Le 28 septembre, iShares (BlackRock) a fait admettre à la négociation sur le segment XTF de la plate-forme électronique Xetra trois nouveaux ETF d’actions de droit allemand qui portent à 707 le nombre de ces produits cotés à Francfort.Les deux premiers, chargés à 0,59 % répliquent les indices MSCI Australie (DE000A1C2Y78) et MSCI Canada (DE000A1C2Y86). Le troisième, sur le MSCI Afrique du Sud (DE000A1C2Y94) affiche une commission de gestion de 0,74 %.

UBS a annoncé le 28 septembre la nomination d’Alex Wilmot-Sitwell comme Co-Chairman et Co-CEO de la région Asie-Pacifique. Il dirigera cette région en commun avec Chi-Won Yoon, son actuel Chairman et CEO.Alex Wilmot-Sitwell prendra ses nouvelles fonctions le 1er novembre et travaillera à Hong kong. Carsten Kengeter, actuel Co-CEO UBS Investment Bank, devient l’unique responsable d’Investment Bank.

Selon l’Agefi qui reprend les propos de Douglas Wurth, le directeur de la banque privée de JPMorgan Chase à Bloomberg, l’objectif pour l'établissement est de multiplier par trois ses actifs en banque privée en Asie dans les 5 prochaines années. La banque compte également gonfler ses effectifs de 40% notamment en Chine et en Inde.

L’activité principale de Julius Bär reste la gestion de patrimoine suisse. «Notre marché le plus important reste la Suisse», a déclaré Boris Collardi, CEO de la banque, dans un entretien au journal «Handelszeitung» daté du 29 septembre. Julius Bär est bien positionné dans le pays et sa clientèle se compose de nombreux Suisses fortunés.L’accord de la Suisse avec l’Allemagne sera décisif pour l'évolution des activités avec l’Europe, selon Boris Collardi. Il précise toutefois que depuis qu’il est à la tête de Julius Bär, la devise de la banque est de n’accepter que de l’argent déclaré aux autorités fiscales. Un autre marché important pour la banque est l’Asie, conclut le CEO.

Le 27 septembre, Putnam Investments a annoncé qu’il lance une série de trois fonds toutes capitalisations spécialistes des actions américaines avec des approches value, growth et «blend».Le nouveau fonds dans cette gamme est le Putnam Multi-Cap Core Fund (acronyme PMYAX), le produit qui concilie growth et value. Il est géré par Gerard sullivan, qui est également responsable du Putnam investors Fund.Le Putnam Multi-Cap Value Fund (PMVAX), spécialiste des titres value est géré par James Polk. C’est l’ancien Putnam Mid Cap Value Fund, dont la stratégie d’investissement a été élargie pour lui permettre d’intervenir sur toutes les classes de capitalisations.Quant au Putnam Multi-Cap Growth Fund (PNOPX), il s’agit d’une transformation du Putnam New Opportunities Fund. Il est géré par Robert Brookby, qui est aussi chargé du Putnam Growth Opportunities Fund. Putnam précise que son Vista Fund a été absorbé courant septembre par le nouveau Multi-Cap Growth.

The Hartford baisse les frais sur six de ses mutual funds obligataires, dans le but de les rendre plus attrayants aux yeux des conseillers financiers et experts en investissements. La réduction prend effet au premier novembre.Les fonds concernés sont les suivants :The Hartford High Yield FundThe Hartford High Yield Municipal Bond FundThe Hartford Income FundThe Hartford Inflation Plus FundThe Hartford Short Duration FundThe Hartford Total Return Bond Fund Le détails des réduction de frais peuvent être consultés à l’adresse http://ir.thehartford.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=511229

Face à une chute de son encours total à 21 milliards de dollars contre 40 milliards en 2008 (et à 17 milliards contre 35 milliards pour les seuls hedge funds), D.E. Shaw & Co a décidé de supprimer 150 emplois, soit environ 10 % de son effectif, rapporte The Wall Street Journal.

Selon Les Echos, les banques commencent à limiter les embauches et à réduire les emplois là où l’activité est la plus faible depuis quelques mois, en particulier dans le trading. Morgan Stanley aurait ainsi mis en place depuis un mois un gel des embauches jusqu'à la fin de l’année, qui ne touche pas toutefois son activité de gestion de fortune.

State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) a annoncé le 24 septembre avoir sélectionné la société de gestion Smith, Graham & Co pour l’assister dans la gestion des MBS (mortgage-backed securities) du département du Trésor américain.En tant qu’agent du Trésor américain, SSgA gère un portefeuille d’environ 180 milliards de dollars de MBS émis par Fannie Mae et Freddie Mac. Smith, Graham & Co apportera son expertise en matière d’analyse de portefeuille et de reporting.

Au 30 septembre 2010, les actifs gérés par Man Group devraient se situer à 39,5 milliards de dollars contre 38,5 milliards à fin juin. Ce total se compare toutefois à 44 milliards de dollars fin septembre 2009, selon des comptes provisoires publiés le 28 septembre.Le gestionnaire britannique fait par ailleurs état d’une diminution des sorties nettes à 0,6 milliard de dollars au deuxième trimestre de l’exercice, ce qui reflète une hausse des rentrées grâce à des mandats institutionnels et à une augmentation de la demande de produits régulés onshore. L’effet de marché a été positif de 0,8 milliard de dollars au deuxième trimestre de l’exercice.Le bénéfice avant impôt pour le semestre au 30 septembre devrait ressortir à 215 millions de dollars contre 292 millions pour la période correspondante de l’an dernier. Les recettes nettes de commissions ont baissé à 205 millions de dollars contre 245 millions en raison de la diminution de l’encours moyen sur la période. Quant aux recettes nettes de commissions de performance, elles sont tombées à 10 millions de dollars contre 47 millions, la plupart des produits AHL étant en dessous du high watermark.L’excédent de capital prudentiel se situe à plus de 1,5 milliard de dollars, avec par ailleurs 2,5 milliards de liquidités, et l’excédent de capital prudentiel devrait tomber à environ 300 millions de dollars avec le bouclage de l’acquisition de GLG qui interviendra normalement le 12 octobre.

Le britannique Cazenove envisage de rouvrir l’an prochain son fonds de performance absolue, Absolute UK Dynamic, qui a retrouvé des couleurs après quelques mois très difficiles, rapporte Investment Week.Lancé le 7 septembre 2009, le fonds avait été fermé une semaine plus tard après avoir collecté 130 millions de livres. Cette année, les remboursements ont réduit les actifs du fonds à 69 millions de livres dans le sillage du départ en avril de Neil Pegrum. Selon le gérant actuel, Paul Marriage, le fonds est à nouveau en ligne ces derniers mois avec son objectif d’un rendement annuel de 10%, avec des performances de 1% en juillet, de 2,2% en août et de 1% en septembre. Sur trois mois, le fonds affiche un gain de 2,5% contre une moyenne de 1% pour le secteur (Morningstar). Mais sur l’année au 13 septembre, le fonds accuse un recul de 5,9% à comparer à un gain de 3,5% pour secteur «Absolute Return» de l’IMA.

Gartmore va perdre la gestion du Gartmore Growth Opportunities, l’un de ses principaux trusts (51 millions de livres), à la suite du départ du gérant Gervais Williams, rapporte le Financial Times. Le trust, qui a dénoncé le contrat avec Gartmore, a annoncé qu’il prévoyait de fusionner avec Artemis Alpha Trust. Le véhicule ainsi créé sera géré par John Dodd et Adrian Peterson d’Artemis.

Dans une lettre aux souscripteurs, Threadneedle indique avoir obtenu de la FSA l’autorisation de soumettre à une assemblée générale extraordinaire qui aura lieu le 20 octobre au Menzies Hotel Swindon (13 h 30, heure locale) la proposition d’autoriser le gestionnaire à utiliser des dérivés et des transactions à terme pour son fonds UK Accelerando. Ce qui ne changera rien à l’objectif du fonds et à sa politique d’investissement tout en permettant de mieux couvrir les risques d’un portefeuille qui restera concentré et axé sur les actions britanniques.Selon nos informations, cette lettre comporte non seulement une demande d’autorisation pour le changement de nom du fonds en UK Extended Alpha Fund, mais aussi une demande d’autorisation pour lever la limitation du nombre de parts (limited issue).La proposition de Threadneedle ne pourra être acceptée que si elle obtient d’une majorité d’au moins 75 % des suffrages exprimés.

Au 1er septembre, l’indice Finles/IEX des hedge funds néerlandais s’est inscrit à 110,34 contre 110 fin juillet, gagnant 0,31 % en août après 0,2 % en juillet (lire notre dépêche du 8 septembre). Depuis le début de l’année, l’indice accuse une perte de 0,29 %.L’indice comprend depuis le 1er septembre le Callanish Global Macro Fund, mais le Robeco All Weather Equity Fund a été «arrêté» en septembre. Au 1er octobre, le Frog Fund sera intégré tant dans l’indice Finles/AEX des hedge funds néerlandais que dans l’indice Hollandse hedge fund 25.Sur les huit premiers mois de l’année, les hedge funds néerlandais affichant les meilleures performances sont DQS Absolute Return Fund, Finles Liquid Macro Fund, World View Global Macro Fund, VOC capital Commodity Alpha Fund et Fonds Bloemendaal.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } It’s “a real trend,” according to the CEO of Novethic, Anne-Cathering Jusson-Traore, who on 28 September presented the second edition of the SRI Label, for management firms which this year confirmed their interest in the label for funds whose management systematically take into account environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria and which meet high standards for transparency. The management firms which received the label last year all used the label in at least one communication, saus Husson-Traore, who says the number of applicants increased 50% in 2010. The range of funds with SRI labels has also widened. It now includes 50 more funds from 32 management firms, compared with 25 in 2009. The 142 funds to receive the label represent EUR22.7bn, or 54% of assets in SRI funds on sale in France as of the end of June 2010. In terms of asset classes, there are 91 equities funds, 24 bond funds, 17 money market funds, and 10 diversified funds. Among the 182 funds for which an application was submitted are all the funds which received labels in 2009, except four funds which have since been closed. With more than 80 new applications, the interest of management firms in the label is clear. Many of them applied with more funds than in 2009, and Amundi, the management firm for the LCL and Crédit Agricole groups, which did not apply in 2009, has requested the label for all of its retail SRI funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) announced on 24 September that it has selected the management firm Smith, Graham & Co to assist it in the management of MBS (mortgage-backed securities) for the US Department of the Treasury. As an agent of the US Treasury, SSgA manages a portfolio of about USD180bn in MBS issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Smith, Graham will provide expertise in the areas of portfolio analysis and reporting.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to Expansión, cited by Funds People, Axa Investment Managers last week fired Iñigo Bilbao-Goyoaga, who had been its head for Spain and Portugal since 2002. The fund management firm, whose Spanish office employs four portfolio managers and has assets under management of EUR585m as of the end of August, has launched an internal and external search for candidates to replace Bilbao-Goyoaga. His successor will also be responsible for developing activities in Latin America. Since the beginning of the year, Axa IM has posted net subscriptions of EUR260m in Spain.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Spanish Allfunds Bank (Santander and Intesa Sanpaolo) on 21 September launched its Islamic Services Unit, a completely automatised B2B fund platform, which so far is the only one to be completely compliant with Sharia Islamic law, and certified by a fatwa signed by four members of the Sharia Board of Amanie Dubai. Allfunds Bank offers over 80 Sharia-compliant funds from 15 providers based in Luxembourg, Ireland, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Allfunds Bank is also extending its Islamic fund research services, to better assist its clients to select Islamic funds. This will involve the launch of a website dedicated to providing complete information about these funds.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The fund management firm Northern Trust has announced the migration of the hedge funds, funds of funds and independent offshore funds managed by Signina Capital AG, a Swiss independent management firm, to Luxembourg. Signina Capital has recently called in the fund management services of Northern Trust, in particular for its fund administration solutions and the Hedge Fund Monitor service, which allows clients to track and analyse their hedge fund investments in real time. “In the area of hedge funds, we see growing interest in the launch of UCITS and non-UCITS funds in jurisdictions such as Luxembourg and Ireland,” says Ian Headon, head of product development for the EMEA hedge fund and alternative fund of fund division fo Northern Trust.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } State Street Corporation on 28 September announced that it has extended its mandate with Lloyds Banking Group. The mandate now includes the provision of custody services, fund accounting, financial reporting, and clearing for three SICAVs containing 27 Luxembourg-domiciled funds. The funds are currently valued at nearly EUR2.4bn in assets. As a part of the extension of the mandate, ten Lloyds TSB employees will join State Street in November.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The Munich-based TMW Pramerica Property Investment GmbH on 28 September announced that the net asset value of shares in its open-ended real estate fund TMW Immobilien Fonds (whose redemption freeze has just been extended on 15 September) has been revised downward by 61 cents, to EUR50.48, a depreciation of 1.19%. The move was rendered necessary by a new expert opinion on the value of the Concord Terrace building, located in Sunrise, Florida. The property, previously valued at USD10.6m, is now listed on the books with a value of EUR0, as it has failed to attract tenants. The property was leased in 2006 to Nortel Networks, until March 2017. But since then, Nortel has gone bankrupt, and vacated the premises on 31 October 2009, at the hight of the real estate crisis in south Florida.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } On 28 September, iShares (BlackRock) admitted three new German-registered equities ETFs to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic platform, bringing the number of products listed in Frankfurt to 707. The first two, which charge fees of 0.59%, replicate the MSCI Australia (DE000A1C2Y78) and MSCI Canada (DE000A1C2Y86). The third, based on the MSCI South Africa (DE000A1C2Y94), carries a management commission of 0.74%.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Paris Europlace, which has sought to extend its governance structures to a new generation of actors on the financial markets, on 27 September held the first meeting of its new Management Committee, chaired by Vivien Levy-Garboua, advisor to the chairman of BNP Paribas. The Management Committee will become a central organ, alongside the newly-created colleges of Businesses and Investors. It has redefined its missions in light of the work accomplished in the past year, and has set a new strategic objective, as France prepares to take over presidency of the G20. The missions defined by the new Management Committee are focused on three areas: aligning the visions of market actors (investors, issuers, bankers, cities and regions, and regulators) around a shared project and a collective dynamic, federating and coordinating market projects, and being a presence in proposals to the Paris Europlace Orientation Council and the High Market Committee (HCP). “Our strategy for this renewed and youthful committee is to put the Paris market and the financial power of the Euro zone at the service of economic actors and collective platforms. It is a good sign that the major market actors, such as Banco Santander, Commerzbank, Eurazeo, Goldman Sachs, Saint Gobain, … have joined Paris Europlace, confirming the vitality and necessity of its collective action,” Levy-Garboua says in a statement dated 28 September. The new members of the Management Committee are:- Stéphane Austry, legal partner, CMS Francis Lefebvre- Frédéric Bedin, president, Croissance Plus- Dominique Cerruti, deputy CEO, Nyse Euronext- Fabrice Demarigny, partner, Mazars- Sylvain de Forges, deputy CEO, AG2R- Stéphane Pallez, deputy CFO, France Telecom- Gilles Saint-Marc, lawyer, Gide Loyrette Nouel- Hervé Schricke, vice president, Association Française des Investisseurs en Capital (Afic)

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } Facing a fall in total assets to USD21bn, from USD40bn in 2008 (and to USD17bn compared with USD35bn for hedge funds alone), D.E. Shaw & Co has decided to lay off 150 people, about 10% of its staff, the Wall Street Journal reports.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } CDC Climat, an affiliate of the Caisse des Dépôts dedicated to fighting climate change, has founded a management affiliate, CDCClimat Asset Management, Les Echos reports. The firm will manage a EUR60m mandate for its parent company, with the objective of preventing the emission of at least 7 million tons of CO2. The management team includes Guido Schmidt-Traub, who has been recruited for the position, a former partner at the Swiss law firm South Pole Carbon, and Marianne Paris, in charge of governance at publicly-traded companies in which CDC already holds stakes.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } “After 9 months of enforced holiday,” Christian Bito, former managing partner at Rothschild & Cie Gestion, has obtained a license from the AMF for his new management firm, CBT Gestion, which he is founding with Vladimir Danesi, former head of multi-management at Rothschild & Cie Gestion, and Jean-Luc Fargin, former treasurer of the Pasteur institute, who is administrative and financial head of the new firm. Due to the particular expertise of its founders, CBT Gestion will aim to provide traditional multi-management products, with adequate liquidity and diversification, with specific solutions in the area of portfolio risk profile control. The range will be aimed at CIFs (investment advisers), in the form of funds or mandates, and at financial institutions. “Our plans will initialls concern diversified management, wealth style, and Euro zone, PEA eligible equities portfolios,” says Bito, president and CEO of the new firm. Bito, who has developed a management technique based on risk levels (volatility), explains that the formula “allows for better adaptation of products to the expectations of investors. In particular, taking into account the expectations and behaviour of the markets gives high performance results on turbulent markets which need perhaps a few more years to stabilise.”

The asset management firm Ecofi Investments, an affiliate of the Crédit Coopératif group, has acquired a 58% stake in the capital of Financière de Champlain, a firm specialised in sustainable development, for an undisclosed amount. The shares were acquired from two “sleeping” partners, former employees of the small firm, who had been seeking to exit for some time already, each of whom represented 17% of capital, and a group of shareholders. Jean-François Descaves, president and founder of Champlain, has sold 17%, to allow Ecofi a majority stake. But he retains a 34% interest in the capital, alongside employees who control 8%, and will remain as chairman of the firm.The deal comes as Financière de Champlain has seen a decrease of EUR200m in its assets in one year, to EUR95m currently. However, Descaves refuses to call it a “bailout,” and insists that the firm has been profitable every year since 2004, and that it will be profitable in 2010. “We could very well have continued to survive as an independent,” he says. However, as Descaves admits, joining Ecofi will provide Financière de Champlain with the means to develop, and to reach new clients in the institutional investor category, which makes up most of Ecofi’s client base. The complementarity in terms of management is also another powerful argument for the operation.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } In a letter to subscribers, Threadneedle has announced that it has been granted permission by the FSA to propose to an extraordinary general shareholders’ meeting which will be held on 20 October at the Menzies Hotel Swindon, at 1:30 pm local time, that the management firm be authorised to use serivatives and futures transactions for its UK Accelerando fund, which will not alter the fund’s performance objective or investment policy, while better allowing it to hedge risks for a portfolio which will remain concentrated and focused on British equities. According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, the letter includes not only a request for permission to change the name to UK Extended Alpha Fund, but also a request for permission to end the limited issue status for the shares. Threadneedle’s proposals require a majority of at least 75% of votes cast.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } According to reports in Die Welt, the crisis which on Monday provoked the suspension of redemptions from the real estate fund of funds Premium Mangaement Immobilien-Anlagen (PMIA) from Allianz Global Investors was brought on by Commerzbank, which was exclusive distributor of the fund, and which on Thursday decided to lower its rating to “uninteresting.” In addition, the bank is recommending that its clients transfer their assets to two open-ended real estate funds from its affiliate Commerz Real, with a reduced front-end fee of 3% instead of 5%. In one day, the move triggered outflows of more than EUR520m from PMIA. In addition, the fund of funds was invested in two real estate funds from Commerz Real. Before the suspension of redemptions, the EUR216m investment in the hausInvest europa was successfully liquidated. But Commerz Real refused to reimburse more than EUR40m from the hausInvest global.

p { margin-bottom: 0.08in; } The asset management unit of the US bank Wells Fargo is now offering an equities fund dedicated to emerging markets, in the form of a Luxembourg Sicav, Investment Week reports. The Wells Capital Management (WCM) Emerging Markets Equity fund is a portfolio of 80 to 150 shares, managed by Jerry Zhang. It has a 13-year track record, and shows annual performance of 11% since 1997, compared with returns of 7.5% for the benchmark index, the MSCI Emerging Markets Free index. Zhang says that it is not too late to get involved in emerging markets, though they did surge 74% last year, according to data from Bloomberg. EFPR statistics show net inflows of USD45bn since the beginning of the year.