The Canadian asset management firm Canoe Financial has signed a partnership with JP Morgan Asset Management (Canada) to launch two new mutual funds, Canow US Equity Income Class and Canoe Globaal Equity Income Class. JP Morgan Asset Management (Canada), a sub-adviser to the two funds, is assisted by JP Morgan Investment Management in New York.

On 22 November, the German asset management firm HSBC Global Asset Management (Deutschland) announced that it will begin offering the HSBC high yield funds HSBC GIF Global High Yield Bond and HSBC GIF Global Short Duration High Yield Bond Fund, which are managed in New York by Mary Bowers, who recently joined HSBC Global AM (see Newsmanagers of 9 October), from Artio Global Investors, an asset management firm which was acquired by Aberdeen AM from Julius Baer.The two funds invest primarily in non-investment grade securities denominated in US dollars, and investments in bonds denominated in other currencies are hedged for currency risks.CharacteristicsName: HSBC GIF Global High Yield BondISIN Code: LU0780251400 (A class, capitalisation)Management commission: 1.10%Name: HSBC GIF Global Short Duration High Yield Bond FundISIN code: LU0922809933 (A shares, capitalisation)Management commission: 1%

Data collected in the 2012 fiscal year show a gross total of assets under management by asset management firms of EUR2.867trn as of 31 December 2012, an increase of 4.3$% compared with 2011, according to the annual report on asset maangement for third parties for 2012 published on 22 November by the French financial regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). The distribution of assets under management between collective management and mandated management remains stable compared with last year. At 51%, collective management continues to represent the majority of assets under management.

Many new indices labelled at “smart beta” have appeared in the past few years in various asset classes and market segments. These are index-based strategies which differ from strategies founded on cap-weighted indices, which are most often used in index-based equity and bond management.But for iShares, the BlackRock company dedicated to ETFs, the name is “misleading.” It implies that strategies not founded on market capitalisations earn higher returns than those which are called “traditional” (and thus more widespread).“New sources of beta, including indices which are not weighted according to market capitalisation, are not necessarily better or more effective. They are simply different,” says Ursula Marchioni, iShares EMEA Investment Strategies and Insights at BlackRock, director, who on Friday presented its latest guide in Paris, the “art of index-based management.” For example, between 1996 and 2000, the equally-weighted S&P 500 index (each security has the same weight) outperformed the traditional S&P 500 index with dividends reinvested (cap-weighted). But between 2000 and 2003, the opposite is true, Marchioni shows.In order to better reflect reality, Benoit Sorel, director at iShares, thus proposes to call these indices “alternative beta.”At any rate, iShares is predictng growth in index-based management, both in terms of asset and available strategies. This trend will be driven by thee factors: increasing popularity with investors, extended product coverage and an increasing mixing of index-based vehicles. On this last point, Sorel deels that it will largely profit index-based funds, ETFs and segregated mandates, rather than derivative products, which are subject to stricter regulations.

UK-based RWC Funds on 8 November registered its Luxenbourg Sicav with the CNMV, including 10 funds (long/short and activist), Funds People reports. RWC had not been present on the Spanish market; its products will be sold through RBC Investor services.On the same day, Odey Investment registered the Irish Sicav Odey Investment Funds (which will be distributed by the Spanish affiliate of JP Morgan), while Wellington received a license for its Luxembourg global multi-asset class absolute return fund.Odey and Wellington had already received permission from the CNMV in May, both for Irish Sicavs.

La seule catégorie de fonds espagnols ayant subi une baisse d’encours sur les dix premiers mois de l’année a été celle des garantis, dont les actifs gérés ont baissé de 2,2 milliards d’euros ou de 4,4 % durant la période sous revue, selon Ahorro Croporación, rapporte Expansión.Pourtant, selon VDOS, c’est aussi la catégorie où il s’est créé le plus de fonds (53 sur un total de 169). Par l’encours, les fonds garantis représentent 48,7 milliards d’euros, soit 32,2 % du total de la gestion d’actifs espagnole, contre plus de 40 % en 2011 et 2012.Cette contraction tient au fait que les taux d’intérêt bas et le coût de la garantie ont réduit la rentabilité des fonds garantis auxquels les investisseurs préfèrent désormais les fonds à objectif de rendement.

In order to better co-ordinate its operation on the Old Continent, Morningstar has created the position of COO for Europe. The position will be occupied by Mark Roomans, who will also retain his position as CEO of Morningstar Switzerland and Morningstar Spain, Funds People reports.

James Day (ex UBS), Stephen Kiely (ex Citigroup) et Paul Cook (ex Solo Capital) ont été recrutés à Londres par BNY Mellon aux postes respoectivement de head of EMEA securities lending, head of EMEA securities lending sales & business development et head of EMEA secruted finance sales dans le pôle global collateral services (GCS).Les trois arrivants sont subordonnés à Jeannine Lehman, head of EMEA for GCS. Ces recrutements font partie d’une première vague d’embauches destinée à muscler le pôle GCS dans la région, en développant les activités de prêt de titres et de services de financement.

Rick Genoni, global head of ETF product management, has been promoted to principal, global head of index and ETF product management at Vangaurd, Mutual Fund Wire reports. Genoni joined the US asset management firm twelve years ago.

When interviewed by BlackRock in 2013, 88% of 1,414 US institutional clients of iShares ETF said that they use ETFs this year, compared with 70% in 2010.The most frequent uses were to implement tactical decisions (47%), core portfolio allocations (37%) risk management (34%) and rebalancing of the portfolio (32%), about 19% of respondents used ETFs for cash securitisation, while 19% use them for transitions. 11% say that they have never invested in ETFs.Daniel Gamba, head of iShares Americas Institutional Busienss, has emphasized that 42% of respondents are planning to extend the range of asset classes in which they would invest in ETFs. Institutional investors prefer US equity ETFs (78% compared with 70% in 2012), international equities (68% compared with 58%), US bonds (49% compared with 38%).For clients of this type, the two most frequently-cited advantages of ETFs are liquidity (79%), the low commissions (72%), diversification (44%) and transparency (42%).

Bloomberg reports that at a general shareholders’ meeting at Paulson & Co (USD19bn) on 20 November, John Paulson announced that he will not personally be investing more in his gold fund, the PFR Gold Fund, launched in early 2009, because he does not know clearly when inflation will accelerate.According to a source close to the case, the fund has lost 63% since the beginning of the year, while assets had fallen to USD370m (most of which is from Paulson himself), compared with USD1bn at the end of 2012.

Total net profits at asset management firms fell sharply in 2012, by 30%, due to a return to 2010 levels of financial results, the AMF has announced in its annual report on asset management for thrd parties in 2012. However, this decline should be qualified, insofar as an artificial increase in operating profits of 206%, of which 73% is due to a single asset management firm, which was registered in 2011. As in 2011, about 22% of asset management firms have posted negative results.

Sol Kumin, chief operating officer at SAC Capital Advisors, the hedge fund firm in the midst of legal turmoil, has decided to resign, the Wall Street Journal reports. Kumin will leave at the end of January, the founder, Steve A. Cohen, has announced to employees in an internal memo. Kumin is the highest-ranked executive to leave the firm since it signed an agreement with the US government over accusations of insider trading.

In order to confront the challenges of regulations and new client needs, Neuflize OBC has decided to rethink its product range as well as the organisation of its asset management activities. “Our new architecture includes a regrouping of our asset management affiliates, more precisely the merger and absorption of Neuflize Private Assets into Neuflize OBC Investissements, the rationalisation of our product range, and centralisation of management across the group. In terms of the merger operation, we have an AMF license and the approval of the corporate board, which will allow shareholders to approve the move by the end of the year. I can state that our multi-boutique organisation will preserve the diversity of management styles,” says Philippe Vaysettes, chairman of the board at Neuflize OBC.“Our objective is to have a more mobile tool with critial mass of nearly EUR32bn by the end of October 2013. Our assets may reach EUR40bn in the next two to three years. Meanwhile, in our new organisation, we would like to stabilise personnel at about 112 full-time employees, compared with slightly over 120 currently, which will involve the transfer of some staff to Banque Neuflize OBC. In other words, the expected reduction of 8 positions will not imply a social plan. Due to developments and synergies with the bank, the cost/income ratio for asset management is expected to com out to less than 63% by 2016, compared with 68.9% currently for the two merged entities,” he continues.Before getting there, Neuflize OBC will recenter its range of OPCs on 33 funds, removing 13 funds in order to privilege performance and critical size so as to strengthen the legibility and visibility of the product range, as well as to adapt it to clients, particularly institutionals.

The asset management firm Salient Partners, based in Houston, has recruited Ben Hunt as chief risk officer. Hunt previously worked as a portfolio manager for Tiedmann Investment Group. A recognised scholar, he is also the author of the weeky newsletter Epsilon Theory, aimed at asset managers. Hunt, who is expected to begin in the role on 1 December, will aim to identify and reduce risks related to portfolio investments at the firm. Assets uder management at Salient Partners total USD18.7bn.

The hedge fund manager Blue Rice Investment Management, based in Singapore, has decided to close its two available strategies, and to reimburse investors by the end of the year, Asian Investor reports. The two strategies concerned are the Asian Credit fund, launched in 2009, and the Brim Asian Short Duration Fund, launched in June this year, with cumulative assets under management of lesss than USD100m. The flagship Asian Credit Fund is said to have been flat since the beginning of this year, after earning returns of 8.5% in 2012. The recently-launched strategy, for its part, shows gains of 1.14% between June and the end of October.

Credit Suisse has recruited Jason Teung as managing director in charge of ultra-high net worth clients in the China and Hong Kong region. Yeung previously worked at Julius Bär, finews reports.

About one third of women working in the asset management sector have suffered sexual harassment, and more than half have regularly endured sexist comments, the Financial Times claims. According to the results of a survey carried out by FTfm of 340 people employed in asset management, 55% of women say they have been the object of “inappropriate” behaviour at the office.

Nordea Asset Management is in the process of setting up a new distribution platform for its UCITS products in Singapore, and is planning to sign a paternship with a consulting firm in Hong Kong or Singapore, Asian Investor reports. With this in mind, Nordea will recruit a senior sales specialist for the platform by the end of the year, and may recruit a second spiecialist in January, Philipps Graffart, head of fund distribution for Asia-Pacific at Nordea, says. Graffart has no immediate plans to sell products to retail clients, but does not rule out such a possibility in the future. Assets under management at Nordea Asset Management total about EUR150bn.

As of the end of September in Germany there were 9,116 open-ended funds, compared with 9,209 three months earlier, Lipper reports, relayed by Fondsprofessionell.However, subscriptions in third quarter have totalled nearly EUR2bn, and assets have increased to EUR695bn, which is near the record of EUR731bn set in 2007.Between July and September, Lipper count4ed a total of 129 liquidated and 76 mergers of funds, while there were only 46 launches.

On 20 November, KanAM Grund released the first German open-ended real estate fund created since the passage of the new KAGB law, and thus specifying a minimal invetment period of two years, as well as a one-year notice for redemptions, the Leading Cities Invest fund, for sale (see Newsmanagers of 24 September).The asset management firm has launched a cash call to last until the end of January 2014 for the acquisition of the first four properties for the fund, located in central districts of Berlin, London, Paris and Burssels.

Selon l’Elite Report du Handelsblatt relayé par finews, les quatres principales banques privées suisses ont accumulé depuis 2008 et 2009des pertes de 130,1 millions d’euros sur le marché allemand.Julius Baer a perdu ainsi 61,1 millions d’euros entre 2009 et 2012, pendant que J. Safra Sarasin perdait 12,9 millions depuis 2008, malgré des bénéfices de 3,1 millions en 2010 et de 0,5 million en 2011. Depuis 2009, la Banque cantonale de Saint-Gall a pour sa part perdu 24,7 millions d’euros, soit le même montant que Vontobel.UBS et Credit Suisse ne sont pas prises en compte, parce qu’elles exercent également des activités de banque d’investissement en Allemagne. Mais leurs pertes cumulées dépassent aussi les 100 millions d’euros.

The financial planning firm Distribution Technology and the index provider iNDEXX Markets are offering six new investable indices based on Distribution Technology risk profiles. The new indices, entitled Dynamic Planner Goldmans Sachs i-Select Total Return Strategy indices, are provided by iNDEXX Markets, and valued by Goldman Sachs The six indices are multi-asset class indices adapted to asset allcoations and risk profiles from Distribution Technology.

Saumil Parikh has quit managing the Global Multi-Asset fund from Pinco, whose assets under management total nearly USD3bn, Citywire reports.Parikh, based in London, had managed the fund since October 2012 with the co-CIO and CEO Mohamed El-Erian, Curtis Mewbourne and Vineer Bhansali. He will continue, however, to manage the Pimco CIS CommoditiesPlus Strategy.

Patrick McCullagh, who for the past five years had served as head of private equity and head of real estate for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at JP Morgan, will be leaving the firm. He will join the Luxemburg-based firm Alter Domus, where he has been appointed as global head of sales, a newly-created position.

Adam Patti, founder and CEO of IndexIQ, predicted to become the vice-chairman of the National Exchange-Traded Funds Assocation (NETFA), has announced that the launch of the new group has been postponed to an indefinite later day due to the fact that scarcely more than a smattering of providers have expressed an intention to join it, and that as a result, the association lacks adequate financing, Barron’s reports.The idea was to rival the Investment Company Institute (ICI), but the plans were aborted largely because the three heavyweights of the ETF Sector, BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, which account for 81% of assets in ETFs on sale in the United States, have decided to remain loyal to the ICI.

On 15 November, ALPS ETF Trust, an affiliate of ALPS Advisors, filed with the SEC for a license (form N-1A) for the Workplace Equality Fund, an ETF which will be listed on NYSE Arca, with the ticker EQLT, which will invest in equities in businesses that favour equal treatment for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transdengered (LGBT) people. The benchmark index has been developed by Denver Investment Advisors, and incudes 140 US and foreign shares.The ETF will charge fees of 0.75%.

Afin de mieux coordonner ses activités en Europe, Morningstar a créé le poste de COO pour le Vieux Continent. Le titulaire en sera Mark Roomans, qui conserve par ailleurs ses fonctions de CEO de Morningstar Suisse et Morningstar Espagne, rapporte Funds People.

James Day (ex-UBS), Stephen Kiely (ex-Citigroup) et Paul Cook (ex-Solo Capital) ont été recrutés à Londres par BNY Mellon aux postes respectivement de head of EMEA securities lending, head of EMEA securities lending sales & business development et head of EMEA secured finance sales dans le pôle global collateral services (GCS).Les trois arrivants sont subordonnés à Jeannine Lehman, head of EMEA for GCS. Ces recrutements font partie d’une première vague d’embauches destinée à muscler le pôle GCS dans la région, en développant les activités de prêts de titres et de services de financement.

Pour faire face aux défis de la réglementation et aux nouveaux besoins de sa clientèle, Neuflize OBC a décidé de repenser son offre de produits ainsi que l’organisation de son activité de gestion d’actifs. «Notre nouvelle architecture passe par le regroupement de nos filiales de gestion, plus précisément la fusion-absorption de Neuflize Private Assets par Neuflize OBC Investissements, la rationalisation de notre gamme et la centralisation de la distribution au niveau du groupe. Pour ce qui est de l’opération de rapprochement, nous avons l’agrément de l’AMF et l’avis du comité d’entreprise, ce qui devrait permettre aux actionnaires de donner leur feu vert avant la fin de l’année. Je tiens à préciser que notre organisation multi-boutiques préservera la diversité des styles de gestion. On retrouvera donc le style de gestion Neuflize Private Assets dans le nouvel ensemble», explique Philippe Vayssettes, président du directoire de Neuflize OBC."Notre objectif est de disposer d’un outil plus mobile disposant d’une masse critique de près de 32 milliards d’euros à fin octobre 2013. Nos encours pourraient atteindre la barre des 40 milliards d’euros dans les deux ou trois ans. Parallèlement, dans le cadre de notre nouvelle organisation, nous souhaitons stabiliser les effectifs autour de 112 emplois à temps plein contre un peu plus de 120 actuellement, ce qui va impliquer le transfert de certains collaborateurs vers la Banque Neuflize OBC. Autrement dit, la diminution nette envisagée de huit postes n’implique pas de plan social. Compte tenu de ces évolutions et des synergies avec la banque, le coefficient d’exploitation de la gestion d’actifs devrait tomber à moins de 63% à horizon 2016 contre 68,9% aujourd’hui pour les deux entités rapprochées», a-t-il poursuivi.Avant d’en arriver là, Neuflize OBC va recentrer sa gamme d’OPC sur 33 fonds, en supprimant au passage 13 fonds afin de privilégier la performance et la taille critique et de renforcer la lisibilité et la visibilité de son offre, mais également de l’adapter à sa clientèle, notamment institutionnelle. La refonte de la gamme va donc entraîner des opérations de fusion/absorption. Les premières opérations ont démarré au mois de septembre et s'étaleront jusqu’au premier semestre 2014.La nouvelle gamme se concentrera sur la gestion actions françaises et européennes, la gestion diversifiée avec non seulement la gestion performance absolue mais aussi la gestion flexible actions, la gestion taux et convertibles et enfin la gestion ISR avec la mise en place d’une gamme complète d’OPC (monétaire, diversifiée, actions). Les actifs sous gestion de la nouvelle gamme s’élèveront à plus de 30 milliards d’euros. Après les différentes opérations, les actifs devraient être répartis de la manière suivante: le pôle actions représentera 12,66% du total, le pôle diversifiés 45,82%, et le pôle taux et convertibles 34,8%. L’ensemble des encours des fonds ISR devraient pour leur part atteindre 1,4 milliard d’euros après la refonte de la gamme.Neuflize OBC espère bien que ce redéploiement va lui permettre de donner un nouvel élan à sa collecte. «Au 25 novembre, la collecte nette cumulée de Neuflize OBC Investissements et Neuflize Private Assets s'élève à plus de 3 milliards d’euros dont une grande partie réalisée auprès du réseau ABN Amro et nos objectifs de collecte pour 2014 sont ambitieux, près de 1 milliard d’euros (hors encours ABN Amro), tout particulièrement en ce qui concerne la clientèle institutionnelle (plus de 7 milliards d’encours) et les acteurs de la distribution externe», détaille Philippe Vayssettes. Ces nouvelles ambitions passent par un renforcement des équipes de distribution. Sous la responsabilité d’Olivier Maestracci, et avec le soutien d’André Masson, la direction de la distribution clientèle institutionnelle et partenariats sera composée au total de 12 collaborateurs et organisée en quatre pôles commerciaux : les solutions institutionnelles, la clientèle institutionnelle et les tiers distributeurs, les partenariats et les grands distributeurs européens.Le directoire de Neuflize OBC Investissements sera composé de quatre membres : Stéphane Corsaletti, Arnaud de Dumast, Olivia Giscard d’Estaing et Julien Mechler. Le directoire sera assisté de deux conseillers, Philippe de Fontenay et François Mouté.En attendant les premières retombées de la nouvelle organisation, Philippe Vayssettes estime que le bilan de l’année 2013 devrait être dans l’ensemble positif. «Notre taux de provision est très bas malgré la crise et nos résultats se tiennent plutôt bien. Le résultat net de NOI est honorable par rapport à notre budget et satisfaisant comparé à l’année précédente», indique Philippe Vayssettes qui ne semble pas près de lâcher les rênes de la société.