A joint study by Communication Lab and the University of Hohenheim, covering annual reports from 25 prestigious management firms (including Sarasin, Carmignac Gestion, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Axa IM, Allianz Global Investors, BNP Paribas AM, Goldman Sachs) has found that in general, the readability of the reports is extremely limited, with an average of 3.7 points out of 20, compared with 16/20 for the tabloid newspaper Bild, Das Investment reports.The reports have overly long pivotal sentences, too many abstract ideas, and too many foreign words. Carmignac Gestion stands head and shoulders above its rivals, with an overall rating of 12.17/20.

Pilar Vila, head of marketing and sales for Valiance Advisors in London, will be replacing Mencía Barreiros Juste as head of marketing and communication for Spain and Portugal at Schroders. She will report to Carla Bergareche, CEO for the two countries. Barreiros Juste recently joined the BBVA group as director of marketing for wholesale banking and asset management (see Newsmangers of 18 April).

According to reports in Il Sole – 24 Ore, the Italian bank Ubi Banca is preparing to sell its hedge funds operation to the asset management firm Tages Group, which has been freshly founded by Panfilo Tarantelli, formerly of Schroders and Citigroup. The funds are reported to represent total assets of EUR300m. Tages is aiming to become a centre for hedge funds.

François Carlotti, head of development at Metropole Gestion, told Bluerating that the French asset managers plans to open an office in Milan in the next few months. The company, which has EUR2.6bn in AUM, already holds a sales license for three funds in Italy : Metropole Sélection, Metropole Euro and Metropole Avenir Europe.

On 8 June, the Chinese social security fund (NCSSF, CNY856.7bn as of the end of 2010) announced four RFPs for 8 July at the latest, for mandates in new asset classes, Z-Ben Advisors reports. They will extend to emerging markets bonds, multi-asset class allocation, active international equities management in the area of resources, and active management of international shares in realty firms.Previously, the NCSSF had limited itself to awarding mandates for equities from developed markets, emerging markets and regional markets, and money market products.Candidate managers will be required to have at least six years of experience and at least USD5bn in assets. In addition, they are required not to have been subject to disciplinary actions on the part of regulators in the past three years. The NCSSF also stipulates that as of the end of May 2011, candidates will have to have a track record of at least three years for a similar product.Z-Ben Advisors reports that these conditions tend to suggest that candidates will be primarily specialised foreign asset management firms, as offshore affiliates of most Chinese groups will have a hard time meeting all the requirements.

UBS on 9 May confirmed that two cases of fraud committed by wealth managers at the firm’s Geneva affiliate had been discovered. Agefi Switzerland reports. The fraud was discovered as a result of internal controls, a UBS spokesperson says. “Fraud was detected by routine internal controls in Geneva this spring,” Jean-Raphaël Fontannaz, a spokesperson for the bank, told ATS, confirming reports in the German weekly newspaper HandelsZeitung. “The cases have been referred to the criminal courts, and measures have been taken against the personnel concerned, ranging up to immediate dismissal,” the UBS spokesperson added. “Clients who lost money as a result of the fraud will be reimbursed on the basis of the findings and verifications now underway,” he added.

The Zurich-based firm VZ VermögensZentrum, the wealth management unit of VZ, which has been listed on the Swiss stock exchange since 2007, on 9 May in Zurich unveiled an online solutions which is virtually unprecendented in Switzerland, L’Agefi suisse reports. The new financial platform is dedicated to methodical savings or investments, based on strategies defined online by the user and realised in a standardised or individualised manner, largely via exchange-traded funds. VZ says that it has chosen the best products from among more than 700 ETFs currently available in Switzerland. With the new portal as an addition to its existing platform, VZ is competing with asset allocation funds from banks. Fees come to a total expense ratio of 0.55% for the “VZ invest with ETF” service, while they total 1.1% to 1.7% for funds on offer from banks.

The Zurich-based firm Diamond Asset Advisors (DAA) is launching the closed fund Diamond Asset Fund I, aimed at institutional investors seeking to participate in rising polished diamond prices expected in the next few years. The product is being launched in cooperation with Harry Winston Diamond Corp., Fondsprofessionell reports.Assets will be invested in a diversified portfolio of polished diamonds, of which some very high quality exemplars will come from the reserves of the jeweller Harry Winston, who will be responsible for the safety of the stones and for insurance by Lloyds.In order to avoid conflicts of interest, the two partners have signed a mutual exclusivity contract for all white diamonds between one half carat and six carats. The manager of the fund will be allowed to allocate funds to acquire bigger white diamonds, or coloured diamonds of a larger size, if necessary.The agreement also stipulates that in normal conditions, diamonds resold by the jeweller will be replaced in the fund by stones of the same value. The stock will be controlled at regular intervals by KPMG.

Amundi ETF on Thursday, 9 June announced that it has launched a further 17 equities Etfs on the London Stock Exchange (LSE), bringing the total number of products to 33.The new range includes: 2 ETFs based on key UK indices (FTSE 100® et FTSE 250®) : Amundi ETF FTSE 100 and Amundi ETF FTSE 250 1 regional ETF based on the MSCI Europe ex UK index, entitled Amundi ETF MSCI Europe EX UK, which offers exposure to about 15 European countries outside the UK 2 style ETFs, with the FTSE Dividend+® and Euro Stoxx® Small as benchmarks: Amundi ETF FTSE UK Dividend Plus, which allows investors to replicate the performance of UK equities with the highest dividends as faithfully as possible, and the Amundi ETF Euro Stoxx Small Cap, which offers exposure to 100 small caps listed in the euro zone; 11 European sectoral ETFs, replicating MSCI Global Sectors indices (including “Europe Materials,” “Europe Energy,” and others); 1 new ETF, based on green technologies, the Amundi ETF Green Tech Living Planet, which will aim to replicate the performance of the Living Planet Green Tech Europe index, an index defined by Living Planet Management Company S.A. (an affiliate of WWF International) and SRI (socially responsible investment) teams at CA Chevreux, as faithfully as possible. The ETF offers exposure to equities from European companies which generate at least 20% of their consolidated earnings from activities related to green technologies (energy efficiency, water management, renewable energies, waste management, etc), a statement says.

Legal & General Investment Management a annoncé le lancement du Global Environmental Enterprises Fund, un produit de gestion passive censé tirer profit de la transition vers un monde où les émissions de gaz carbonique seront réduites. Pour ce faire, LGIM s’est associé au gestionnaire indépendant spécialiste de l’environnement Osmosis Investment Management, dont l’indice Osmosis Climate Solutions (OCS) servira de base à la constitution du portefeuille. Cet indice couvre une centaine de sociétés «pure play» du monde entier qui doivent bénéficier des mesures destinées à contrer la pénurie d'énergie, des pressions qui s’exercent sur les ressources naturelles et de la réduction des émissions polluantes.Le portefeuille sera pondéré davantage par secteur que par capitalisation boursière. La commission de gestion est fixée à 1,25 % et LGIM reversera 0,40 % aux conseillers qui commercialiseront le produit. Aucune rétrocession néanmoins ne sera consentie pour les parts institutionnelles.

According to the most recent estimates from Chelsea Financial Services, assets invested in underperforming funds now total nearly GBP26bn up 41% compared with the most recent survey, conducted at the end of 2010, FundWeb reports. Chelsea has identified 13 funds which are underperforming their benchmarks and which have assets of GBP500m, compared with only 4 founds previously. The largest underperforming fund is the Halifax UK Growth Fund (GBP41.6bn), followed by the Prudential UK Growth (GBP2.4bn) and the Legal and General European Index Fund (GBP1.9bn). The number of underperforming funds has increased from 86 to 94, while the number of new additions is 58.

Helmut Fischer, head of the alternative products activity in Germany, has announced that assets in UCITS-compliant hedge funds from Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Europe total USD2.3bn, compared with USD1bn at the beginning of the year, and that assets may run as high as USD4bn by the end of 2011, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports.Currently, the asset management firm offers 14 strategies in UCITS III-compliant formats. Three new managers were selected this year: Och-Ziff, Perella Weinberg Partners and AQR.

Morningstar, Inc on June 9th announced its plans to introduce forward-looking, analyst-driven, qualitative, global fund ratings and a uniform approach for global fund research reports. The ratings and reports will be based on analysts’ convictions about a fund’s ability to outperform its peer group and/or relevant benchmark on a risk-adjusted basis over the long term. The «star» ratings, which are quantitative, remain in place, though.The company said it plans to launch the new ratings and research reports in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand in the fourth quarter.The new Morningstar Analyst Rating™ for funds will be assigned as one of five ratings—AAA, AA, A, Neutral, or Negative. Analysts arrive at a rating through an evaluation of five key pillars Morningstar believes are crucial to predicting the future success of a fund: People, Process, Parent, Performance, and Price.

Morningstar a annoncé le 9 juin son projet de migration de son système de notation prospective des fonds, Morningstar Qualitative Rating TM, en Europe et en Asie, vers une nouvelle échelle globale de notation des fonds. La société adoptera parallèlement une approche unique pour la publication des rapports de recherche de fonds. Le lancement des nouvelles notations et des rapports de recherche en Europe et en Asie est prévu au quatrième trimestre. La notation qualitative des fonds en Europe et en Asie a été lancée par Morningstar en février 2009. Les nouvelles notations et les rapports d’analyse demeureront fondés sur la conviction des analystes selon laquelle un fonds peut surperformer son univers concurrentiel et/ou son indice de référence à long terme, sur une base ajustée des risques. Le nouveau système de notation des fonds, baptisé Morningstar Analyst RatingTM, appliquera un barème de cinq notes: AAA, AA, A, Neutral (neutre) ou Negative (négatif). La notation résulte de l’analyse de cinq facteurs-clés considérés par Morningstar comme les piliers de l’évaluation de la réussite future d’un fonds : l’équipe de gestion, le processus d’investissement, la société de gestion, la performance et les frais. Une notation positive (AAA, AA, ou A) attribuée à un fonds signifie que les analystes de Morningstar ont une haute opinion du fonds et s’attendent à ce qu’il surperforme ses pairs et/ou son indice de référence sur une base ajustée des risques et sur un cycle de marché complet d’au moins cinq ans. La nouvelle notation de fonds, à l’instar des notations qualitatives actuelles qu’elles remplaceront, seront disponibles gratuitement sur les sites Internet Morningstar en Europe et en Asie. Pour l’ensemble des fonds couverts par Morningstar à l’échelle mondiale, la note et le rapport de recherche qui lui est associé seront disponibles sur Morningstar DirectSM, la plate-forme Morningstar dédiée aux investisseurs institutionnels.

Agefi reports that the additional public functionaries’ retirement establishment (ERAFP) has announced a restricted call for proposals for a real estate asset management mandate in order to diversify its assets. With a maximal total of EUR40m, and a total duration of 5 to 8 years, the fund will be required to respect the establishment’s SRI charter, and will be concentrated on the acquisition and management of an office property in Paris.

AllianceBernstein on 9 May announced that its assets under management as of 31 May were down 2.5%, to USD473bn, compared with USD485bn as of the end of April, according to preliminary estimates. The development is due to negative market effects and net outflows, largely from institutional clients, AllianceBernstein says in a statement.

Real Madrid is in talks with S.L. Benfica to transfer the Portuguese player Fábio Coentrão from the BBVA Liga for the 2011-2012 season. If the two firms reach agreement about the EUR25m price tag, the Benfica Stars Fund will receive EUR5m, although the player was valued as of the end of May at only EUR2.27m, Funds People reports. The Benfica Stars Fund is a Portuguese special investment fund which holds the rights to 16 Portuguese footballers. The three most valuable are Oscar René Cardozo (EUR2.8m), Airton Ribeiro Santo, and Alan Kardec Junior (EUR2.43m each).

Hedge funds posted their first losses in nine months in May. The HFRI composidte index was down 1.28% in May, its heaviest losses since May 2010, with losses for macro strategies (-2.54%) and commodities only partially compensated for by gains for relative value arbitrage strategies. The Dow Jones Credit Suisse index lost 1.71% in May, while the Hennessee index lost 0.50%. Since the beginning of the year, the Hennessee index has gained 3.20%, while the Dow Jones Credit Suisse index has gained only 0.47%. The HFRI index of funds of funds, for its part, was down 1.46% in May.

n 2010, sovereign funds, which aim to increase earnings on their country’s wealth, made more modest direct investments, and increasingly turned to emerging markets, at a time when the European and United States economies were areas of concern, Les Echos reports. With USD52bn in assets as of the end of 2010, direct investments in sovereign funds were 50% less than in 2007 or 2008. “They have continued to diversify their investments in several sectors. However, three activities – financial services, natural resources and associated industries – represented 80% of total investments, and more than half of total transactions by number,” a report by the Monitor says. Four funds in particular stand out (Qatar, China’s CIC, Singapore’s Temasek and Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala), as responsible for more than two thirds of these investments.

Thomas Richter, who will become chairman of the German BVI association of asset management firms on 1 July, says that there is beginning to be some movement on the pension pooling issue, and that a bill to allow multinational groups to centralise their management of retirement savings plans from their foreign affiliates in Germany may be finished by the end of the year, the Börsen-Zeitung reports. Initially, professionals had hoped that the bill would be made one of the measures to be transposed into German law among with the UCITS IV directive.

The Singapore sovereign fund GIC, which has recently installed a new president (see Newsmanagers of 31 May), has announced the appointment of three heads for its three investment affiliates, GIC Asset Management, GIC Real Estate, and GIC Special Investments (dedicated to private equity). GIC Asset Management will now be led by Lim Chow Kiat, while GIC Real Estate will be led by Goh Kok Huat, and GIC Special Investments by Tay Lim Hock. The three outgoing heads will become directors of the three regional units. The declared objective will be to participate in new investment opportunities wherever possible, particularly in emerging markets. Quah wee Ghee, outgoing president of GIC Asset Management, will lead the Indian unit, while Teh Kok Peng, outgoing chairman of GIC Special Situations, will become head of the Chiense unit, while Seek Ngee Huat, outgoing head of GIC Real Estate, will direct the unit dedicated to Latin America.

On 9 June, the Frenchman Marc Saluzzi, a partner at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), was elected unopposed as the only candidate to become chairman of the Luxembourg investment fund association (Alfi), replacing Claude Kremer, who has already served two two-year terms as head of the association, and who will most likely succeed Jean-Baptiste de Franssu as head of Efama (the European Fund and Asset Management Association).Saluzzi has been a board member at Alfi for ten years. He is also a member of the OCP investment fund commission at the Luxembourg financial supervisory commission, the CSSF.

Le Fonds de compensation AVS (assurance-vieillesse et survivants) / AI (assurance-invalidité) / APG (régime des allocations pour perte de gain) a procédé à quelques changements dans son allocation stratégique et tactique. Ainsi, la poche obligations en devises étrangères affiche une performance décevante de -4,9% l’an dernier. L’exposition aux obligations en devises étrangères a été réduite de 48% à 47% de l’allocation totale d’actifs mais cette classe d’actif était sous représentée en 2010 avec 35,7%. Cette proportion devrait tout de même légèrement augmenter d’ici la fin de l’année. Concernant les obligations en francs suisses, le régime a augmenté son exposition sur le souverain, de 19.3% à 20% des actifs et réduisant le crédit de 10% à 9,7%. De plus, le Fonds peut maintenant proposer des crédits à une gamme plus importante d’emprunteurs incluant des entreprises publiques, des institutions cantonales, des banques cantonales et des compagnies cotées dont l'état contrôle le capital à 50%. En 2010, le Fonds a prêté 115 millions de Francs Suisses aux banques cantonales et 100 millions de Francs Suisses aux compagnies cotées. Le rendement du Fonds a été de 4.3% en 2010. L’orientation stratégique est la suivante : 10% prêts, 20% obligations en francs, 37% obligations en devises étrangères, 25% en actions, 5% en immobilier cotés, 3% en matières premières.

En Suisse, le Pensionskasse der Gemeinde Thalwil (95 millions de francs suisses d’actifs) réfléchit à la possibilité de réduire son exposition aux obligations gouvernementales internationales et à l’immobilier. Le Fonds pourrait aussi se décider à investir en actions. Les obligations gouvernementales ne sont pas très rentables, et le Fonds pourrait plutôt s’orienter vers des obligations corporate. Le Fonds, pour cette classe d’actifs, travaillerait avec l’un de ses gérants existants, pour réduire les frais. Une discussion concrète concernant l’immobilier et les actions se tiendra au dernier trimestre 2011. La stratégie d’investissement est actuellement la suivante : 1% de liquidités, 34% d’obligations en francs suisses, 7,5% d’obligations étrangères, 10% en actions domestiques, 17,5% en actions internationales et 30% en immobilier.

Reuters croit savoir que les deux pays sont proches de sceller un accord concernant les accusations d’aide à l’évasion fiscale de la part des banques helvétiques pour les clients outre-Atlantique. Les autorités américaines abandonneraient leurs poursuites en l’échange de données individuelles et d’une amende. Un nouveau coup porté au secret bancaire.

Le tribunal de commerce de Paris a décidé d’attendre les décisions de la justice luxembourgeoise pour rendre son jugement dans la plainte déposée en France contre la banque suisse UBS par des épargnants français victimes du scandale Madoff aux Etats-Unis. Dans le cadre de cette plainte, 78 épargnants, représentés par l’avocat Jean-Pierre Martel, reprochent à UBS de leur avoir donné de mauvaises informations sur la sicav luxembourgeoise Luxalpha. «Le tribunal sursoit à statuer (...) jusqu'à la décision du tribunal d’arrondissement de Luxembourg sur sa compétence dans le cadre de l’instance initiée par les liquidateurs de la sicav Luxalpha», a fait savoir le tribunal de commerce de Paris dans son jugement dont l’Agefi a obtenu une copie. Une décision jugée décevante par le conseil juridique des épargnants lésés. Le tribunal s’est néanmoins déclaré compétent pour étudier l’affaire.

Le Français Marc Saluzzi a été élu à l’unanimité à la tête de l’Association Luxembourgeoise des Fonds d’Investissement. Il succède ainsi à Claude Kremer. Créée en 1998, l’ALFI représente plus de 1.000 fonds domiciliés au Luxembourg, des sociétés de gestion et un large éventail de prestataires de services.

Elle est attendue en juillet. L'institution campe sur ses positions sur la dette grecque

Elle est attendue en juillet. L'institution campe sur ses positions sur la dette grecque

Reykjavik a émis hier un milliard de dollars à cinq ans au taux de 4,993%. Les investisseurs ont demandé plus de deux fois ce montant