Sovereign funds are turning away from active management in favour of passive management, according to a study by State Street Global Advisors, cited by Financial Times FM, which has surveyed ten European, Middle Eastern and Asian sovereign funds. In September 2009, the funds had 11 mandates for active management, compared with 15 in December 2008, while the number of passive management mandates increased from 14 to 16.

In the most recent edition of Investment Outlook, published on Monday, Bill Gross, the star manager of the Pimco Total Return Fund (USD200bn) predicts that returns and spreads on government bonds will gradually come into line with those of the markets they are seeking to prop up with their stimulus plans, the Wall Street Journal reports. This places a potential cap on the debt which can be issued as a way out of the debt crisis, and retail investors can no longer rely on an assumption that sovereign debt is airtight. Investors will therefore need to focus on those government bonds whose fundamentals involve lower levels of credit or inflation risk. Germany and Canada are at the top of this list, while the worst choices would include Greece, other comparable members of the Euro zone, and the United Kingdom.

The British private bank RBS Coutts, which last year lost about 70 employees in Singapore, is rebuilding its presence in the region with the transfers to Hong Kong of Nick Cringle, co-chief investment officer for the London firm, in the next few weeks. Asian Investor reports that RBS Coutts has also appointed Manfred Liechti as head for South-East Asia.

The Committee of European Securities Regulators (CESR) on 1 March announced that it has established a specific database on its website to meet the transparency requirements of the MIF directive for information on shares added to trading on regulated markets, which will be available to all market participants. With this in view, the CESR has announced that it will establish an amended protocol describing the cooperation agreements between CESR members, and the Committee secretariat to manage the calculation and publication of data which ensure the transparency of the market, as required by the MIF directive. The guide states that collection of market data also concerns the three largest trading platforms in terms of market share, which are BATS, Chi-X and Turquoise.

In 2009, UCITS funds saw inflows of EUR123bn, compared with outflows of EUR356bn in 2008, according to statistics from the European fund and asset management association (EFAMA). The association points out that this growth dynamic, which began in April 2009, has not lost momentum since that time. UCITS funds domiciled in Luxembourg and the United Kingdom represented 81% of these EUR123bn in inflows, with 54% and 27% of the market, respectively, far ahead of Germany, France and Sweden, which had 7% of the market each. Long-term UCITS funds (excluding money market funds) posted net inflows of EUR165bn for the year as a whole, due to positive inflows of EUR66bn to equities funds, EUR72bn to bond funds, and EUR44bn to diversified funds. The erosion of money market funds resulted in outflows of EUR43bn, following inflows of EUR64bn in 2008. Demand for non-UCITS funds was strong, however: dedicated funds for institutionals saw EUR48bn in inflows in 2009, while real estate funds saw inflows of EUR4bn.

Management firms are seeking to fill a gap in the lending market ignored by the banking sector and governments, Financial Times Fund Management reports. Many firms are seeking to raise capital for funds which would offer loans to businesses with an urgent need for credit, or provide financing for infrastructure development. FT FM cites the examples of Hastings Fund Management, Trafalgar Capital Advisors, and Aviva Investors.

With subscriptions of EUR20.8bn in fourth quarter, the Italian asset management sector finished 2009 with net inflows of over EUR35bn, Assogestioni, the Italian association of management professionals, reports. As of the end of 2009, assets under management by the sector overall totalled EUR950bn, of which 82% was managed by Italian firms. Open-ended funds finished the year with assets of EUR438bn, thanks to net subscriptions of EUR6.4bn. Assogestioni emphasizes that assets in foreign-registered funds outweighed those in Italian-registered products, with 52% of assets in the former, totalling EUR226bn, and 48% in the latter, at EUR212bn.

After a one-year contraction of 16.75% to USD15.9bn as of the end of 2008, assets in ETF funds which replicate China indices more than doubled last year to a total as of 31 December 2009 of USD32.3bn, in 53 products from 28 issuers, listed on 21 stock markets worldwide. Deborah Fuhr (BlackRock) says that the United States alone account for USD12.47bn, with 21 ETF funds, while Hong Kong represented assets of USD9.97bn in 12 ETF funds, and in China, the eight local ETFs had USD5.87bn in assets under management. Net subscriptions represented USD3.1bn last year for ETFs domiciled in the United States and Europe, in addition to which USD3.7bn in net inflows came into emerging market funds replicating indices such as the MSCI Emerging Markets index, in which the Chinese market represents 18.3% of the total. iShares is the largest asset management firm in the Chinese ETF segment, with 11 products and assets of USD18bn, which represents a market share of 55%. The second-largest management firm, far behind the leader, is China Asset Management, with only two funds and USD3.8bn in assets, or 11.7% of the market. These two actors between them thus account for two thirds of the market. Hang Seng Investment Management and E Fund Management are in third and fourth place, respectively, with assets of USD2.2bn and USD1.3bn, and respective market shares of 6.7% and 4.1%.

Anthony Bolton will personally invest GBP2.5m in the new Fidelity China Special Situations fund, Citywire reports. Fidelity International will put GBP15m in the fund. The group is hoping to raise a total of GBP650m.

On Monday, Citigroup announced that it has taken Sanjiv Sawhney back on board as global head of funds services in its securities & fund services division. Sawhney will report to Neeraj Sahai, global head of securities & fund services, and will be in charge of hedge fund, private equity and mutual fund administration worldwide. Sawhney was previously head of fund services at JP Morgan for Europe, and managing director and administrator of JPMorgan Bank Luxembourg. With 17 years of experience in securities services, Sawhney has already spent 15 years at Citigroup, where among other positions he was director of fund administration for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

John Holcombe, head of wealth management services for the external distribution division of T. Rowe Price, on 1 March joined JPMorgan Asset Management (JPMAM) in the newly-created position of senior relationship manager specialised in distribution to banks and trust departments, Mutual Fund Wire reports. Holcombe will report to Jed Laskowitz, head of distribution to broker-dealers, insurers, banks and registered investment advisers (RIAs).

Deutsche Bank announced on Monday that it has obtained an international Islamic banking license from the Bank Negara Malaysia, which will allow it to provide commercial banking and currency investment services to institutional clients throughout Asia. The agreement will allow Asian clients to have easier access to the German group’s global Islamic banking platform and to its Sharia-compliant products, says Raymond Yeoh, Chief Country Officer for Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad.

The British management firm JOHambro Capital Management (JOHCM) on 1 March announced the recruitment of two emerging markets specialists, Emery Brewerr and Ivo St Kovachev. The appointments come at a time when JOHCM is preparing to launch the JOHCM Global Emerging Markets Fund. Brewer, who previously managed the Driehaus Capital Management Emerging Markets Growth Fund, has 15 yeasr of experience in emerging markets. St Kavachev, who was co-manager of the Driehaus European Opportunities Fund, has more than 15 years of experience in the asset management industry.

Taxable profits from private banking activities at the HSBC group were down 21% last year to USD1.1bn. “Private banking clients, facing a period of great uncertainty, lost much of their appetite for risk in terms of investments as well as their demand for credit, which led to a reduction in revenues for us,” HSBC explains in a statement. Overall net inflows were down last year, but the group, which increased its presence in emerging markets, says that net inflows from emerging countries and from within the group totalled USD6.6bn. Assets under management increased 6% to USD460bn. Taxable profits for the HSBC group, for their part, were down by nearly 24% to USD7.1bn.

Investment Week reports that JP Morgan Asset Management is planning to launch a fund dedicated to Brazil, the JP Morgan Investment Trust, to take advantage of economic growth in the region. The fund will have a target volume of GBP50m, and its two managers, Sebastian Muparia and Luis Carillo, are planning to maintain 25 to 50 positions, selected with a bottom-up approach. The benchmark will be the MSCI Brazil 10/40.

Franklin Templeton Investments has announced that Aman Gupta has been appointed as an analyst for healthcare and its subsectors worldwide for Franklin Mutual Series, the group’s deep value affiliate. Gupta was previously at Evergreen investments, the management firm of the Wachovia group which was absorbed a month and a half ago into Wells Fargo Advantage Funds (see Newsmanagers of 15 January). Gupta will be based in Short Hills, New Jersey, at the headquarters of Mutual Series.

CalPERS is considering reducing the projected rate of return used by the giant pension fund to make investment decisions. Since 2003, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System has assumed that the value of its stocks, bonds and other holdings would increase by 7.75% a year. The board has been encouraged to shrink its projected rate of return to as low as 6%.

Kenneth E. Oliver, who has been president of the firm since 2006, will additionally become CEO of Dodge & Cox from 31 March 2010. On 31 March 2011 he will become chairman, replacing John A. Gunn, who is chairman and CEO of the firm until 31 March 2010, and who will become chairman emeritus one year later. Olivier will remain a member of the investment policy committee at the management firm. Dodge & Cox also states that Dana M. Emery and Charles F. Pohl, currently executive vice president and senior vice president, will become co-presidents of the firm from 31 March 2011. They will retain their respective positions as head of fixed income and CIO.

The New York-based provider of corporate governance and risk management products and services RiskMetrics Group has agreed to be acquired by MSCI for a total of USD1.55bn in cash and shares, equivalent to USD21.75 per share. The index provider will pay USD16.35 per RiskMetrics share in cash, plus 0.1802 of a MSCI share per share in RiskMetrics. The new entity will have annual revenues of USD750m, with 2,000 employees in 20 countries. The transaction will be completed in third quarter.

Stoxx Limited announced on Monday that it is dropping the “Dow Jones” prefix to the name of all its indices. The changes, which will take effect immediately, will affect European regional and thematic indices. The removal of the name reflects the new shareholder structure of Stoxx: Deutsche Börse and Six Group have acquired Stoxx Limited, which was previously owned by Dow Jones. The use of the Dow Jones name in the names of licensed financial products is authorised until the end of 2010. All Stoxx regional indices covering European markets will also now include the word “Europe” in their names.

The British financial market regulator, the FSA, on 1 March published its new policies for fines. The new framework is more consistent and transparent, and may potentially result in maximum fines three times higher than previously.The new matrix for calculating fines ties penalties more closely to revenues, up to 20% of earnings from the activity deemed to be improper in the period concerned, and up to 40% of remuneration (including bonuses) for employees. A minimum fine of GBP100,000 will be set for serious market abuse cases. The new regime, which has received far from unanimous support from the financial industry, will come into force on 6 March. According to the FSA, record fines were already levied in 2009, but the new approach will increase the dissuasive effect of fines.

Selon Les Echos, la chambre franco-britannique de compensation LCH.Clearnet a choisi un financier versé dans les risques systémiques pour diriger les travaux de son conseil d’administration, Jacques Aigrain, l’ancien directeur exécutif du réassureur helvète Swiss Re qui remplacera Chris Tupker, dont le départ était connu depuis plusieurs mois, à partir du 6 avril prochain.

En 2009, les fonds Ucits ont collecté 123 milliards d’euros, contre des sorties de 356 milliards d’euros enregistrées en 2008, selon les statistiques de l’Association européenne de la gestion d’actifs (Efama). L’association souligne que cette dynamique de croissance, initiée en avril 2009, ne s’est pas démentie depuis. Les fonds Ucits domiciliés au Luxembourg et au Royaume-Uni ont représenté 81% de ces 123 milliards de collecte, avec des parts de respectivement 54% et 27%, largement devant l’Allemagne, la France et la Suède, tous trois affichant une part de 7% chacun.Les fonds Ucits de long terme (hors fonds monétaires) ont enregistré une collecte nette de 165 milliards d’euros sur l’ensemble de l’année, grâce à des flux positifs de 66 milliards d’euros pour les fonds actions, de 72 milliards pour les fonds obligataires et de 44 milliards pour les fonds diversifiés.L’érosion des fonds monétaires s’est traduite par des sorties de 43 milliards d’euros après une collecte de 64 milliards en 2008. La demande de fonds non-Ucits a en revanche été forte : les fonds dédiés réservés aux institutionnels ont collecté 48 milliards d’euros en 2009, les fonds immobiliers 4 milliards d’euros. Au cours du seul quatrième trimestre, seize pays ont enregistré une collecte positive, notamment le Luxembourg (13,6 milliards d’euros) et le Royaume-Uni (7,4 milliards d’euros). En revanche, la France a subi une décollecte nette de 27,7 milliards d’euros, sous l’effet des sorties nettes des fonds monétaires pour près de 35 milliards d’euros.Sur l’ensemble de l’année 2009, l’encours des fonds d’investissement en Europe a enregistré une croissance de 15,6% à 7.039 milliards d’euros, les fonds Ucits représentant 75% du total. L’Efama souligne que le statut international des fonds Ucits a contribué à la forte progression des ventes en dehors de l’espace européen, notamment en Asie. Les donneurs d’ordres de la région Asie-Pacifique ont ainsi représenté 35% du total des volumes de commandes enregistrés l’an dernier au Luxembourg. Une progression de cinq points de pourcentage par rapport à l’année précédente.

Les sociétés de gestion cherchent à combler le vide laissé par le secteur bancaire et les gouvernements, rapporte Financial Times Fund Management. Ainsi, nombre d’entre elles essaient de lever des capitaux pour des fonds qui accorderaient des prêts à des entreprises ayant un besoin urgent de crédit ou qui fourniraient des financements pour le développement d’infrastructures. Le FT FM cite les exemples de Hastings Funds Management, Trafalgar Capital Advisors et Aviva Investors.

Depuis septembre 2009, Albert Biebuyck est en litige avec Petercam, rappelle L’Echo. Le fondateur d’Investor Protection Europe estime que la société de gestion n’a pas respecté toutes les règles en matière de gestion de portefeuille du fonds Moneta Euro Liquidity. Selon lui, les problèmes de ce dernier sont à l’origine des performances désastreuses des fonds Universalis, Quality et Higher Yield en 2008. Faute de trouver un accord à l’amiable avec la société, Albert Biebuyck s’est tourné vers le Comité de Surveillance des Services Financiers (CSSF), le régulateur luxembourgeois.

La Deutsche Bank a annoncé lundi avoir obtenu de Bank Negara Malaysia une licence bancaire islamique internationale, qui lui permet de fournir des services de banque commerciale et d’investissement en devises à des clients institutionnels dans toute l’Asie. Cet agrément, insiste Raymond Yeoh, Chief Country Officer for Deutsche Bank (Malaysia) Berhad, permet aux clients asiatiques d’accéder plus aisément à la plate-forme mondiale de banque islamique du groupe allemand et à ses produits conforme à la charia.

Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) vient de renforcer son équipe nordique avec les recrutements de Mårten Bäck et de Philip Mikkelsen. La société de gestion peut désormais compter sur six personnes pour couvrir les pays nordiques.Basé à Stockholm, Mårten Bäck était précédemment responsable de la recherche des gérants pour SEB Wealth Management. Il sera chargé, chez GSAM, de bâtir des relations avec les principaux distributeurs d’Europe du Nord. Philip Mikkelsen vient de Danske Bank où il était responsable des institutions nordiques, un rôle qu’il occupera désormais chez GSAM. Sheila Patel, co-responsable de GSAM pour l’Europe, indique dans un communiqué que les pays nordiques sont prioritaires pour la société de gestion. Ces recrutements semblent s’inscrivent dans une stratégie d’expansion en Europe, si l’on en croit un article de Financial News Online du 1er mars, qui indique que GSAM a plus que doublé la taille de son équipe de distribution en Europe ces six derniers mois, à 70 collaborateurs. En France, des recrutements sont également prévus.

Avec des souscriptions de 20,8 milliards d’euros au quatrième trimestre, le secteur italien de la gestion d’actifs a terminé 2009 sur une collecte nette de plus de 35 milliards d’euros, rapporte Assogestioni, l’association italienne des professionnels de la gestion. A fin 2009, les encours sous gestion de l’ensemble du secteur atteignent 950 milliards d’euros, dont 82 % gérés par des groupes italiens. Les fonds ouverts finissent l’année avec un encours de 438 milliards d’euros, grâce à des entrées nettes de 6,4 milliards. Assogestioni souligne à cet égard que les encours des fonds de droit étranger sont désormais supérieurs à ceux de droit italien : 52 % pour les premiers avec 226 milliards d’euros et 48 % pour les seconds avec 212 milliards.

La banque privée britannique RBS Coutts, qui a perdu l’an dernier quelque 70 collaborateurs à Singapour, reconstitue ses forces dans la région avec le déménagement à Hong Kong de Nick Cringle, co-chief investment officer de l’entité londonienne, dans les prochaines semaines.Selon Asian Investor, RBS Coutts a également nommé Manfred Liechti en tant que responsable de l’Asie du Sud-Est.

L’ancien gérant de hedge fund Paul Absalom vient de rejoindre Standard Chartered, selon Asian Investor, pour occuper le poste nouvellement créé de responsable de la distribution à Singapour. Il sera directerment rattaché à Adrian Walkling, responsable international de la distribution auprès des institutions financières.Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, Paul Absalom sera responsable des grands comptes dans la zone asiatique et de la clientèle servie à partir de Singapour.Paul Absalom a travaillé auparavant pour HSBC à Hong Kong en tant que responsable des ventes auprès des hedge funds et des Banques centrales.