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27/10/2009

Financial disclosure: Major British banks to apply new rules

The British financial sector regulator (FSA) announced on 26 October that the major British banks had agreed to follow new rules governing the publication of financial information, in order to respond to concerns in the international financial community. The new rules are set out in a document which remains open for consultation until 30 April 2010. The FSA is hoping to significantly improve the quality and comparability of financial information provided by banks and other lenders. The new code will be applied tot he 2009 annual results. If these disclosures of results do not meet expectations, the regulatory body reserves the right to replace the code which is under consultation with stricter rules.
27/10/2009

Strong subscriptions for emerging markets funds

According to EPFR Global, equities funds specialised in emerging markets as of the end of September had record net subscriptions of USD52.6bn since the beginning of the year, which is close to the record of USD54.3bn for 2007 as a whole. On the basis of weekly figures since the beginning of October (USD5.5bn), the 2007 record has probably already been beaten. And this more than makes up for net redemptions of USD49.5bn in the year 2008 as a whole. By comparison, US equities funds have seen net outflows of USD71bn in the first nine months of the year. Emerging markets bond funds, meanwhile, have seen USD3.2bn in net subscriptions in January-September, with weekly inflows of USD83m in second quarter, USD280m in third quarter, and USD780m in each of the first two weeks of October.
27/10/2009

Ahorro Corporación merges twelve funds at once

In a notice to the CNMV, Ahorro Corporación, the main management firm for the Spanish savings banks, has announced that it will absorb eleven bond funds, Ahorro Corporación Renta Fija Privada, AC Bonos Corporativos, Caja Badajoz Plazo 2, Fonvalor, AC Plazo Rentas 2, AC Rendimiento Garantizado, AC Cupón activo, AC Capital 4, AC Ibex Garantizado, Caja Supercupón and AC Eurostoxx Año I, into its AC Plazo Rentas fund. The merger of so many products in one fell swoop is unprecedented in Spain.
27/10/2009

Commerzbank launches 11 ComStage ETF funds based on iBoxx indexes

On Monday, Commerzbank announced that its range of ETF funds bearing the ComStage brand (51 funds) has grown by 11 products, as licences have been issued for bond ETFs replicating Markit iBoxx indexes. The ComStage product range, which now includes 62 funds, covers equities, bonds, commodities and money markets. The new ComStaeg products are available for trading on the Stuttgart and Frankfurt stock markets as well as the Xetra electronic platform from Deutsche Börse. The new products were launched on the 5, 7, and 8 October. They are: ComStage ETF iBoxx € Liquid Sovereigns Diversified 10-15 TR ComStage ETF iBoxx € Liquid Sovereigns Diversified 15+ TR ComStage ETF iBoxx € Liquid Sovereigns Diversified 25+ TR ComStage ETF iBoxx € Sovereigns Germany Capped 10+ TR ComStage ETF iBoxx € Sovereigns Germany Capped 5-10 TR ComStage ETF iBoxx € Sovereigns Germany Capped 1-5 TR ComStage ETF iBoxx € Liquid Sovereigns Diversified Overall TR ComStage ETF iBoxx € Liquid Sovereigns Diversified 1-3 TR ComStage ETF iBoxx € Liquid Sovereigns Diversified 3-5 TR ComStage ETF iBoxx € Liquid Sovereigns Diversified 5-7 TR ComStage ETF iBoxx € Liquid Sovereigns Diversified 7-10 TR
27/10/2009

Rothschild Private Banking & Trust recruits in Switzerland and London

AGEFI Switzerland reports that Rothschild Private Banking & Trust will continue to develop its activities in key markets, with the recruitment of five new partners, three of whom will be located in London and two in Switzerland. In Zurich, the two client advisors Joe Maersch and Jochen Vogler will leave Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank for Rothschild, which will allow Rothschild to further strengthen its presence in Switzerland. In the past twelve months, the number of client advisors in the Swiss team has risen from 12 to 16. In London, Penny Lovell, Rob Stewart and Hugo Capel-Cure will join Rothschild Private Banking & Trust. Lovell will become Client Director at Rothschild Private Banking & Trust. Stewart will become Head of Fixed Income, while Capel-Cure will become Senior Portfolio Manager.
27/10/2009

Share plc acquires 5% of Way Group

As part of a commercial agreement, Share plc, the parent company of The Share Centre Ltd. and Sharefunds Ltd., will acquire a 5% stake in the capital of Way Group Ltd., the holding company that owns Way Fund Managers Ltd., Way Investment Services Ltd., and Elite Administration Services Ltd., for three payments of GBP157,500, and thus a total of GBP472,500. Way Fund Managers will outsource the administration of its approximately 40 funds to Sharefunds.
27/10/2009

db x-trackers adjusts content of ETF funds

Das Investment reports that all ETF funds from db x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) are now invested in a uniform portfolio of about 1,000 equities, corresponding roughly to the MSCI World index, which covers 1,700 equities. Only two of these products, the fund based on the Dax and the one based on the MSCI World index itself, remain to be brought into line with this policy, which will be achieved in the next few weeks. The move will prevent future events similar to Morningstar’s observation in late 2007 that the portfolio of a db x-trackers ETF replicating the Dax was solely exposed to Japanese equities plus a swap.
27/10/2009

Irish fund administrator Apex Fund Services makes its debut in China

The Irish boutique specialised in fund administration Apex Fund Services has launched its first range of services in China, according to Asian Investor. The firm already has four fund administration mandates in China, and is hoping to increase that number to six in the near future. The firm, which has had offices in Shanghai since 2008, where it currently has four employees, is planning to open an office in Australia. Apex has been present in Asia since January 2008. Its Hong Kong and Singapore offices have eight and 16 employees, respectively, and administer 60 funds.
27/10/2009

Confidence of active investors at highest levels since March 2006

According to the most recent edition of a survey conducted in the UK by the Association of Investment Companies (AIC), the confidence of active investors has risen to its highest levels in three and a half years. The confidence of the general public is also recovering: though they remain more cautious, they have not been so positively disposed to the equities markets since 2004. 52% of active investors are planning to increase their exposure to the equities markets in the course of the next few months, compared with 33% in September 2008 and 33% in September 2007. Approximately 62% of active investors estimate that equities will perform better than real estate in the next twelve months. Appetite for risk is also on the rise, as 17% of active investors consider small firms to be attractive investment targets, twice as many as in February this year. Also, after six months of rallying equities markets, among the 9% of active investors who are reducing their exposure to equities, more than one quarter (27%) say they are taking their profits.
27/10/2009

New appointment at Aviva

Aviva plc has appointed Patrick Regan to the position of CFO. Regan, currently CEO and CFO of the global insurance group Willis Group Holdings (“Willis”), and president of the firm Willis Capital Markets & Advisory, which he recently founded, will begin in his new position in February 2010, and will at the same time become a member of the board of directors at the Aviva plc group.
27/10/2009

Barclays acquires Standard Life Bank

The British banking group Barclays announced on 26 October that it has acquired the banking activities of Standard Life for a total of GBP226m. With the acquisition, Barclays gains a savings portfolio of GBP5.5bn, and a mortgage portfolio of GBP8.8bn. Barclays UK Retail Banking and Standard Life have also signed an agreement to study potential areas of cooperation in long-term savings, with the development of a multi-channel simplified retirement product.
27/10/2009

New fund from EFG Asset Management France

EFG Asset Management France has launched EFG Optimum, a UCITS III-compliant FCP fund with daily liquidity reporting and an absolute returns approach, which will invest in UCITS III funds. To select the OPCVM funds the product will invest in, EFG AM France will employ the services of the investment advising firm Seeds Finance, before managing the fund with real-time asset allocation and trading. Characteristics: ISIN Code: FR0010804005 (A share class) and FR0010813329 (B class) Performance objective: Eonia +3% Number of strategies: about 10 (none to exceed 15% of the portfolio). Number of underlying funds: about 20 Front-end fee: Management fee: Value of one share: Minimal subscription:
27/10/2009

Rodrigo Amandi becomes managing director of SAM Indexes

The Spaniard Rodrigo Amandi, currently an equities research analyst and member of the SAM Sustainability Lab, was appointed on Monday as managing director and co-head of the Indexes and Sustainability Services division of SAM from 1 January 2010. He joined the firm in 2006 as an analyst specialised in chemical sector equities. His duties will include coordinating development activities with SAM’s partners in the area of indexes worldwide and defining strategy for the Indexes and Sustainability division.
27/10/2009

Herbert Smith publishes the first French-language guide to Islamic finance

The Paris office of the law firm Herbert Smith LLP Paris announced on 26 October that it is launching the first legal guide in French covering Islamic finance, which may be downloaded for free from its website, http://www.herbertsmith.com. “Jacques Bertran de Balanda, a partner in the Banking and Finance department of the law firm Herbert Smith, and Foued Bouabiat, his colleague, wanted to show the actors in this industry a concrete sign of their commitment to contribute to the integration of Islamic finance into the French legal system and to demonstrate the very numerous applications of this alternative source of finance,” Herbert Smith says in a statement.
27/10/2009

AUA: Hedge fund outbids Lufthansa

The German airline Lufthansa is offering to buy out minority shareholders who still hold 4 million shares in AUA Austrian Airlines for 50 Euro cents per share. The hedge fund Exchange Investors, however, has offered EUR1.50 per share, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports. It estimates that the Lufthansa offer is inexcusably low, as the takeover bid took place in early September at a price of EUR4.49 per share, and suggests that the low offer may be a sign of payment and liquidity problems at the German airline. Exchange Investors is clearly hoping to extract a more attractive price from the airline.
27/10/2009

Switzerland has nothing to gain from influx of hedge funds

Will Switzerland really profit from the current wave of immigrant hedge fund managers arriving from London? Nothing could be less certain, according to AGEFI Switzerland. Managers are moving to Switzerland for reasons largely related to taxes, as they say themselves. Their contribution to the common weal will likely be marginal, due to the limited effect they will be likely to have on unemployment rates, the fact that they will probably base themselves in areas where tax pressures are minimal, and their zeal to manipulate international tax regulations in order to minimise their tax burden. The reputation of professionals in the hedge fund industry is not good. What Switzerland has gained in terms of transparency at the price of an international political battle to gain recognition for its good practices may be put at risk by these new arrivals.
27/10/2009

Judge in Galleon case puts pressure on SEC

US District Judge Jed S. Rakoff, who is in charge of the insider trading case against the founder of the hedge fund Galleon, Raj Rajaratnam, and his suspected accomplices, is requiring the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to prepare for a civil suit which may begin in five months’ time, the Wall Street Journal reports. The unusual demand may require the SEC to produce evidence of the defendants’ guilt even before their criminal trial.
27/10/2009

Bank of America adds to Wealth Management team in Paris

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has announced the appointment of Nicolas Beyaert as a financial advisor in its French wealth management team. He joins Arthur de Mortemart and Jérôme Sack, who were also appointed as financial advisors in the Wealth Management team a few months ago. “The three new recruits will join the Paris offices of the group, and will report to Gilles Dard, Director of Merrill Lynch Wealth Management for Western Europe,” says a statement. Beyaert, an expert in wealth management for entrepreneurs, was previously a private banker at the Lombard Odier banking group, where he spent six years. De Mortemart, for his part, joined Merrill Lynch Wealth Management as a vice-president. He is specialised in advising families with large investment capacities, and previously worked at the Robeco group in Paris, where he was in charge of development for advised management. Sack previously spent 16 years at Merrill Lynch as director of capital markets in London and Paris.
27/10/2009

FRR: 12.8% net returns in nine months

The board of trustees of the French national pension fund, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR), announced on 26 October that the net performance of the fund from the beginning of 2009 until 30 September, on the basis of estimated and unaudited figures, comes out at 12.8%, with a decline of 6.5% in first quarter, but gains of 10.5% in second quarter and 9.5% in third quarter. In annualised terms, excluding financial operating and administrative costs, since its operational launch (June 2004), the performance of the fund is +2.6%. This performance is mostly the result of a strong rebound on the equities markets since the second half of March 2009. As a result of these developments, total assets in the FRR as of 30 September totalled EUR31.9bn (EUR27.7bn as of 31 December 2008). On this date, these assets were distributed with 49.5% in performance assets (equities, real estate and commodities), and 50.5% in bonds and money markets awaiting investment.
27/10/2009

Eduardo Mollo Cunha leaves Sparinvest

According to a statement from Sparinvest relayed by Fondsprofessionell, Eduardo Mollo Cunha has resigned from his position as head of institutional sales for the German-speaking countries due to differences over commercial policy at the Danish management firm.
27/10/2009

UBS recruits former Merrill Lynch head of wealth management

UBS announced on Tuesday morning that it has appointed Robert J. McCann as CEO of UBS Wealth Management Americas (WMA) and as a member of the UBS managing board. McCann, 51, will take over immediately as head of the group’s local wealth management activities in the United States and Canada, including all international activities on the books in the United States. He will direct nearly 800 financial advisors in more than 320 branch locations throughout the United States, Puerto Rico and Canada, who manage total assets of CHF695bn. McCann, who spent his entire previous career (26 years) at Merrill Lynch, was, at the time of his departure from that firm in January 2009, president of the global wealth management division and vice president of Merrill Lynch Co.
27/10/2009

CalPERS launches a new website to respond to reports in media

The California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) announced on 26 October that it has launched a new website, CalPERSREsponds.com, dedicated to training and informing its members, partners and collaborators about current issues, including the safety of pensions and reforms to the health system. “There is a lot of erroneous information and reports about CalPERS. We hope this site will help to separate fact from fiction,” said the director of external affairs at CalPERS, Patricia K. Macht.
27/10/2009

Ares Capital buys Allied Capital

Private equity investor Ares Capital Corp has announced plans to acquire its competitor Allied Capital Corp for USD648m in equities, the Wall Street Journal reports. Allied, a specialist in LBO operations, has suffered losses of more than USD1.6bn on its investments since the beginning of 2008. Allied’s owners have been offered 0.325 Ares shares for each Allied share, which values the shares at USD3.47 each, and represents a 27% premium over the closing share price on Friday.
27/10/2009

Outsourced management: asset volumes up 11% in first half

Les Echos reports that bfinance has estimated the total amount in outsourced management in France, meaning the total amount that management firms manage on behalf of French institutional investors, excluding captive life insurance assets, at EUR650bn as of the end of June. The consulting firm has based its estimates on declarations from management firms. On one year (June 2008-June 2009), outsourced management has stagnated, but it has risen 11% in first half. The top four management firms (BNP Paribas IP, Crédit Agricole AM, Natixis AM, and SG AM), account for 46% of the market. Amundi, the new firm born of the merger of Crédit Agricole AM and SG AM, manages about EUR130bn for French institutional investors. This makes it the top management firm, ahead of BNP IP (EUR98bn) and Natixis AM (EUR77.4bn).
27/10/2009

BankInvest unites global distribution activities in Luxembourg

From early 2010, the Danish management firm BankInvest will centralise its international distribution activities in Luxembourg, which will involve the closure of its Bavarian branch office in Straßlach/Kleindingharting, covering Germany, Switzerland and Austria, fondsprofessionell reports. The sales & relationship manager for the German office, Joachim Böttcher, will continue in his duties from Luxembourg.
27/10/2009

Macquarie acquires Blackmont Capital

The Australian investment bank Macquarie is scaling up its wealth management operations in North America. It will acquire Blackmont Capital, based in Canada, for USD87.2m.
27/10/2009

BlackRock launches an all-weather bond fund

With the Fixed Income Strategies sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav BlackRock Strategic funds (Bsf), BlackRock on 30 September launched an actively-managed “all-weather” bond fund aimed at Euro zone investors. The product (LU0438336264) is an absolute return, UCITS-III compliant version of the BGF Euro Short Duration Bond Fund and Bond Fund, with a rolling three-year cycle. These products are also managed by the same manager, Michael Krautzberger, co-head of the fixed income team. The new fund may invest flexibly throughout the world, in government bonds, investment-grade and non-investment grade bonds, ABS, MBS, linkers, and synthetic long and short positions. The portfolio will theoretically include a minimum of 30% government bonds, and a maximum of 70% corporate bonds. The proportion of ABS and MBS in the fund, investment grade or not, may not exceed 50%.
26/10/2009
Fonds

DWS Türkei change d'indice de référence

DWS a indiqué dans un avis financier que l’indice de référence utilisé pour le calcul de la commission de performance du gérant de fonds a été changé. Le nouvel indice de référence, à compter du 1er janvier 2010, est le MSCI Turkey 10/40. Les placements réalisés par le fonds en autres OPCVM ne génèrent plus de frais forfaitaires réduits. «Ces investissements ont pour effet de doubler les frais, notamment les frais de gestion», précise l’avis financier.A noter également que la gestion du fonds est transférée à la société DWS Investment GmbH Francfort.
Fonds
26/10/2009
Fonds

DWS Mandarin devient DWS Emerging Asia

DWS a indiqué dans un avis financier que le fonds commun de placement DWS Mandarin est renommé DWS Emerging Asia. En outre, les placements réalisés par le fonds en autres OPCVM ne génèrent plus de frais forfaitaires réduits. «Ces investissements ont désormais pour effet de doubler les frais, notamment les frais de gestion, car ils engendrent des coûts, non seulement au niveau du fonds, mais également au niveau des OPCVM dans lequel le fonds est investi», indique l’avis financier.Par ailleurs, le calcul de la valeur liquidative a lieu chaque jour ouvre de banque au Luxembourg, et non plus chaque jour ouvré de banque au Luxembourg et à Francfort.La gestion du FCP est transférée à la société DWS Investment GmbH à Francfort.
Fonds
26/10/2009

db x-trackers DBLCI –OY Balanced ETF : augmentation des coûts de réplication

db x-trackers a fait savoir dans un avis financier que son conseil d’administration avait décidé de modifier le prospectus de la société en relation avec le compartimeent db x-trackers DBLCI-OY Balanced ETF afin de refléter le fait que les coûts de réplication ou coûts de construction de l’indice FX Hedged Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index-Optimum Yield Balanced (rendement total après frais) seront augmentés pour atteindre 0,80% par an.La modification prend effet à compter du 23 novembre 2009.

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