Société Générale Private Banking (SGPB) a annoncé, mercredi 23 mars, quatre nominations au sein de sa division Ingénierie Patrimoniale, Services Fiduciaires et Assurance Vie dirigée par Laurent Joly.Jon Needham, qui est basé à Jersey, est nommé directeur mondial des services fiduciaires pour le réseau international de la banque. Il est également responsable de l’Ingénierie patrimoniale et des Services fiduciaires pour Société Générale Private Banking Hambros.Vittorio Castellani, qui est basé à Genève, est nommé responsable de l’Ingénierie patrimoniale pour la clientèle latino-américaine de SGPB. il est détaché auprès de Alberto Valenzuela, Directeur Général adjoint de Société Générale Private Banking (Suisse) SA et directeur de la ligne client latino-américaine.Cécile Decomps, qui est basée à Paris, est nommée responsable de l’Assurance Vie pour Société Générale Private Banking, en charge de développer et de promouvoir l’offre d’Assurance Vie au sein du réseau international de la banque privée.Marco Cameroni, qui se trouve à Luxembourg, est nommé responsable de l’Ingénierie patrimoniale et des Services fiduciaires pour l’activité de banque privée de Société Générale Bank & Trust (SGBT). Il remplace Claudio Bacceli récemment nommé directeur général en charge de la banque privée au sein de Société Générale Bank & Trust.Jon Needham a plus de 25 ans d’expérience en ingénierie patrimoniale et services fiduciaires. Depuis 2005, il était directeur de l’activité Trusts de SGPB Hambros pour les clients privés à Jersey et Guernesey en 2005. Il est membre de l’Institute of Directors et du Chartered Institute of Securities & Investment.Agé de 37 ans, Vittorio Castellani a rejoint en 2000 le groupe Société Générale à Luxembourg où il a été nommé en 2006 directeur associé du département Ingénierie patrimoniale et Services fiduciaires, en charge du développement des zones Méditerranée et Europe de l’Est. Agée de 44 ans, Cécile Decomps a débuté sa carrière à la direction Marketing du groupe Société Générale en 1989. Depuis 2008, elle occupait le poste de responsable Assurance Vie de Société Générale Private Banking France, en charge du développement des relations avec les partenaires assureurs du groupe Société Générale.Agé de 47 ans, Marco Cameroni a rejoint Société Générale Bank & Trust en avril 2008 en tant qu’Ingénieur Conseil, avant de se voir confier la responsabilité de la cellule Crédit de l’activité de banque privée en septembre 2009.

AXA on 23 March announced the end of the period to determine theprice for the Axa Asia Pacific Holdings (AXA APH) merger with AMPLimited (AMP), and the sale of the Asian activities of AXA APH toAXA. The finalisation of the acquisition of the Asian activities ofAXA APH by AXA is slated for 1 April 2011.The transaction has provisionally received all the necessaryregulatory approvals and the permission of shareholders in AXA APH.On the basis of the average price weighted by VWAP volumes of AMPshares over a reference period of 10 days, which comes to AUD5.32,the final price per share to be paid to minority shareholders in AXAAPH will be 0.73 AMP shares and AUD2.5464 in cash.AMP will acquire 100% of the existing shares in AXA APH forAUD13.3bn. AMP will buy the shares in AXA APH held by AXA forAUD7.2bn in cash. As a part of the transaction, AXA will buy 100% ofthe Asian activities of AXA APH from AMP for AUD9.8bn in cash. Theprice for the activities of AXA APH in Australia and New Zealand willbe AUD3.5bn.The total paid by AXA in cash will be AUD2.6bn (or aboutEUR1.8bn).The transaction will depend on operating profits per share in2011, and will have the following estimated impact on first half2011:About EUR0.7bn in one-time capital gains included in netresults, due to the sale of activities in Australia and New Zealand-1 point for the Solvency 1 ratio, which stood at 182% as of31 December 2010+4 points for the debt ratio, which stood at 28% as of 31December 2010. This impact is primarily due to the net cash paymentand the reduction in owners’ equity by about EUR1.6bn.

Following the finalisation of the AXA APH transaction (see full article in today’s edition), John Dacey, a member of the executive board at the Axa group, will become vice-chairman of the Asia=Pacific region, effective immediately, and will report to Henri de Castries. In his new role, Dacey will continue AXA’s development in the region. He was previously CEO of the Japan and Asia-Pacific region, which has been reorganised into two entities: AXA Asia and AXA Japan.Michael Bishop, a member of the executive board at the AXA Group, has been appointed as CEO of AXA Asia, and will report to de Castries. He was previously CEO of AXA Asia Life, an entity of AXA APH. In his new role, he will continue to direct life insurance, savings, and retirement activities of AXA in Asia (China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand), and will also supervise the development of damage insurance activities (in China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam).Gaëlle Olivier, who has recently been appointed as CEO of AXA Asia P&C, will report directly to him.Jean-Louis Laurent Josi, CEO of AXA Japan and a member of the executive committee at the AXA group, will report directly to de Castries.

The German financial services authority (BaFin) has issued an operating license to LaSalle Vermögensverwaltungs GmbH, founded by LaSalle Gmbh, whose headquarters are located in Munich (see Newsmanagers of 20 September 2010), which operates the LaSalle Investment Management Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH (LaSalle KAG) brand.The firm, which is 100% controlled by LaSalle GmbH, will aim to create German-registered institutional investment funds (Spezialfonds) for German, Austrian and Swiss institutional investors.Claus Thomas, CEO of LaSalle GmbH, says the new German management firm opens access for the group to Spezialfonds, and allows it to offer custom vehicles for separate accounts.The co-CEOs of LaSalle KAG are Martin Jochem and Ulrich Nach.

Following an increase of 34.9% in January-September (see Newsmanagers of 26 November 2010), DekaBank, the central asset management firm for the German savings banks, on 2 March announced record “economic” profits (profits by IFRS accounting standards before taxes, plus the results of valuation of financial instruments) of EUR925.1m, compared with EUR661.8m in 2009, representing an increase of 39.8%.The asset management/capital markets (AMK) division in 2010 saw net outflows of EUR0.8bn, compared with EUR2.5bn the previous year, largely due to net outflows of EUR7bn from money market and bond funds. However, due to positive market effects, assets increased by EUR132.5bn as of the end of December, compared with EUR130.1bn twelve months previously. The AMK division contributed EUR428m, compared with EUR316.6m, to economic profits in the period.The asset management/real estate (AMI) division, for its part, posted net subscriptions of EUR1.7bn, compared with EUR2.5bn, of which EUR1.5bn, compared with EUR2.2bn, went to open-ended real estate funds. Assets in the AMI division increased to EUR22.8bn as of the end of 2010, compared with EUR21.1bn as of the end of 2009. Economic profits for the division increased to EUR88.3m, from EUR57m, but with one-time elements taken into account, they came to EUR55.1m compared with EUR19.4m.

Russell Investments on 23 March announced that it has appointed Trevor Persaud as head of advising activities for Asean countries, India, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In his new role, Persaud will be responsible for developing advising activities in the region, including investment advising, asset allocation, risk management and portfolio construction. Persaud, who previously worked at Prudential Asset Management in Singapore, will continue to be based in Singapore, and will report to Mahendran Nathan, chief executive for Asean, Hong Kong, Taiwan and India.

In the United States, there are 7,5000 funds, with assets under management of EUR6trn. This comes out to an average of EUR806m per fund, according to statistics from Lipper. In Europe, no less than 26,000 funds have total assets of EUR3.6trn, meaning that a European fund weighs only EUR137m.This trend is showing no signs of change. In 2009, the number of new funds launched in Europe is larger each year than the number of funds closed or merged. “The UCITS directive has not led to a rationalisation of product ranges,” says Dunny Moonesawmy, head of research for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, at a conference held in Paris on Wednesday by FitchRatings. Mooesawmy says Europe remains a highly fragmented market compared with the United States, and it remains difficult to sell a French fund in other countries. In addition, the needs of investors are divergent depending on their country of origin.Innovation continues to be very strong in terms of asset management, with niche products that aim to respond to constantly-changing demand. The proliferation of products is also a result of the fact that the barrier to entry for new asset management firms is very low, Moonesawmy notes.Of a total of 26,000 funds, very few bring in inflows. For example, in 2010, 70% of the 5,000 equities funds on sale in Europe attracted only 10% of inflows. However, 50 funds captured EUR50bn, a sign of real concentration in inflows on a few funds, asset classes, and management firms.However, Moonesawmy says, due to the growing number of managers finding themselves out of work and setting out to launch their own management firms, the rationalisation of the fund sector, which has been discussed for a decade or more, is not going to happen tomorrow.

State Street Corporation on 22 March announced the appointment of robert Rushe as head of services for ETP products in Ireland. Rushe, who previously worked at Bank of Ireland Securities Services, will be in charge of the team dedicated to the ETP range, which includes ETF, ETN and ETC (exchange-traded certificates). State Street, which entered Ireland in 1996, has about 2,000 employees in the country, with offices in Dublin, Drogheda, Kilkenny and Naas.

In the third week of the Galleon trial, the president and CEO of Goldman Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein, took a stand against the former head of McKinsey, Rajat Gupta, defending the confidentiality of the deliberations of the bank’s board, to which he had belonged, Les Echos reports. Gupta is accused of feeding confidential information to the founder of Galleon, Rajat Rajaratnam.

NewAlpha Asset management has completed a first round of fundraising at EUR105m for the NewAlpha Genesis 4 fund, from 10 institutional investors. The fund, whose final asset target is set at EUR150m, will be able to accept further subscriptions until the end of July 2011. The fund will aim to invest in diversified alternative strategies from asset management firms in a launch or development phase. The analysis and research team at NewAlpha Asset Management, which considered more than 300 candidates for incubation in 2010, has already identified, selected and begun negotiations with several managers that show attractive characteristics, both in terms of future performance and growth in activities. NewAlpha Genesis 4 will make its first investments by the end of first half 2011. NewAlpha Genesis 4 aims to offer total annualised performance of 8% to 12%, on an investment horizon of at least 3 years.

Prudential Investments is launching two new real estate funds. The Prudential U.S. Real Estate Fund concentrates on investments in real estate companies in the United States, while the Prudential International Real Estate Fund invests in real estate companies outside North America, in developed countries and emerging markets.

Olivier Cornuot, 43, is joining the volatility and convertibles unit at CCR Asset Management, as a senior manager in charge of quantitative strategies. Cornuot was previously head of absolute return and manager of volatility arbitrage funds at Lyxor.

The insurance firm Mapfre Vida on Wednesday launched the Fondmapfre Garantizado 1104, which will mature on 4 May 2015. The capital is 100% guaranteed, and returns will depend on the performance of the Euro Stoxx 50. There will be weekly liquidity windows beginning in the second year.

Three foreign management firms have recently received licenses to sell some of their products in Spain. They include the Axa IM Euro Moderato (E share class, FR0010950055, and I share class, FR0010950063) from Axa Ibercapital, and the Mirabaud Active Allocation (A share class, LU0562891944, and I share class, LU0562892165) from Mirabaud Finanzas. For its part, Pimco (Allianz Global Investors group) has registered the Pimco Emerging Asia Bond Fund, Pimco Emerging Markets and Infrastructure Bond Fund, and PIMCO Global Advantage Fund. The last of these replicates the fundamental index GLADI (Global Advantage Index), which was developed internally.

Threadneedle and Deutsche Bank have signed an agreement to distribute 34 Threadneedle funds via the 271 branches of the German bank in Italy, and via Finanza & Futuro Banca, the network of 1,250 financial advisers at the group. Among the Threadneedle funds which will now be sold in Italy by Deutsche Bank are the Pan European Fund, American Fund, American Select Fund and European High Yield Bond Fund.

In the week following the Japanese disaster of 11 March, ETFs based on Japanese equities posted net inflows of EUR1.2bn, the largest volume ever observed, according to data from TrimTabs Investment Research. Initially, investors pulled out of equities, taking their profits on a three-month rally, but buyers nearly immediately appeared in flocks, attracted by very low valuations. For the month of March as a whole, net inflows may top USD1.5bn, a higher level than the previous monthly record of USD1.1bn, in November 2005.

JP Morgan has announced that it has been retained by Invesco PowerShares to offer 17 of its US-registered ETFs on the Mexican stock exchange, the Bolsa Mexicana de Valores. The ETFs will be listed in Mexican pesos. They include the following ETFs:• PowerShares MENA Frontier Countries Portfolio • PowerShares VRDO Tax-Free Weekly Portfolio • PowerShares Build America Bond Portfolio• PowerShares Insured National Municipal Bond Portfolio • PowerShares International Dividend Achievers™ Portfolio • PowerShares Fundamental High Yield® Corporate Bond Portfolio • PowerShares DWA Emerging Markets Technical Leaders Portfolio • PowerShares DWA Technical Leaders Portfolio • PowerShares 1-30 Laddered Treasury Portfolio • PowerShares Dividend Achievers™ Portfolio • PowerShares CEF Income Composite Portfolio • PowerShares High Yield Equity Dividend Achievers™ Portfolio • PowerShares DWA Developed Markets Technical Leaders Portfolio • PowerShares Zacks Micro Cap Portfolio • PowerShares Emerging Markets Sovereign Debt Portfolio • PowerShares Dynamic Large Cap Value Portfolio • PowerShares S&P 500 High Quality Portfolio

Together with Swiss Hedge Capital, Swiss & Global Asset Management is launching the first single-manager hedge fund in Switzerland regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), Swiss Hedge Trading Fund. Reto Barbarits, who is in charge of the Swiss Hedge Trading Fund project at Swiss & Global Asset Management, says: “Launching a hedge fund in an onshore environment is an innovation here in Switzerland. This move reflects the trend toward greater transparency and regulation in the interest of the investors. We see a lot of market potential here for the future as well.” The fund is a long/short equity fund and follows an active trading strategy. It focuses on the current market themes as well as the general trend on the stock markets, and invests predominantly in European blue chips. Swiss & Global Asset Management is in charge of the administration of the product, with Swiss Hedge Capital being responsible for fund management.

Wolfgang Sawazki, who was CEO of VM Vermögens-Management GmbH, an affiliate of the August von Finck group, after previusly serving 8 years as head of Oppenheim Research GmbH until 20009, is returning to Sal. Oppenheim. On 1 April, he will become operational head of the portfolio management team in the strategic clients division (i.e. clients with complex wealth structures), led by Stefan Jenssen. Sawarzki will also coordinate private wealth management on the investment policy committee, which is chaired by CIO Wolfgang Leoni.

La nouvelle direction d’Unicrédit emmenée par Federico Ghizzoni pourrait envisager de conserver Pioneer Global Asset Management, sa filiale de gestion d’actifs si les offres reçues se révélaient insuffisantes, rapporte L’Agefi. La banque italienne négocie actuellement avec trois candidats (Natixis, Amundi et le britannique Resolution) mais une rumeur parle aussi d’un rapprochement de Pioneer avec Eurizon, son concurrent chez Intesa Sanpaolo. «Une décision sera prise dans deux à trois semaines», a indiqué simplement le directeur général qui a déjà exclu toute vente de l’activité américaine de Pioneer, considérée comme «stratégique».

At a presentation of its annual results, Federico Ghizzoni, CEO of UniCredit, announced that a decision would be made in two to three weeks on the sale of Pioneer, Il Sole – 24 Ore reports. The Italian newspaper reports that representatives of Resolution, one of the candidates, have met top management of UniCredit on several occasions in Milan to present the most recent details of their bid. The UK group is proposing to create a European asset management platform capable of attracting other players in the sector. Pioneer would then be owned by a newly-created firm owned by the new and former shareholders in the asset management firm, and thus potentially also UniCredit. The entity would be listed in London and Milan, with at least 51% of its capital public. The other candidates are Amundi and Natixis, though these have been made uneasy by the Italian government’s decision to block hostile operations in strategic sectors in the country, Il Sole notes. Ghizzoni did not rule out the possibility that Pioneer would not be sold.

Expansión reports that the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has commenced the sale process for its non-strategic credit portfolio in Spain, to sell EUR286m in loans made at the peak of the market to real estate promoters, to the opportunistic Perella Weinberg Real Estate Fund, for an undisclosed amount, but probably at a steep markdown. RBS is still seeking buyers for about EUR700m in loans.

Partners Group on 23 March announced that it has completed its Global Infrastructure 2009 investment program, with a total of EUR500m in assets, the target volume. The investors include public and private pension funds, insurers, financial institutions and private individuals, the group says in a statement. As of the end of 2010, 17 investments had been made as part of the program, including in the Australian coal-exporting terminal of Newcastle Coal Infrastructure Group, and in Italian solar installations by Rovigo. Investments have also been made in the UK, India, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, and Brazil. Investments are diversified by sector of activity, phase of financing and type of investment, a statement says.

The head of the private banking division at the Contonal Bank of Geneva, Jean-Louis Platteau, has resigned, the bank announced in a statement on 23 March. He has informed the bank of his plans to reorient his professional activities. Platteau had been a member of the management since 2008.

Amundi has launched a money market Sicav, Amundi Money Market Fund Short Term (EUR), Citywire reports. Its objective is to outperform the Eonia. The management firm is also planning to launch a sub-fund in US dollars in the next few months, and may also launch a fund in pounds Sterling.

Société Générale Private Banking (SGPB) on Wednesday, 23 March announced four appointments to its wealth engineering, fiduciary services and life insurance divison, led by Laurent Joly. Jon Needham, who is based in Jersey, is appointed as global director of fiduciary services for the international banking network. He is also in charge of wealth engineering and fiduciary services for Société Générale Private Banking Hambros. Vittorio Castellani, who is based in Geneva, is appointed head of wealth engineering for Latin American clients of SGPB. He reports to Alberto Valenzuela, deputy CEO of Société Générale Private Banking (Switzerland) SA, and director of the Latin American client segment. Cécile Decomps, who is based in Paris, is appointed head of life insurance for Société Générale Private Banking, in charge of developing and promoting the life insurance product range in the international network of the private bank. Marco Cameroni, who is based in Luxembourg, is appointed head of wealth engineering and fiduciary services for private banking activities at Société Générale Bank & Trust (SGBT). He replaces Claudio Bacceli, who has recently been appointed CEO in charge of private banking at Société Générale Bank & Trust.

BNY Mellon on 22 March announced an increase of 44% to its quarterly dividends, from 8 cents to 13 cents per share. The dividend will be paid on 1 May to shareholders registered on 29 April. The group has also announced that its board of directors has granted approval for a further extension to the share buyback program now underway. The new program will increase the buyback total to 47 million shares, with a value of up to USD1.3bn.

Ossiam, the affiliate of Natixis Global Asset Management specialised in ETFs (exchange-traded funds), announced on Wednesday, 23 March that it has appointed Paul-Marc Lachaud as head of compliance and internal control at the firm. Lachaud, 32, is an addition to the organisation at the management firm, which is planning to launch its first products in May 2011, a statement says. In September 2007, Lachaud joined the inspector general’s office at the BPCE group, as inspector, and was in charge of evaluation of the risk control framework at the bank and its affiliates, and of improving the organization and effectiveness of the group’s various risk management entities.

In its diversified portfolios, Amundi Asset Management “has been overweight in equities by several percentage points for the past six months,” and is planning to continue to prefer higher-risk assets. The management firm “is gradually reducing its overweight position on high-yield bonds,” Philippe Thurbide, head of research, strategy and analysis, stated on 23 March, adding that the firm has already been underweight in investment-grade corporate bonds for some time. In government bonds in particular, the French management firm is short on duration, due to continuing, yet evanescent prospects of a rise in inflation in western Europe, and more concrete dangers of rising prices in eastern Europe. Pascal Blanqué, deputy CEO and CIO of Amundi Group, adds that the management firm “is moving from credit to equities, particularly Euorpean equities, where valuations are currently attractive.” This slant towards European equities is leading symetrically to a reduction in the overweight exposure to emerging markets. In terms of Amundi’s product plans, Eric Turjeman, head of equities management in Paris, states clearly that the range is nearly complete in “all terrain,” and thus capable of satisfying any fluctuations in demand due to market evolution. But there might be additions to the range of minimum variance (minvar) products to control volatility, and «return» products.

Craig Aspinall has joined Standard Life Investments as chief investment officer, with the mission of developing the activities of Standard Life in Australia. He previously worked at Macquarie Global Investments. Standard Life Investments has also recruited Diana Ryan, previously at AMP Capital, as client representative, with responsibility for deploying development strategies in the region.