BPCE Assurances a abattu ses cartes dans le dossier CNP Assurances. Lors d’un conseil d’administration qui s’est tenu hier chez le premier assureur-vie français, le groupe bancaire mutualiste a confirmé sa volonté de ne plus distribuer, à partir du 1er janvier 2016, au sein de son réseau des Caisses d’Epargne de nouveaux contrats produits par CNP, rapporte Les Echos.Un choix « longuement mûri », explique aux « Echos » François Pérol, le président du directoire de BPCE, qui dément toute posture tactique. « Il ne faut pas préempter l’issue de discussions qui ne font que commencer, tempère de son côté un administrateur de CNP. Nous avons tous, au sein du conseil, la volonté de montrer que, même s’il n’est pas question de renouveler le partenariat à l’identique, il reste un espace de jeu possible. ».Dans cette logique, les administrateurs ont créé un comité ad hoc qui sera chargé d'éclairer le conseil d’administration sur l’impact des différentes options qui pourraient être prises au fil des négociations à venir.
Oliver Bolitho, le président de Goldman Sachs Asset Management en Asie-Pacifique, va partir à la retraite à la fin de l’année après avoir passé 15 ans dans la société, selon une note interne lue par Financial News. Après sa démission, il deviendra un administrateur conseil.
MFS Investment Management est actif en Europe du Nord depuis plus de dix ans, rapporte Fondbranschen, qui a interrogé Per Künow, managing director et responsable pour les ventes institutionnelles de la région nordique. Les fonds Meridian Funds sont agréés à la vente dans les pays nordiques.
Cogefi Gestion vient de recruter Côme Simon de Tinguy au poste de chargé d’affaires distribution externe OPCVM. La nouvelle recrue, qui a pour objectif de renforcer le développement de la clientèle professionnelle, sera plus spécifiquement en charge de la commercialisation de la gamme des fonds auprès des banquiers privés, multigérants, familly offices et courtiers en ligne. Côme Simon de Tinguy était depuis 2008 responsable de la distribution auprès des sociétés de gestion de portefeuille chez Financière de Champlain.
M&G Investments a recruté début octobre Nicola Mutinelli dans son équipe italienne en tant que sales manager, rapporte Milano Finanza. Il travaillera sous la direction de Matteo Astolfi, directeur. Il travaillait précédemment chez Anima SGR en tant que relationship manager.Dans le même temps, Lorna Neri a été promue business development manager. Au 30 juin, M&G affichait en Italie un encours de 6,6 milliards d’euros.
UniCredit va lancer un fonds immobilier qui sera géré par Torre SGR, une société détenue à 62,5 % par Fortress et 37,5 % par Pioneer Investments, la société de gestion du groupe bancaire, rapporte Investment Europe. Le fonds a un capital de départ de 100 millions d’euros et investira principalement dans l’immobilier privé et dans les biens commerciaux et les biens de luxe à Milan et à Rome.
La société de gestion danoise Sparinvest, basée au Luxembourg, a lancé un compartiment de type SIF de sa Sicav qui sera investi dans des obligations d’Europe du Nord à haut rendement. Cette stratégie a déjà drainé 60 millions d’euros investis dans un mandat de la part d’un important client institutionnel international. Le nouveau SIF, appelé Nordic High Yield Value Bonds, permettra à d’autres investisseurs institutionnels susceptibles d’investir un minimum de 15 millions d’euros de profiter de cette expertise.L’univers d’investissement du fonds est le Danemark, la Finlande, la Norvège, la Suède et leurs territoires associés. Le fonds sera investi dans des instruments de dette et monétaires émis par des entreprises domiciliées en Europe du Nord ou dont le chiffre d’affaires provient principalement de cette région. Le portefeuille initial comprendra une cinquantaine de titres.
Le prestataire allemand de services financiers MLP (22 milliards d’euros d’encours) a annoncé le 6 novembre que, compte tenu du ralentissement de l’activité dans l’assurance retraite et l’assurance maladie, le bénéfice avant impôt et charges financières (EBIT) de 2013 sera inférieur à la prévision de 65 millions d’euros. Il était ressorti pour 2012 à 74,1 millions d’euros contre 17,3 millions en 2011.Le «corridor» de 65-78 millions d’euros pour l’EBIT en 2014 et 2015 n’est pas modifié.Pour janvier-septembre, l’EBIT est tombé à 12,3 millions d’euros contre 26,4 millions durant la période correspondante de 2012.
Le capital-investisseur américain achète pour 640 millions d’euros le pôle «water technologies» de Siemens, qui emploie 4.000 personnes dans le monde et réalise un chiffre d’affaires de 900 millions d’euros, rapporte la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Cette activité, faiblement bénéficiaire, était sur la liste des actifs à céder depuis un an. La prochaine vente pourrait concerner les appareils auditifs, qui font partie de la division santé.
Das Investment rapporte que Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) a commandé l’Aladdin Enterprise Investment System dans le cadre d’un contrat portant sur la modernisation de tout son appareil informatique pour le processus d’investissement, depuis l’analyse des valeurs jusqu'à l’exécution et au dénouement des ordres en passant par la gestion du portefeuile et du risque.
The high net worth specialist Wealth-X and the Swiss group UBS on 6 November published the first edition of its survey of billionaires worldwide, the “Wealth-X and UBS Billionaire Census 2013.” The global population of billoinaires this year (June 2013) reached a record 2,170 people, up by 0.5% compared with 2012 (July). The wealth of Asian billionaires has grown most sharply in 2013, with a leap of nearly 13% for a population which has grown by 3.7% compared with the previous year. At the current growth rates, Asia would overtake the United States in five years, the report finds. Another remarkable development is that since the 2009 financial crisis, there are 810 new billionaires. The wealth of the population of billionaires has more than doubled since the financial crisis, to USD6.5trn, compared with USD3.1trn in 2009. The cumulative wealth of the billionaires has grown 5.3% since 2012.] Europe has the largest number of billionaires (766), but the United States continues to lead in terms of cumulative wealth, with a total of USD2.158trn.
Credit Suisse is selling its DLJ Investment Partners (DLJIP) activity to Portfolio Advisors. The team at DJIP surrounding Igor DaCosta and Charles Harper will also transfer to the new owner, Credit Suisse said in a statement on 6 November. The operation is part of sale plans already announced, and is expected to be completed by the end of 2013. The financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed. Since its inception in 1995, DLJIP has executed 75 financing transactions for a total of USD3.6bn.
The Swiss alternative asset management firm Gottex will set up a joint venture with the Chinese asset management firm Vstone Asset Management, the news agency Reuters reports. Vstone will assist Gottex with its planned developments in China. “The objective is to strengthen the capacities of Gottex in China in order to provide investors with access to Chinese onshore markets through equities, bonds and private equity,” the co-founder of Gottex, Max Gottschalk, tells Reuters. As of the end of September, assets under management at Gottex totalled USD5.8bn.
After the “war of deposits”, here comes the “war of the funds:” Cotizalia reports that BBVA has launched a campaign for November and December in which it offers a 2% bonus for all sums up to EUR10000 transfer from rival funds to one of the 19 funds of the BBVA range. In exchange, the recepient of this bonus will be required to keep the sum transferred (which is unlimited) in the fund for 30 months.
Carmignac Gestion has reaffirmed its support for research into long-term investment and retirement saings with the presentation of a report by a working group at the Center for European Policy Studies (CEPS), for which it was the exclusive sponsor, “Saving for Retirement and Investing for Growth.” This publication comes at the end of a European legislative term which suggested at times that the problem would be handled, btu which has ended without any advancement on the subject. A vehicle was proposed (ELTIF) for institutional but not household investors. The reasons for delaying the introduction of a European product which would facilitate savings and long-term household investment are multiple. Household savings, which are abundant, have no vehicle to be invested in the long term, the chairman of CEPS, Karel Lanoo said in Paris on 6 November at a press conference. Households hold the largest proportion of European savings (43%), of which more than half is invested in savings, in an unfavourable context in which adversion to risk is increasing, probably partly due to the financial crisis, and in which national solutions are costly and perform poorly.
According to sources familiar with the matter cited by the Wall Street Journal, the Financial Stability Oversight Board (FSOB) has undertaken an analysis of the risks run by the asset management selector, and particularly the largest actors in this area, BlackRock and Fidelity Investments. The objective is to determine whether institutions of this type could be considered “systemically important”, but the Board is not close to have reached a verdict on this point.
Cogefi Gestion has recruited Côme Simon de Tinguy as representative for external distribution. The new recruit, who will aim to strengthen the development of the professional client base, will be more specifically resopnsible for sales of the fund range to private bankers, multi-managers, family offices and online brokers. De Tinguy had since 2008 been head of sales to portfolio management firms at Financière de Champlain.
BNY Mellon Asset Servicing has announced that it won a global custody mandate for USD6.5bn from the New Hampshire Retirement System (NHRS). The investor services unit at BNY Mellon will provide custody, accounting, currency, cash management and risk services.NHRS has about 85,000 members, and works for 475 employers, the State of New Hampshire, municipal governments, school districts, counties, etc.
M&G Investments in early October recruited Nicola Mutinelli for its Italian team as sales manager, Milano Finanza reports. He will report to Matteo Astolfi, director. He had previously worked at Anima SGR as relationship manager. At the same time, Lorna Neri has been promoted to business development manager. As of 30 June, M&G had assets in Italy of EUR6.6bn.
Choi Chong-suk, chairman and CEO of the Korean sovereign wealth fund, the Korea Investment Corporation (KIC), has resigned from his position for personal reasons, Asian Investor reports. The chief investment officer, Lee Donk-ik, will replace him for the interim. A replacement for Choi, who had been in office since July 2011, will be found by the end of the year, Asian Investor predicts. As of 31 March, the sovereign wealth fund had assets of USD61.6bn.
Fabrice Cuchet, a member of the executive board and head of alternative management at Dexia Asset Management, on 6 November announced that the asset management firm “has chosen a double UCITS/AIFM license for its asset management firms based in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, and will submit AIFM applications to this effect in the first few months of 2014.” The decision is being taken for practical reasons, since moving to AIFM now would require reporting from early next year, which would represent a disproportionate workload.For Dexia AM, there will be about 200 UCITS funds and 100 AIFM funds. Clearing partners will have to be selected by second half next year and existing ISDA contracts will have to be updated with 15 counterparties.The conclusion of the transaction by which New York Life acquires Dexia AM is expected to come by the end of the year, and the European asset management firm will change names.Cuchet also says that net subscriptions totalled about EUR300m for alternative management at Dexia AM since the beginning of the year, with acceleration once news of the sale got out. Inflows were primarily concentrated on long/short credit, global macro and CTA strategies. Alternative assets as of the end of October totalled about EUR4.5bn.
Natixis, which on Wednesday, 6 November unveiled its results for third quarter, has posted strong growth in revenues for core professions, up 10% compared with third quarter last year, to EUR.597bn. In the Spain unit, asset management has posted record net inflows of EUR11.2bn, driven mostly by the United States, and life insurance activities, which were dynamic.
The new large clients and investor solutions (GBIS) unit at the Société Générale group, which includes financing and investment banking and the private banking, asset management and investor services unit, has posted growth in its revenues of 7.2% in third quarter. Asstes under management at the private bank total EUR83.9bn as of the end of Sepember, due to net inflows of EUR0l8bn for the quarter, largely driven by France and Asia, a market effect of EUR0.7bn, and a currency effect of EUR0.1bn. However, the sale of activities in Japan on 1 October generated a perimeter effect of -EUR2.2bn. Investor Services activities have seen their assets under custody rise 7.7% to EUR3.609trn compared with the end of September 2012, and their assets under administration are up 11.6% in the same period, to EUR500bn. In finance and investment banking activities, “Lyxor has posted an incrase in its assets under management, thanks to significant inflows in the quarter as part of an extension of its product range.”
In the first nine months of 2013, Amundi has recorded net inflows of EUR1.1bn, according to financial results published this Thursday by its shareholder Crédit Agricole, which will soon increase its stake to 80% from 75% currently. The stake will be sold by Societe Generale for EUR337.5m. Over the first nine months, new inflows were pushed up by distributors, institutional and corporate customers (+7.5 billion euros), the international branch networks (+2.3 billion euros) and employee savings management (+0.9 billion euros)., the bank says in a statement. However, French networks have seen redemptions of EUR9.6bn. Amundi also notes that long term inflows total EUR5.7bn, indicating that net redemptions from money markets were high (EUR4.6bn).Including 100% of the joint ventures in Asia and Smith Breeden, recently acquired (impact: +4.7 billion euros), assets under management amounted to 759 billion euros at end-September 2013 (up 2.6% on end-December 2012). They benefited from a favourable market effect of +13.5 billion euros. Average assets under management were 756 billion euros, up 9% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2013. Amundi delivered a 1.3% increase in gross operating income in the first nine months of 2013 by comparison with 2012. Revenues rose by 1.8% year-on-year over the first nine months and by 0.5% over the third quarter of 2013, due to resilient commissions and fee income. Operating expenses increased by 1.4% year-on-year over the first nine months of 2013 excluding the impact of tax measures. The cost/income ratio stabilised at 55.3% at 30 September 2013. Amundi’s net income Group share came to 233 million euros for the first nine months of 2013, up 4.6% year-on- year, and to 73 million euros for the third quarter.
UniCredit will launch a real estate fund, which will be managed by Torre SGR, a firm which is 62.5% controlled by Fortress and 37.5% by Pioneer Investments, the asset management firm of the banking group, Investment Europe reports. The fund has initial capital of EUR100m, and will invest primarily in private real estate and commercial and luxury properties in Milan and Rome.
A few days after the announcement of the launch of the PowerShares China A Share Portfolio (ticker: CHNA, see Newsmanagers of 14 October) by Invesco PowerShres, two other providers, DeAWM and KraneShares, have launched their own ETFs of Chinese A-class shares listed in continental China, in Shanghai and Shenzhen, on the US market.Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM) with Harvest Global Investors is offering the db x-trackers Harvets CSI 300 China A Shares Fund (ASHR), listed on NYSE (see Newsmanagers of 5 November), which charges 1.08%, listed on NYSE Arca. The fund replciates the China Securities Index 300.On the same platform, KraneShares, in partnership with the Chinese Bosera Asset Management, has launched the KraneShares Bosera MSCI China A Share ETF (KBA), which replicates the MSCI China A index, and which charges 1.10%.
Lazard Asset Management has launched a strategy dedicated to emerging market equities, the Lazard Emerging Markets Core Equity Portfolio, which aims to earn returns with reduced volatility. The strategy comes in addition to the emerging market equity range, which includes relative value, relative growth, debt and multi-asset strategies. The portfolio is managed by Stephen Russell, Thomas Boyle and Paul Rogers, who have been working on emerging market strategies for more than 10 years. The team use a flexible approach, which allows for firms with different capital structures to be systematically evaluated. The portfolio is managed on the basis of an existing strategy launched in 2009. As of 30 September, assets under management at Lazard Asset Management and affiliated companies totalled USD176bn.
The Dutch regulator, the Autoriteit Financiële Markten (AFM), has awarded Double Diviend, an investment consulting firm based in Amsterdam, an extension on its license, which allows it to manage investments, Fonds Nieuws reports.Double Dividend offers a socially responsible investment portfolio in equities, bonds and alternative assets, either directly or via the best funds from external managers, with a maximal commission of 1%, including VAT.In April, the firm also launched a sustainable development equity fund, which has EUR8m in assets, the Double Dividend Equity Fund, managed by Ward Kastrop.
ING Investment Management has published stable assets for third quarter, at EUR176.1bn, compared with EUR176bn the previous quarter, but down by EUR3.8bn in one year, according to quarterly results for the ING group. Asset management in third quarter suffered net redemptions in Europe and Asia of EUR0.4bn in total. In detail, assets under retail management totalled EUR46.4bn, compared with EUR45.3bn in the previous quarter, and EUR43.2bn one year ago. Assets under management for institutional clients total EUR56.5bn, compared with EUR56.3bn in second quarter 2013, and EUR61.2bn one year ago.
Das Investment reports that Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management (DeAWM), has mandated Aladdin Enterprise Investment System under a contract to update its entire IT system for investment processes, from securities analysis through to execution and settlement, including portfolio and risk management.