Selon Russell Investments, le taux de couverture des fonds de pension américains va reculer d’environ 10% en 2011. Autrement dit, estime Russell, de nombreux fonds de pension pourraient alors se trouver «en risque» («at risk») et seront alors contraints d’envisager des augmentations significatives des cotisations ou/et des révisions à la baisse des prestations.

Selon Russell Investments, le taux de couverture des fonds de pension américains va reculer d’environ 10% en 2011. Autrement dit, estime Russell, de nombreux fonds de pension pourraient alors se trouver «en risque» («at risk») et seront alors contraints d’envisager des augmentations singificatives des cotisations ou/et des révisions à la baisse des prestations.

D’après une étude de FundQuest portant sur 31.991 mutual funds américains avec plus de 7.000 milliards de dollars d’encours et sur la période janvier 1980-février 2010, les gestionnaires actifs surperforment dans plusieurs configurations de marchés et notamment durant 66 % des hausses, rapporte le Financial Times. Cette surperformance s’entend après ajustement pour le risque et après commissions. En revanche, la gestion active sous-performe dans 68 % des cas dans les marchés baissiers.

Mardi soir, JP Morgan a confirmé que Richard Berliand va prendre sa retraite au bout de 23 ans d’ancienneté et qu’il abandonne ses fonctions de global head of prime services. Il sera remplacé par Sandie O’Connor, global head of financing and market products. Elle aura pour mission en particulier de développer l’activité de courtier principal en Europe, au Moyen-Orient et en Asie tout en conservant la direction du «prime custody solutions group».

La Tribune reports that in a letter from the liquidators of the Luxinvest Sicav, which collapsed in the Madoff scandal, to all shareholders in the fund, the liquidators say it is possible that the recuperation rate for shareholders will be zero, at the most unfavourable extreme.

Invesco Asset Management announced on Tuesday, 29 June that it is simplifying its range of European equities funds, with the merger of the Invesco Actions Europe, a fund which invests in pan-European equities, and the Invesco Euro Equity, a Euro zone equities fund. The former fund will aborb the latter, and will assume a new name, Invesco Actions Euro. The new Sicav, which will invest in Euro zone equities, will not change management styles, says a statement from the management firm, and the two Sicavs are managed by Jeffrey Taylor, head of the active European equities management team. The merger takes place on 1 July 2010. Characteristics ISIN codes: FR0010145193 (A share class)/FR0010145201 (C share class)/ FR0010135871 (E share class)Maximal subscription fees: 4.5% Annual management fees: (A) 1.55%; (C) 0.95%; (E) 2.40%Minimal investment: (A) EUR1,500; (C) EUR250,000; (E) EUR500Benchmark index: MSCI EMU with net dividends reinvested

Aviva announced on Tuesday, 29 June that it has appointed Robert Lough as director of strategy and development at Aviva Europe, from 1 July 2010. Lough will also join the executive board, under the leadership of Andrea Moneta, chairman of Aviva EMEA. Lough will also be in charge of strategy, development, and teams dedicated to mergers and acquisitions within Aviva’s European activities, according to a statement from the firm, which adds that the firm has significant franchises in the region, with growth markets such as Poland, Turkey and Russia. Lough was previously at Pioneer Global Asset Management, the asset management activity of the UniCredit group, where he was CFO and head of strategy.

Goldman Sachs International (GSI), facing growing demand for hedge funds which provide independent custody of assets, has turned to BNY Mellon to provide sub-custodian services for prime broker clients of GSI.

The index provider FTSE has announced the launch of a line of carbon emission indexes, the FTSE CDP Carbon Strategy Index Series, established jointly by the Carbon Disclosure Project, which represents over 500 institutional investors worldwide, and ENDS Carbon, the provider of ratings and performance indices of carbon emissions. Initially, FTSE will offer two UK indices, the FTSE CDP Carbon Strategy All-Share Index, and the FTSE CDP Carbon Strategy 350 Index. “The two indexes were designed to respond to rising awareness of the potential impact of climate change on the profitability of investments,” the index provider says in a statement. On the basis of the FTSE All-Share Index, the Unilever group places top for carbon emissions, followed by BY Group, Morrison Supermarkets, and Rolls-Royce.

According to a study published on 29 June by Lipper FMI (“Zen and the Art of Mutual Fund Maintenance,”) management firms would do well to think twice before launching new products. In ten of the most popular sectors in 2009, only one fund on average attracts more than one third of net inflows. The study points to the “phenomenal success” of Carmignac Patrimoine, which has attracted 98% of net inflows to diversified funds. In other words, distributors are still, it seems, subject to strongly gregarious instincts, which should lead management firms to be more prudent about launches of new products. The study also finds that performance does not necessarily influence inflows. In the first year of existence for a fund, certainly, and then in 85% of the periods considered, funds in the top quartile saw the strongest net inflows. But this percentage falls to 75% if the track record covers three years, and to only 33% after five years. Another lesson of the Lipper FMI study is that competition has not necessarily favoured a fall in commissions, particularly as the asset management sector is a market which is mediated, either by independent financial advisers (IFAs) in the UK, private banks in Switzerland, or retail banks in Germany or Spain, while the vast majority of retail investors do not invest directly through management firms themselves. According to the Lipper data, management fees for retail share classes most recently totalled 1.58%, compared with 1.38% at the end of 1999. But for institutionals, management fees most recently totalled 0.85%, compared with 0.99% at the end of 1999. According to Ed Moisson, the author of the study, “the way in which funds are distributed in Europe has played an important role in the development of the commission levels practised for retail investors. The evolution of the active/passive product mix for fund ranges, the rise of UCITS III funds, and new opportunities with UCITS IV, all suggest a rising volume in the debate over management fees. But a seismic shock will be needed to change the asset manager/distributor dynamic.”

On Tuesday night, JP Morgan confirmed that Richard Berliand will be retiring after 23 years at the firm, and that he will be leaving his role as global head of prime services. He will be replaced by Sandie O’Connor, global head of financing and market products. She will particularly aim to develop prime brokerage activities in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, and will retain responsibility for the prime custody solutions group.

According to State Street Global markets, the global investor confidence index increased 1.3 points in June, to 89.7, compared with a corrected level of 88.4 in May. The year’s highest score so far was recorded in March, at 107.4. The confidence of institutional investors continued to fall in North America, where it is down 6.3 points, putting the regional index at 92.2. However, the regional indices for Europe and Asia are up, by 5.4 points to 97.7, and 1.7 points to 102.6, respectively. According to Harvard professor Ken Froot, one of the architects of the index, North American institutional investors remained nervous through the month of June, and their appetite for risk fell back to levels seen in spring 2009.

Charlemagne Capital has announced the launch of a dividend fund focused on emerging markets, the Magna Emerging Markets Dividend Fund. A few days ago, Charlemagne also launched the Magna Undervalued Assets Fund. The new UCITS III-format fund, domiciled in Ireland, will invest in 30 to 40 firms in emerging markets which pay high dividends and which are showing rapid growth in profits. The performance objective is 6%.

The British Conservative party on 29 June created a working group to consider the creation of a green investment bank, which would be the first of its type in the UK. The idea of a green investment bank was put forward in the public report released the same day by a government commission (the Green Investment Bank Commission), which finds that the investments necessary to confront climate change in the UK will total as much as GBP550bn by 2020. The report suggests that the bank could issue green bonds, which could be attractive to pension funds, which for several years have been reducing their equities allocations in favour of bonds.

The Investeam third party marketer (TPM) now intermediates EUR450m in assets for 61 distributor clients and 15 products from five management firms, Frédéric Smith and Didier Jug, partners at the French firm, have told Newsmanagers. Investeam is seeking to add to its product range, and is still missing an Asian or Japanese emerging markets fund, and/or an African and/or North African fund. The Canadian sister company intermediates about CAD400m, and Jug tells Newsmanagers that talks are underway to open offices in Spain, Germany, Singapore and Brazil. The most recent addition to the range is an equities fund of shares in gold producers, a Canadian product managed as a sub-fund of a Luxembourg Sicav, by Robert E. Cohen of Goodman & Company (Dundee Wealth group). The sub-fund, Dynamic Precious Metals Fund (LU0357130771), currently has only EUR32m in assets, as Dundee Wealth (CAD38.1bn in assets under management, and CAD25.2bn in assets under administration) has not seen fit to provide seed capital for a product which already works very well in Canada and the United States. The European product as of 31 May showed returns of 121.27% since 6 May 2008, while the S&P/TSX Global Gold Index in Euros gained only 43.24%. In the first five months of the year, the fund has earned returns of 33.24%, compared with 26.65% for the benchmark index.

Russell Investments reports that the coverage rates for US pension funds will fall by about 10% in 2011. In other words, says Russell, many pension funds may be “at risk,” and may therefore be required to make significant increases to contributions, and/or significantly lower benefits.

According to a FundQuest study of 31,991 US mutual funds with more than USD7trn in assets over the period from January 1980 to February 2010, active managers outperformed the markets in several market configurations, and particularly in 66% of rising markets, the Financial Times reports. This outperformance is counted after adjustment for risk and commissions. However, active management underperformed falling markets 68% of the time.

On 17 June, Santander Asset Management launched the Santander 100 por 100 7 fund (ES0174942005), a guaranteed fund which will mature on 2 February 2015, and which was registered by the CNMV on 24 June. The amount of the investment on 9 August 2010 will be reimbursed at its value on 9 August 2010, plus four quarterly reimbursements of at least EUR60 each, from 10 November 2010, and a final reimbursement of EUR28.48 on 30 January 2015, on an investment of EUR6,000, for example, which represents an overall rate of return of 2.4875%. Until 9 August 2010, the fund will invest 75% of its assets in public repos rated at least A by S&P, while the remainder will be placed in public repos or corporate bonds rated at least A. The average duration to maturity for assets in the portfolio will be under 3 months, and all issuers will belong to the EU. From 10 August, the portfolio will be composed of liquid government bonds, but will also be permitted to invest up to 20% in corporate bonds. Minimal subscription is set at one share, and management commission will be 0.3% until 9 August, then 0.9% thereafter. The depository banking commission is 0.1%

According to data provided by the Spanish Inverco association of management firms, the number of subscribers to funds distributed in Spain reached a record high of more than 8.8 million at the end of 2006. Since then, the crisis has brought this number down to a total of 5.6 million as of the end of May, a contraction of 31%, Funds People reports. However, the number of subscribers has risen 0.14% since the beginning of the year. In the past two years, the number of subscribers per fund has fallen to 2,249 in May 2010, compared with 3,270 at the end of 2005.

Invesco on 24 June registered its Luxembourg Sicav Invesco Funds II with the CNMV, including eleven sub-funds. The Sicav is the receptacle for Morgan Stanley retail funds.

As of 24 June, according to statistics by VDOS reported by Expansión, assets in Spanish funds totalled EUR156.296bn, 2.05%, or EUR3.267bn less than at the end of May. In another article, the newspaper notes that assets under management in funds have fallen by more than EUR100bn since July 2007. Net redemptions from 1 to 24 June are estimated to have totalled EUR3.4bn, which would be the heaviest outflow since the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. The two asset management firms most affected by the drop in assets this year are Santander and BBVA, which have seen respective net outflows since the beginning of the crisis of EUR34.26bn and EUR14.84bn. However, Invercaixa (La Caixa) has posted net subscriptions of EUR1.6bn in 2009, and EUR238m since the beginning of this year, particularly due to its most recent fund, Foncaixa Bienvenida, which captured more than EUR600m in June.

The six Spectrum funds from Skandia Investment Group (SIG) are now available to independent financial advisers using the Distribution Technology risk analysis tools. The funds were previously available only on the Skandia platform.

Fund Strategy reports that the board of the fund of hedge funds F&C Balanced Alpha has decided to withdraw the fund from trading on the Irish Stock Exchange. The fund will be officially removed from trading on 30 June. Another fund will also be removed from trading, the F&C UK Select investment trust.

Fitch Ratings a confirmé le 28 juin la note asset manager «M2» de DB Advisors. Cette note reflète l’expérience et l’historique de performance de DB Advisors dans la gestion d’actifs institutionnelle, son rôle central pour les activités de gestion d’actifs institutionnelle de la Deutsche Bank et sa forte position de marché en Allemagne.La rentabilité de DB Advisors demeure toutefois faible en raison de la priorité donnée à la gestion institutionnelle. D’où le défi pour la société d’améliorer ses résultats par le biais d’une concentration renouvellée sur la gestion fixed income et les services administratifs à faible marge.

Source a annoncé lundi 28 juin, le lancement d’un nouvel ETF, le S&P 500 VIX Futures Source ETF, un fonds indiciel européen de volatilité coté en Bourse répliquant l’indice S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Total Return (l’Indice). L’indice CBOE Volatility, ou “VIX”, est l’indice de mesure de la volatilité implicite le plus largement utilisé au niveau mondial, et est reconnu comme un baromètre de marché. Pour des questions de facilités d’investissement, le S&P 500 VIX Futures Source ETF est basé sur le S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Total Return (l’Indice), un indice qui réplique la performance des contrats à terme sur le VIX. «La performance de l’indice n’est pas exactement identique à celle de l’indice VIX, précise le communiqué de Source mais elle est historiquement très fortement corrélée à sa performance, et très fortement décorrélée de celle du S&P 500.Le nouvel S&P 500 VIX Futures Source ETF est conforme à la directive UCITS III, et coté en dollars sur le London Stock Exchange. CARACTERISTIQUES Nom du produit : S&P 500 VIX Futures Source ETFTicker Bloomberg VIXS LN Devise de cotation et de négociation USDFrais de gestion : 0,60% annuelPlace de cotation : London Stock ExchangeNom de l’indice de référence sous-jacent : S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures Total Return indexTicker indice sous-jacent SPVIXSTR Domiciliation Irlande

Le patron de Kneip n’a pas l’intention de s’arrêter en si bon chemin. Bob Kneip, dont la société vient de racheter la participation (43%) de 3i à son capital (NewsManagers du 25 juin), veut poursuivre son déploiement à l’international amorcé justement avec l’arrivée de 3i au capital il y a trois ans. Pendant cette période, Kneip s’est notamment installé à Paris et à Londres. Bob Kneip a d’ores et déjà deux autres projets en gestation déjà avancée : l’ouverture de deux antennes supplémentaires, l’une en Europe, en Allemagne, à Francfort ou à Munich, l’autre en Asie à Hong Kong. Pour l’Allemagne, il s’agit d’accompagner une clientèle qui compte déjà une bonne partie des grands noms de la gestion allemande. Pour l’Asie, «nous devons être sur place pour la distribution des fonds Ucits», a souligné récemment Bob Kneip, de passage à Paris.L’installation en Allemagne va renforcer le dispositif européen mais Kneip entend poursuivre dans cette voie avec de (peut-être deux) nouvelles acquisitions. Par la suite, la société pourrait s’implanter en Amérique latine mais il n’y pas d’urgence et Madrid et Lisbonne pourraient aussi servir de têtes de pont, remarque Bob Kneip. Mais le business plan d’origine reste le même. «Nous se servons que les sociétés de gestion», souligne Bob Kneip.

Funds Europe a établi sur la base des données de Lipper que seules 12 des 50 plus grandes sociétés de gestion européenne ont enregistré une hausse de leurs encours entre fin 2007 et fin 2009, le champion toutes catégories étant Carmignac, avec un bond en avant de 186 % à 31.196 millions d’euros. Crédit Mutuel et Pictet se sont aussi distingués avec des hausses respectives de 23 % et de 20 %. Parmi les groupes de grande taille, rapporte Funds People, JPMorgan Asset Management s’est distingué par une augmentation de 14 % (voir tableau), devant le numéro un par les actifs sous gestion,BlackRock (+ 11 %), lequel a détrôné BNP Paribas.

Putnam Investments vient d’annoncer un prolongement de cinq ans de l’accord de coopération avec Nissay Asset Management (NAM), la filiale spécialisée en gestion d’actifs de Nippon Life, le premier assureur vie du Japon. Selon les termes de l’accord signé en 1998 et qui est donc reconduit jusqu’en juin 2015, Putnam, qui maintient une participation de 10% au capital de NAM, continuera d’agir en tant que conseiller adjoint pour les fonds retail distribués par NAM et en tant que conseiller en investissement pour la clientèle des fonds de pension de NAM.

Un porte-parole de Sal. Oppenheim a annoncé que 100 des 250 emplois de la banque au Luxembourg vont être supprimés, même si 40 d’entre eux seront rapatriés en Allemagne, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Les salariés licenciés bénéficieront d’un plan social jusqu'à mars 2012. Luxembourg conservera l’administration de fonds et l’activité de banque dépositaire.

A compter du 1er juillet, la commission de gestion du compartiment luxembourgeois Pioneer PF Euro Protect (LU0271713207, 21,5 millions d’euros au 30 avril) sera diminuée à 0,30 % par an contre 1,10 %. Actuellement, ce fonds garanti au 29 mars 2013 est entièrement investi en obligations.