According to a source familiar with the matter, Legg Mason Inc will this Wednesday morning (13 February) announce that Joseph Sulllivan, interim CEO, has been confirmed in the position permanently, the Wall Street Journal reports. The announcement will end five months of searching by the asset management firm (USD654bn in assets as of the end of January, compared with USD1trn as of the beginning of 2008), and by the recruitment firm Korn/Ferry International.Before serving as interim CEO, Sullivan had been head of global distribution. He took over as head of the firm following the resignation of Mark Fetting on 1 October.

Investors in early February confirmed their confidence in the good outlooks for the global economy, while estimating that the current valuations of equities represent a supporting element following the recent rise of the market, according to the most recent survey, undertaken between 1 and 7 February by BofA Merrill Lynch, and covering 152 participants with cumulative assets under management of USD691bn. In the wake of the January figures, nearly 60% of investors are predicting the global economy to strengthen in the next 12 months. Expectations improve for profits, as 39% of respondents estimate that profits will increase in the next twelve months, compared with 29% in January. But 82% of respondents estimate that bonds are overvalued. Appetite for risk remains stable month on month, as investors overweight in cash declined from 8% in January to 2% in February, their lowest level since February 2011. “The persistence of a high level of optimism is a concern, and the markets may be vulnerable to bad news, but the support of valuations suggests that a possible correction would be brief and small in size, and our “large rotation” theme remains valid,” says Michael Hartnett, chief investment strategist at BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research. “Investors have found a balance between optimism about growth and prudence in their investment decisions. So far, investors have resisted the temptation to exuberanec,” says John Bilton, a specialist in European investment. Allocations to equities have remained at the high levels they reached in January, with 51% overweight in international equities. In the equity asset class, sectoral allocations are a sign of a slightly less desperate appetite for risk, as illustrated by a movement to defensive stocks. The percentage of investors overweight in pharmaceuticals was 27%, compared with 11% in January.

At a publication of its annual results, Société Générale has announced its commitment to the next phase of its Ambition SG 2015 plan. The organisation is now centred on three pillars of excellence, and the bank will see its structures and workflows simplified. In detail, with the objective of increasing is commercial and operational effectiveness, the bank has defined a first pillar which includes retail banking in France, which includes the current perimeter (Société Générale France Network, Crédit du Nord, Boursorama). A new pillar will be defined, which will include international retail banking and financial services. This will be created by merging the International Networks, Specialised Financial Services and Insurance units. Lastly, a third pillar will include finance and investment and private banking activities, asset management and investor services. This unit “will make it possible to develop commercial and operational efficiency, particularly in flox, with improed co-ordination of execution, settlement and custody activities, provided by SG CIB, Newedge and SGSS, respectively,” a statement says. The general management team is not modified, and will continue to be composed of the chairman and CEO, Frédéric Oudéa, and three deputy CEOs, Séverin Cabannes, Jean-François Sammarcelli and Bernardo Sanchez-Incera, working collegiately. The current perimeters of supervision for professions will also be retained, with Séverin Cabannes also responsible for overseeing the transformation of the group. For the management of new pillar projet plans, Didier Hauguel and Jean-Luc Parer will jointly assume responsibility for the new retail banking and international financial services unit which will be created. Didier Valet will be responsible for the new unit resulting from the merger of finance & investment banking with private banking, asset management and investor services. The name of the CFO of the group is now known. Philippe Heim will begin on 1 March. William Kadouch-Chassaing will suceed him as deputy CFO and director of strategy for the group. For his part, James Ripoll, director of asset management and investor services, has decided to continue his career outside the group, Société Générale has announced.

Société Générale, which released its annual results this Wednesday morning, has announced that it is combining its Corporate and Investment Banking and Private Banking, Global Investment Management and Services, as part of the second stage of the Ambition SG 2015 Plan. “This second stage consists in a project to simplify and refocus the organisational structure around the core businesses in order to increase revenue and cost synergies. This organisational structure would be based on three divisions,” a press statement says.Didier Valet will be in charge of the new division that will be the result of pooling the Corporate & Investment Banking and Private Banking, Global Investment Management Service activities. Jacques Ripoll, head of Global Investment Management and Services, has decided to pursue his career outside the Group. The two others divisions are : a French Retail Banking pillar, which covers the current scope (Societe Generale’s French Network, Crédit du Nord, Boursorama) and a new International Retail Banking and Financial Services pillar created by the combination of International Networks and Specialised Financial Services and Insurance, the aim of which is to improve synergies across countries and simplify the supervision. In 2012, the private banking, asset management and investor services unit saw its net contribution as a part of the group increase significantly, +21.6% compared with 2011 (not including the cost of the acquisition of TCW from Newedge), at EUR287m. Within the asset management profession, the contribution of Amundi, in which the bank controls a stake alongside Crédit Agricole, is EUR115m in 2012, compared with EUR98m in 2011. Assets under management at Lyxor, which is owned by the finance and investment banking unit, rose last year from EUR73.6bn to EUR75.4bn. For 2012 as a whole, net banking proceeds for Société Générale totalled EUR23.11bn, down 9.9% compared with published data, and 10.3% with constant data for last year, while its net profits fell 67%, to EUR774m.

The former head of alternative asset management in the financial institutions investment banking division of Barclays, Anthony Maniscalaco, is becoming managing director of the investment team at Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), alongside Greg Hall, senior managing director.The mission for the team is to acquire stakes in hedge fund management firms. Currently, BAAM has about USD45bn in discretionary assets under management in numerous business units.J. Tomilson Hill, vice chairman of Blackstone and chairman & CEO of BAAM, says that BAAM is planning to significantly increase its personnel this year. In 2012, the number of partners doubled, with six appointments.

On 12 February, AllianceBernstein, “the operating company,” announced a net profit for the twelve months to 31 December of USD188.9m, compared with a loss of USD174.8m, while AllianceBernstein Holding, “the publicly-traded company,” posted net profits of USD51.08m, compared with losses of USD93.27m.

AllianceBernstein, Franklin Templeton, Invesco and Legg Mason have all posted increases in assets in January 2013, totalling USD65bn overall.Franklin Templeton alone has seen an increase of USD28bn in one month, of which USD14.8bn went to equities, and USD8.8bn to bonds, for a total of USD809.8bn. Invesco, for its part, has posted an increase in its assets of USD24.9bn, to USD712.6bn, with USD14.6bn of this increase going to equity products.AUM at AllianceBernstein increased by USD7bn in January, to USD437bn, while at Legg Mason they totalled USD654.1bn as of 31 January, up 5.2bn since the end of December.

Assets under management at the Cantonal Bank of St-Gall as of the end of 2012 totalled CHF38.2bn, up 1.8% compared with the end of 2011, according to a statement released on 13 February. Positive market effects are the cause of this increase, as the bank saw a net outflow of CHF177m.

Assets under management at the Cantonal Bank of St-Gall as of the end of 2012 totalled CHF38.2bn, up 1.8% compared with the end of 2011, according to a statement released on 13 February. Positive market effects are the cause of this increase, as the bank saw a net outflow of CHF177m.

Currently, the Spanish asset management firm BBVA Asset Management is seeking a chief investment officer for Europe, to fill a position left vacant since the promotion of Eduardo García Hidalgo to global CIO last July, and a director of asset allocation. Funds People reports that the corresponding job announcements have been listed on the website eFinancial Careers.

Between December 2012 and January 2013, the number of job listings in financial services in London rose 76%, to 2,331 positions, according to Morgan McKinley. But this seasonal rise cannot conceal a less favourable trend for jobs in the City. Year on year, job listings in financial services have fallen 18%. These figures come as confirmation of predictions by the Centre for Economics and Business Research. Overall, the City is expected to lose 13,000 jobs in 2013, Funds Europe reports. Among the sectors which are continuing to recruit, compliance and IT departments will be active this year. These two types of profession will benefit from increased regulation, and a desire to combat financial crimes, which are driving businesses to acquire highly specialised leagal and IT teams.

Market Vectors ETF (Van Eck Global group), which has USD27.6bn in assets under management, on 12 February announced the launch of the Market Vectors BDC Income ETF, which the issuer says is the first ETF to be exposed exclusively to business development companies (BDCs), whose primary activity consists of lending capital or providing services to private companies or companies whose shares have low trading volume in the US.The acronym for the new fund, listed on NYSE Arca, is BIZD. The objective is to replicate the Market Vectors US Business Development Companies index, which covers firms whose capitalisation is over USD150m, for which the average trading volume is over USD1m, and monthly trades exceed 250,000 shares in the past six months.The TER is expected to be 0.40%.

iShares is planning to launch an actively-managed bond ETF, which would invest on government and corporate debt denominated in US dollars, IndexUniverse reports. The iShares Liquidity Income Fund would be similar to ETFs of the same type already available from Guggenheim, WisdomTree and FlexShares.

Deutsche Bank has taken the first steps to release a bond ETF dedicated to US long term municipal bonds, IndexUniverse reports. The db X-trackers Municipal Infrastructure Revenue Fund targets bonds issued by states, local municipalities and other issuers of tax-free bonds. The ETF will be particularly focused on bonds issues to finance infrastructure projects.

The financial ratings agency Standard & Poor’s on 12 February announced that it has decided to revise its long and short-term ratings for the alternative management group Man from BBB/A-2 to BBB-/A-3. The ratings continue to carry a negative outlook. The agency estimates that the mediocre performance of Man with a number of key products, as well as persistent, significant redemption flows to investors will continue to weigh on the profitability of Man. The agency finds that Man has not posted a single eyar of net inflows since 2008, as of 31 March. Outflows accelerated in third quarter 2012, at USD2.2bn, probably followed by further outflows in fourth quarter. Standard & Poor’s remarks that assets under management at Man are less and less lucrative, with low margins for long-only and funds of hedge funds, and a continuing slide of guaranteed products as a proportion of total assets under management.

The Wealth and Investment Management unit of the Barclays group has reported pre-tax net profits for the year 2012 of GBP315m, up 62% year on year. In fourth quarter alone, pre-tax profits rose 46% compared with the previous quarter, to GBP115m. Client assets increased 13%, to GBP186bn, largely due to an increase in net inflows from the High Net Worth (HNW) segment. Barclays says in a statement that 2012 was the third year of a five-year strategic programme which aims to make wealth management a unit of excellence for the group, which has been bringing highly satisfactory results.

L’Italie a placé mercredi 1,43 milliard d’euros de certificats de crédit du Trésor, échéance juin 2017, au taux de rendement de 2,55%, en hausse par rapport à celui de 2,17% d’une adjudication du même type à la mi-janvier. La demande pour ces titres à taux variable a représenté 1,39 fois l’offre, contre 2,77 un mois auparavant.

La société japonaise de services financiers Orix a annoncé mercredi être en négociations en vue du rachat du gérant d’actifs néerlandais Robeco auprès de Rabobank, à la suite d’une information parue dans la presse locale selon laquelle les deux sociétés devaient prochainement conclure un accord.

La banque centrale de Suède n’a pas modifié son principal taux directeur mercredi et a ajouté qu’il ne devrait plus bouger de toute l’année. Son taux de refinancement demeure donc à 1%, alors que la plupart des économistes interrogés par Reuters anticipaient une baisse.

Les magistrats estiment que les actionnaires devraient se prononcer sur l'enveloppe accordée aux preneurs des établissements financiers

Dans leur rapport annuel, les sages de la Cour des comptes jugent l'objectif de réduction du déficit à 3% du PIB pour 2013 hors de portée

Les indices ont repris leur souffle après la hausse continue depuis mi-novembre de 12%, ce qui permet d'envisager un rebond après la saison des résultats

Le rapport annuel de la Cour des comptes confirme que l’objectif de 3% de déficit en 2013, basé sur des recettes fiscales et une hypothèse de croissance très optimistes, est intenable. La dette devrait aussi dépasser les 90% du PIB et continuer à augmenter en 2013 et 2014.

Alors que le communiqué ne faisait pas mention du cas japonais, les déclarations ultérieures d'un haut responsable ont fait remonter le yen

Le quotidien cite un projet que dévoilera demain la Commission européenne prévoyant que la taxe Tobin européenne sur les transactions financières frappera bien les transactions dans l’ensemble de l’Union européenne. «Plus d’exception pour la City» avance le quotidien. «La faille se referme», précise-t-il, évoquant l’impossibilité d’échapper à la taxe en recourant pour le vendeur ou l’acheteur à un intermédiaire outre-Manche.

L’association bancaire japonaise va selon le quotidien, qui ne cite pas ses sources, renforcer les mesures destinées à empêcher toute manipulation du taux interbancaire Tibor (Tokyo interbank offered rate). Une instance indépendante pourrait être mise en place. Le nom des banquiers impliqués dans la procédure de détermination du taux sera formellement enregistré.

Le quotidien, qui cite des sources gouvernementales anonymes, assure que Tokyo entend promouvoir la vente de titres particulièrement de la part de sociétés nouvelles et en forte croissance. Le nombre d’actionnaires requis notamment ou la période de détention obligatoire des titres (lockup) actuellement de six mois pourraient être revus à la baisse.

Le quotidien évoque des commentaires à des investisseurs de la part du directeur général de l’opérateur, Phupinder Gill. Le dirigeant se dit ouvert à une opération «transformante» qui aurait un sens pour ses clients. Il ne voit pour l’heure pas d’avantages pour le CME à passer en des mains privées.

Si l'ancien vice-gouverneur de l'autorité nippone Toshiro Muto semble se détacher dans les pronostics, le président de la BAD installe sa crédibilité

Les présidents des douze banques régionales de la Réserve fédérale américaine ont soutenu le principe d’une supervision renforcée de certains fonds monétaires, indiquant qu’une alternative consisterait à remplacer la règle du «1 dollar», montant fixe qu’est assuré de remporter l’investisseur, par une valeur de marché. Cet appel a été lancé dans le cadre d’une lettre ouverte au Conseil de surveillance de la stabilité financière(FSOC).