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26/06/2009

Role of FSA to be strengthened

The Financial Times reports that Alistair Darling is planning to unveil a new Banking Act this year, which will strengthen the role of the Financial Services Authority. The decision comes in the wake of criticism of the Bank of England for failing to react adequately to the banking crisis. The chancellor will assign the FSA a new mission of maintaining financial stability.
26/06/2009

Wealth management: crisis puts confidence of clients to the test

According to the World Wealth Report, published on 24 June by Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Capgemini, the confidence high net worth private investors show in the markets, regulatory authorities, financial institutions and the basic principles of portfolio management have been questioned by the global economic recession. Losses on the markets and a fall in the confidence level have led many high net worth private investors to diversify their investments to several institutions in order to limit risks. The report finds that more than 25% of millionaires partially or totally divested from their wealth management institutions in 2008. To win the loyalty of their clients more fully, advisors and wealth management firms will need to improve the quality of reporting on risk factors, increase the level of customer service, and reorient their communication to provide more transparency.
26/06/2009

Securities activities at major banks and brokers past low point

Securities activities at major international banks and brokers have already passed the low point in the current crisis, Standard & Poor’s estimates in a report published on 25 June (Global Banks’ and Brokers’ Securities-Related Businesses Appear To Be Past The Trough, But Improvement Will Be Gradual), which adds that, as its title indicates, a return to better times will be gradual. “We believe that fourth quarter 2008 probably marked the low point for trading activities of these banks, and that first quarter 2009 was the low point for their investment banking, asset management and wealth management activities,” says Scott Sprinzen, a credit analyst at Standard & Poor’s.
26/06/2009

Fund managers using Twitter

The latest trend on the securities markets is automated investment programs. The Telegraph reports, as relayed by Cinco Días, that Streambase has developed a system which chases for sensitive information via Twitter, since this social network is faster than the Reuters or Bloomberg news agencies.
26/06/2009

Danny Pang embezzled USD83m from his firm

The Wall Street Journal reported, citing a lawsuit, that Danny Pang is accused of having stole taken at least USD83m from his investment firm before it was seized in April by federal regulators, who accuse Pang of a vast international fraud. The potential losses for investors in Private Equity Management Group, Pang’s company, are estimated at between USD287m and USD654m.
26/06/2009

Stanford pleads not guilty

Sir Allen Stanford on Thursday pleaded not guilty to 21 charges against him, including those of organizing a USD7bn Ponzi scheme to defraud investors, and of bribing a Caribbean regulator to cooperate, the Financial Times reports. If found guilty, the Texan billionaire faces up to 250 years in prison.
26/06/2009

Delphi points finger at hedge funds

Delphi has accused a group of hedge funds of holding General Motors and the US government hostage by opposing a sale of the auto parts manufacturing activities of Platinum Equity, the Financial Times reports. Elliott Associates is held particularly responsible.
26/06/2009

Only 30 banks and savings banks may guarantee funds

Since the CNMV pointed out that institutions with a rating of less than A- (S&P and Fitch) or A3 (Moody’s) are not authorised to guarantee investment funds, the number of banks and savings banks registered in Spain (75 and 45, respectively) able to provide these guarantees has collapsed, Funds People reports. This trend is all the more significant as 56% of funds recently launched on the Spanish market are guaranteed funds. Currently, there are only 13 banks and 10 savings banks “eligible” to provide these guarantees, with a rating higher than the minimum required. Seven firms, of which four are savings banks and one is a cooperative bank, qualify with the minimum rating. In this latter category are well-known names such as Bankinter and Banco Pastor.
26/06/2009

Co-head of fixed income appointed at Investec

Money Marketing reports that Jeff Burch has joined Investec Asset Management as a credit hedge fund manager, to become co-head of the fixed income team, and to manage a global long/short fund. Burch was previously at Blue Mountain Capital.
26/06/2009

Frédéric Codet joins Galena Asset Management

Frédéric Codet has joined Galena Asset Management as a senior trader, and will become co-head of the Galena Energy Fund. Codet, who began his career at BNP, has more than 15 years of experience on capital markets, including 12 years of experience in commodities. Before joining Galena, he worked at Citigroup as Managing Director and head of European trading in oil, soft commodities and exotic commodities.
26/06/2009

Aberdeen AM France soon to have EUR4bn in assets under management

With its acquisition of part of the activities of Credit Suisse, Aberdeen Asset Management has enlarged its geographical spread to a large extent. This is particularly the case in France, where the British management firm had only a limited presence previously. Martin Gilbert, CEO of Aberdeen Asset Management, says the entry into the French market is a genuine reason to be satisfied. At the Fund Forum International in Monaco, Gilbert says that about EUR4bn will be transferred in France from Credit Suisse to Aberdeen, putting total assets under management for the British management firm at EUR103.9bn. He adds that Philippe Troesch will be appointed CEO of Aberdeen Asset Management France. The transaction will be completed on 1 July.
26/06/2009

Sale of Tocqueville Finance imminent

A closing for an acquisition of a majority stake in the capital of Tocqueville finance has recently been completed, and in mid-July, we will officially know the name of the buyer. According to information obtained by Newsmanagers, the short list includes five contenders who may be separated into two groups. One of these is larger establishments - including one Swiss group and one major network - while the other consists of three independent management firms. One of the firms which has submitted a bid is reportedly considered solid. The contenders are bidding for a majority stake in the capital of Tocqueville Finance, via an acquisition of the shares held by Jean-Philippe Thierry, who arrived at the management firm in mid-2007, and thus of a participation of about 34%. Another large portion of the firm’s capital is held by Marc Tournier, who, some rumours claim, has announced a date on which he will be leaving the firm. Sources familiar with the matter say that it is clear the contenders will benefit from a particularly attractive window of opportunity, with “price limits.” A sale will be undertaken on the basis of a valuation of the company at EUR45m in total. The future major shareholder in Tocqueville Finance will be in a position to benefit from the firm’s value-type management in its close connections with independent financial advisors.
25/06/2009

Management firms lost USD10trn in assets in 2008

According to the most recent survey from Cerulli Associates (Quantitative Update: Global Markets 2009), global assets in asset management had fallen as of the end of December to USD43.2trn, from USD53trn one year earlier. This level is nonetheless higher than the USD42.4trn under management at the end of 2005. Cerulli observes that the asset management sector took nearly three years to build up USD10trn in new assets, but it needed less than six months to lose this much volume. And it will probably need another five years to gain the volume back: projections predict a further decrease of USD600bn this year, followed by growth beginning in 2010 (USD44.4trn), up to a volume of USD56.5trn in 2013. This supposes an average annual growth rate of about 5.5%. Plummeting asset levels have dragged down revenues for asset management firms, which fell last year by 6.8% to USD155.7bn, but an even more devastating effect is to be expected due to the fact that investors are turning to products which are less risky and thus less costly than equities funds. FTfm reports that the percentage of assets invested in equities fell last year to 40.7% of total assets, from 52.9% the previous year.
25/06/2009

Asset management firms struggle to satisfy real demands of clients

In an article on the Fund Forum in Monaco and the new questions which asset management firms are said to be facing about their business models, Handelsblatt reports that Benjamin Phillips, a partner at Casey Quirk & Associates, predicts that the winning asset management firms in the future will be those that focus on retirement planning products and products aimed at high net worth clients. Amin Rajan, head of the research agency Create, says institutional investors are now seeking to invest in global equities portfolios, tracker funds and emerging markets products, commodities, and private equity. Retail investors, for their part, are primarily interested in protected-capital products and performance. These requirements overall are very far from what managers are offering.
25/06/2009

SEC considers tougher regulations for money market funds

La Tribune reports that the SEC, the US regulatory authority, is considering toughening the rules for money market funds. The regulator may forbid the purchase of illiquid assets and the imposition of a 5% limit on their exposure to cash and highly liquid assets. The average maturity date for debt in the portfolio may be reduced from 90 to 60 days. In addition, regular stress testing and monthly reporting may be instituted.
25/06/2009

SEC requires higher liquidity for money market funds

At the conclusion of a 60-day comment period, the SEC is planning to require money market funds to maintain higher levels of liquidity and to hold assets which are both highly liquid and of the best possible credit rating in order to ensure that they are able to reimburse investors rapidly, the Wall Street Journal reports. One of the points that worries professionals is a proposed rule that funds which sell shares to institutional investors need to have more available liquidity than those whose subscribers are retail investors: specialists say that it is very difficult to draw a clear distinction between the two classes of subscribers.
25/06/2009

New partner at Cheyne Capital

Cheyne Capital Management (UK) LLP has announced the appointment of Jorge Giampaoli as a partner and manager of the new fund Cheyne Equity Macro Fund. Giampaoli joins from Morgan Stanley, where he worked for eight years and served as head of trading as principal for European equities before joining Cheyne Capital.
25/06/2009

Altira forms partnerships with Hansainvest, Berenberg and DJE

The alternative management firm Altira Group has announced that in recent weeks, it has concluded a number of cooperation agreements with traditional open-ended management firms. Since 2 June, its affiliate VCH has been advising the SRI fund ÖkoSelect from Hansainvest (an affiliate of the insurer Signal-Iduna), a product specialised in renewable energy. Meanwhile, the Altira affiliate Patriarch Multi-Manager, which focuses on funds of funds for use as savings, has launched a new equities fund of funds, in partnership with the institutional management division of Berenberg Bank and the management firm DJE Kapital. The product is administered by DJE, and 10% of its assets are allocated to Berenberg Bank for active risk management. The risk is managed by Patriarch Multi-Manager, which is cooperating for the first time in the management of a product aimed at retail clients.
25/06/2009

Asset management firms to cut back on investment personnel

The asset management industry will be a site of increased polarisation in 2009, as the largest companies will lose weight, and the smaller firms will continue to decline. In its annual study of the British asset management industry, the independent consultant Hymans Robertson predicts that the trend of rising staff numbers observed in the past three years will be reversed, and a wave of layoffs will affect the front office. Hymans Robertson also says it remains bullish on active management, adding that many active managers have earned very good returns compared with last year.
25/06/2009

Risks of losses for a dozen banks

La Tribune reports that as the Saudi conglomerate Saad restructures its debt and the assets of its chairman, the billionaire Maan al-Sanea, have been frozen, a dozen banks which arranged USD6.3bn in syndicated loans to the group are at risk of losing their money. Among the banks are Citigroup, BNP Paribas, HSBC, Standard Chartered and JP Morgan.
25/06/2009

50% pay raises … at American banks!

After Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and UBS, Citigroup has become the next US bank to compensate for cuts in annual bonuses by increasing fixed salaries, La Tribune reports. According to the New York Times, cited by La Tribune, pay raises are as much as 50% in essential areas such as investment banking and trading. The goal is to prevent talent from leaving the bank. In Europe, moderation prevails in terms of pay scales, and talented personnel leaving their jobs is not a major issue.
25/06/2009

JP Morgan ranks as most solid bank

On the basis of its degree of capitalisation as measured by Tier 1 owners’ equity ratio, JP Morgan ranks as the most solid bank in the world, as rated by the Banker, and reported in La Tribune. JP Morgan is followed by Bank of America, Citigroup, RBS and HSBC.
25/06/2009

Institutionals are paying too much for management that relies too heavily on benchmarks

According to the first study of German data for the five-year period from May 2003-May 2008, for EUR50m in assets invested in 52 master funds and 430 sub-funds, German institutional investors are paying too much for management of their investments. The management firm Universal Investment and the Otto Beisheim School of Management determined that, although institutional investors prefer active management, managers provided them with portfolios with lower levels of risk, whose evolution was close to that of the Dax, EuroStoxx or Dow Jones indexes. Annual tracking error was 1.31, which is very low in international terms, and the trend has been steadily downward. Meanwhile, master funds in the period under review generated average returns of 6.58% per year, while the market indexes gained 6.87%. The authors of the study estimate that if institutionals had used ETFs or index-based mandates as the core of their portfolios, and genuinely active mandates as satellites, they could have saved as much as 25% of their management fees.
25/06/2009

TCI seeks to assuage investors

According to sources familiar with the matter, Christopher Hohn is now in takls with investors in the hedge fund The Children’s Investment Fund Management (TCI, USD8bn in assets), and is reportedly offering them more attractive terms, or to unfreeze some of their assets. He had managed to impose lock-ups of 3 or 5 years. Now, the fund may create a new class of shares with a lack-up of only 6 months and quarterly liquidity. Hohn is also considering charging performance commissions on the basis of performance over a period of several years, instead of on yearly performance. In the first five months of the year, the TCI fund lost 7%.
25/06/2009
Fonds

Feri : les particuliers connaissent peu le développement durable

Selon une enquête réalisée par Feri EuroRating Services auprès de 600 investisseurs professionnels, le concept de développement durable n’est pas compris de manière exhaustive par les particuliers. Si le développement durable gagne ses galons en tant que thème d’investissement, l’offre de produits est encore trop opaque pour les investisseurs, ce qui se traduit également par un déficit de comparabilité.De fait, la plupart des personnes interrogées relient en priorité le développement durable avec des thématiques comme les énergies renouvelables, la responsabilité sociale des entreprises ou la protection de l’environnement (dans 48 % des cas pour chacun de ces éléments), le respect des droits de l’homme et la lutte contre le changement climatique (28 %), voire le commerce équitable (21 %). Globalement, les aspects mis en exergue sont ceux qui ressortent du débat dans l’opinion publique sur le changement climatique et les énergies renouvables. Mais Tobias Schmidt, membre du directoire de Feri EuroRatings, cela est trop «court», parce que l’on ne saurait réduire les investissements durables aux critères écologiques, parce qu’il faut aussi prendre en compte les aspects sociaux et éthiques. Il reste beaucoup de travail d'éducation à faire dans ce domaine pour les promoteurs de fonds, qui doivent mieux différencier les produits de développement durable.
Fonds
25/06/2009
Fonds

Altira coopère Hansainvest, Berenberg et DJE

Le gestionnaire alternatif Altira Group annonce avoir conclu ces dernières semaines des accords de coopération avec des sociétés de gestion de fonds traditionnels offerts au public. Sa filiale VCH conseille depuis le 2 juin le fonds ISR SI ÖkoSelect de Hansainvest (filiale de l’assureur Signal-Iduna), un produit spécialiste des énergies renouvelables. D’autre part, la filiale Patriarch Mutli-Manager, qui se concentre sur les fonds de fonds destinés à la constitution d'épargne, vient de lancer avec la division de gestion institutionnelle de Berenberg Bank et la société de gestion DJE Kapital un nouveau fonds de fonds d’actions administré par DJE dont une poche de 10 % est confiée à Berengerg Bank pour la gestion active du risque. La gestion du risque est assumée par Patriarch Multi-Manager, qui coopère pour la première fois à la gestion d’un produit destiné aux particuliers.
Fonds
25/06/2009

JP Morgan en tête du palmarès des banques les plus solides du monde

Selon le site internet de L’Echo, JPMorgan trône désormais en tête du palmarès des banques les plus solides du monde. C’est ce qui ressort du nouveau classement du Top 1 000 World Banks établi par le magazine «The Banker». Pourtant, ce classement ne fait pas oublier que les profits des banques ont chuté de 85 % l’an dernier. Le secteur a engrangé 115 milliards de dollars contre 781 milliards en 2007. Le rendement de leurs fonds propres a plongé, tombant à 2,69 % en 2008 contre 20 % en 2007, selon l’estimation réalisée par le magazine. Royal Bank of Scotland prend la «pole position» d’un autre classement: celui des établissements ayant subi les plus lourdes pertes. Avec 59,3 milliards de dollars de pertes en 2008, RBS éclipse Citigroup, qui en a enregistré pour 53 milliards de dollars, et Wells Fargo, troisième avec 47,8 milliards.
25/06/2009

JP Morgan, la plus solide

En fonction de leur degré de capitalisation mesuré par le ratio Tier 1, JP Morgan arrive en tête du palmarès des banques les plus solides du monde établi par « The Banker » cité par la tribune. L’établissement arrive devant Bank of America, Citigroup, RBS et HSBC.
25/06/2009
Fonds

Les gestionnaires ont perdu 10 billions de dollars d'encours en 2008

Selon la dernière étude de Cerulli Associates (Quantitative Update: Global Markets 2009), l’encours mondial de la gestion d’actifs était tombé fin décembre à 43,2 billions de dollars contre 53 billions un an plus tôt. Ce niveau est néanmoins supérieur aux 42,4 billions de 2005. Cerulli constate que s’il a fallu près de trois ans au secteur de la gestion d’actifs pour amasser 10 billions de dollars d’actifs supplémentaires, il lui aura fallu moins de six mois pour perdre ce montant. Et il aura probablement besoin de cinq ans pour reconstituer ce montant : les projections portent sur une nouvelle baisse de 600 milliards de dollars cette année, suivie d’une progression à partir de 2010 (44,4 billions) pour atteindre 56,5 billions en 2013. Cela présuppose un taux moyen de croissance annuelle de l’ordre de 5,5 %.Le plongeon des encours a plombé les chiffres d’affaires des gestionnaires d’actifs, qui a diminué l’an dernier de 6,8 % à 155,7 milliards de dollars, mais il faut s’attendre à un effet plus dévastateur encore du fait que les investisseurs se tournent vers des produits moins risqués et donc moins chargés que les fonds d’actions. Selon FTfm, d’ailleurs, la part d’encours investie en actions a diminué l’an dernier à 40,7 % du total contre 52,9 % l’année précédente.
Fonds

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