’Echiquier bringing the EBI team up to ten managers following the removal of Tobias Klien of First Private from the line-up.Freeman-Shor says that ten managers represents the maximum level of diversification for the fund while ensuring high active share is maintained in order to continue to generate excess returns.
Fidelity has promoted Carolyn Clancy to become director of its mutual fund supermarket operation. Mutual Fund Wire reports that Clancy was appointed as executive vice president of FundsNetwork about a month ago. She replaces Paul Riley, who has left the group to join Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
According to the ninth annual customer satisfaction study by J.D. Power & Associates (“2011 U.S. Full Service Investor Satisfaction Study,”) covering 4,200 investors who use an advisor, RBS Wealth Management, the wealth management unit of the Canadian bank Royal Bank of Canada, has received the highest satisfaction score from its clients. On the basis of seven major criteria (advising, performance, information, product offerings, fees and commissions, website and problem resolution,) RBC scored a total of 814 points on a scale of 1 to 1,000, putting it ahead of Charles Schwab (805 points) and Fidelity Investments (796 points). The study also reveals that clients are increasingly using the Internet. 59% of investors have consulted the website of their management firm in the past twelve months, compared with 52% in 2009, and 51% of investors exchanged email with their advisor in 2011, compared with 19% in 2008. Among the investors who had viewed the website of their firm, clients aged over 64 averaged over 35 visits per year, compared with 23 visits per year for the 45-64 year-old age group, and only 12 visits per year for those aged under 45. The study also reveals that 85% of clients had either never heard of or had never understood the difference between the ssuitability tandard, which requires that the adviser offer investments adapted to the client’s profile, and the fiduciary standard, which requires the advisor to act in the best interest of clients and to disclose any conflicts of interest.
The French asset management firm Somangest has awarded a contract for distribution of some of its funds via distribution platforms and independent financial advisers (IFA) to the third-party marketing firm Investeam. The two funds included in the deal are Somactiv and Sominter.
According to the Wealth Management Report 2011 from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), cited by the Börsen-Zeitung, 30% of 275 directors of banks and financial sector groups in 67 countries are expecting a major concentration movement in the wealth management sector in the next two years. The movement will be a delayed result of the financial crisis, particularly of toughening regulations with financial implications for businesses in the sector. However, the profitability of wealth management operations is expected to increase.
According to a survey undertaken by service provider Algorithmics and consultant Chromozome, covering 80 buy-side companies (asset management firms, hedge funds, and pension funds), entitled “Collateral Management for the Buy Side: Emerging Challenges and Best Practices in a Changing Regulatory Environment,” rising costs for collateral management related to settlement requirements for over-the-counter derivative trades on both sides of the Atlantic could drive hedge funds to make less use of, or no longer to trade, OTC products.The study, published on 20 June, finds that 54% of respondents currently make margin calls only on a weekly basis. Where new regulations are in place, central counterparty clearing houses (CCP) may make daily margin calls, and even intra-day calls. In other words, hedge funds need to adapt their infrastructure to these new requirements, which also imply an increase in collateral levels.Andrew Aziz, executive vice president of the Risk Solutions unit at Algorithmics, says that buy-side professionals are facing an interesting evolution. “For the first time, they are subject to the same risk and operational requirements as their sell-side counterparts, due to regulatory requirements.”
Troubles related to Greek debt have exacerbated the risk aversion of investors, who in mid-June pulled out of the high yield bond sector, in favour of funds dedicated to US equities.In the week to 15 June, high yield bond funds suffered a record net outflow of USD2.09bn, according to the most recent weekly statistics from EPFR Global. Bond funds overall still showed a net inflow of USD679m in the week under review.Equities funds attracted over USD6bn, while inflows to a group of US ETF funds, stimulated by a series of options which matured on 17 June, more than compensated for redemptions from the major groups of equities funds. Funds dedicated to European equities finished the week with outflows of USD741m.Money market funds also saw their largest outflows in over four months.In terms of sectors, funds dedicated to health and biotechnologies continued to post subscriptions, putting inflows since the beginning of the year at over USD3bn.
The news agency Reuters reports that the hedge fund firm RAB Capital, based in London, will in the next few days confirm its decision to withdraw from trading on the Alternative Investment Market. Assets under management at the firm, which peaked at about USD7bn in late 2007, have fallen to USD1bn. The 2010 fiscal year ended with losses of GBP20.2m.
Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) is recommending that shareholders in the London Stock Exchange (LSE) vote in favour of a merger with TMX, the operator of the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Wall Street Journal reports. The independent shareholder advisory firm has, however, not yet issued a recommendation for TMX shareholders, who are facing two rival offers, one from LSE and one from Maple Group Acquisition Corp.ISS is the second agency to recommend approval for the LSE-TMX merger, following Glass Lewis & Co, a independent advisory agency serving institutional investors, which considers the LSE offer “superior” to the Maple Group offer for TMX shareholders.Glass Lewis is an indirect affiliate of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board, one of the founders and backers of Maple.
Fidelity has confirmed the departure of several members of its UK teams, including the director of products for the team responsible for UK equities, Peter Hicks, FundWeb reports. In the interim, from early July, the responsibilities will be handled by William Russell.
According to an annual survey by Financial Times fund management, several major asset management firms have seen a collapse in their assets managed for UK pension funds in the past three years. This is particularly true of Alliance Bernstein, Axa IM, Scottish Widows IP, Goldman Sachs AM, Aberdeen AM and Henderson GI. In the meantime, other asset managers have gained market share in this segment: Insight IM, Legal & General IM and BlackRock.
Le britannique Skandia Global Funds a annoncé avoir embauché comme marketing executive Susana García, qui sera chargée de soutenir depuis Londres l'équipe de Skandia Investment Group pour l’Espagne et l’Amérique latine. Elle était auparavant responsable du marketing pour l’Espagne et le Portugal chez American Express Funds, précise Funds People.Susana García fera équipe avec Mercedes Azpiroz et Pilar Bravo et elle sera chargée aussi du développement des activités marketing pour l’Espagne et l’Amérique latine.
Schroders has appointed Bob Jolly to a new role on its fixed income team as head of global macro based in London. He joins from UBS Global Asset Management where he was head of global sovereign, currency and UK fixed income portfolio management.Bob Jolly, who joins in September, will also take on lead portfolio management responsibility for a number of macro and multi-sector portfolios managed by a team of ten in London. Current mandates include aggregate, sovereign and absolute return strategies with nearly USD15 billion of assets under management. He will also work with regional portfolio managers in Asia and the US to further develop Schroders’ global macro investment framework.