Why are savings in financial assets on the decline? According to a survey undertaken by the European asset management association (EFAMA) of its members, two-thirds (65%) of industry participants thought that in current market dynamics lack of trust, market risk and poor performance were the most relevant factors behind the trend.The majority of the industry believes that better communication (81%), better advice (75%) and better understanding of investor needs (74%) is required at a distribution level to strengthen trust over market risk, highlighting the importance of investor education.91% of respondents believe that retail investors still need to become aware of the benefits of long-term savings, most importantly of the fact that long-term savings tend to generate higher returns than short-term savings. More than three-quarters (77%) of industry experts polled said the most relevant reason for this is because long-term savings provide access to equity risk premium and liquidity premium.The majority (72%) of members surveyed believe the most relevant way for the asset management industry to raise awareness of the importance of long-term savings is through convincing authorities at EU and national level to encourage long-term /retirement savings. The European industry also supported (58%) the idea of launching a common information initiative on long-term savings benefits to help raise awareness.Finally, the poll looked at factors that would encourage asset managers to develop funds specifically targeting long-term savings, 82% of respondents felt the most relevant factor would be to create greater incentives for retirement savings, followed by greater household demand for long-term savings products (65%) and 54% felt that a common EU framework dedicated to long-term investments for retail investors is needed.

The German government on 26 September has passed a bill to regulate high-frequency market transactions or high-frequency trading, to seek to control risks of “extreme and irrational price fluctuations” related to this technology.The practice concerns about 40% of financial transactions within the European Union, and more than half of market trades in the United States. In particular, it was responsible for the Wall Street “flash crash” of 6 May 2010, caused by runaway computer systems.According to the German finance ministry, high-frequency trading has caused a steep increase in the risk of “extreme and irrational price fluctuations, system overloads, and potential for market abuses.” The measures passed on Wednesday aim to instil “more transparency, security and supervision,” which will make “the financial system more resistant to crises,” a statement from the minister says.The bill requires a license for traders who practice high-frequency trading. These traders will also be required to configure their systems in such a way as to avoid chain reactions on the market, which could lead to extreme scenarios.The German government also plans to impose a tax on those who make excessive use of the practice, and to increase the rights to information and intervention of the German financial market regulator, BaFin.The bill will be presented to Parliament by the end of the year, to be passed by February 2013 at the latest. It would come into effect in mid-2013.

On 21 September, the CNMV issued a sales licenses for the BBVA Bonos Patrimonio II, a guaranteed fund maturing on 22 July 2016 which aims for returns of 3.25% per year for shares subscribed to before 22 November 2012 at the latest. The portfolio will be invested in middle-quality bonds (BBB- rating) and in Spanish government bonds or guaranteed by the Spanish government, regardless of rating.CharacteristicsName: BBVA Bonos Patrimonio II, FIISIN code: ES0130357009Minimal subscription: EUR30,000Front-end fee: 5% from 23 November, or when assets reach EUR20mEarly withdrawal penalty: 0.03% until 22 November0.95% after 22 NovemberDepository banking commission: 0.02% until 22 November0.05% after 22 November

Renaissance AM has obtained sales licenses for five of its funds in Switzerland, following the opening of an office in Zurich in February, Investment Europe reports. The Russian firm already has several family offices as clients, but it is now targeting private banks. The funds registered are the following: • Renaissance Russian Debt Fund• Renaissance Russian Equity Allocation Fund• Renaissance Sub-Saharan Fund• Renaissance Cautious Managed Fund• Renaissance Frontier Markets Fund

The top heads of the largest Swiss publicly-traded companies have seen a decline in their pay scales of nearly one quarter in five years. From CHF9.3m, the average pay for the directors of 20 companies of the SMI index fell to CHF7.3m in 2011, according to a PwC survey.The median salary for SMI businesses, for its part, fell by slightly over 25%. Between 2007, the date of the first report, and 2011, the median level has fallen from CHF7.7m to CHF5.8m.Among the 30 businesses of the SMIM midcap index (not included in the SMI), the average pay has fallen 23% since 2007, from CHF3.8m to CHF2.9m last year. The median value has lost 13% to CHF2.4m.The study states that between 2010 and 2011, the average pay package for directors of SMI companies has nonetheless remained stable, The median, however, fell 22%. The best-paid directors earned only 7% more, while the most modest salaries fell a further 5%.

The Luxembourg financial sector surveillance commission (CSSF) on 26 September issued a warning over the activities of an entity entitled Worldwide Investors Portfolio (a clone of an existing company), which claims to be based at 4, rue Jean Monnet, L-2180 Luxembourg (website http://www.worldwideinvestmentsportfolio.com/). According to information in the possession of the CSSF, the entity offers investment and investment advising services to persons contacted.“The CSSF Informs the public that Worldwide Investors Portfolio does not have the necessary license to provide financial services in or from Luxembourg,” a statement says.

The French asset management boutique Amilton Asset Management, which has recently acquired the multi-management group Swan Capital, is planning to launch three funds, the head of Amilton, Marc Favard, has told Citywire Global. These may include a growth fund, two flexible funds, an international equity fund and an international bond fund, which would be additions to the Amilton small caps fund. Assets under management at Amilton currently total EUR400m.

BNP Paribas Securities Services has launched a tool for pension funds to allow them to monitor market risks for their entire portfolio. Calculating the market risks for each holding in a portfolio, the tool determines market risk more exactly on the basis of external sources which are necessarily diverse, BNP Paribas SS explains in a statement.

Lazard Frères Gestion is launching Objectif Oblisphère Emergente 2018, a horizon FCP fund which will invest primarily in corporate debt from emerging countries. The fund will also include 20% European high yield securities with a significant portion of their margins in emerging countries. However, it excludes government and convertible bonds. Issues are exclusively denominated in euros and US dollars with systematic hedging of the US dollar exposure. The fund is managed by Lionel Clément, co-director of fixed income management, with Alexia Latorre. The sales period will extend from 17 September to 19 December 2012, inclusive. After that date, the fund will be closed to subscriptions. ISIN codes C share class FR0011308220 D share class FR0011308246 Management fee: 1.30% of net assets, including all taxes, excluding OPCVM Front-end fee not paid into FCP: maximum 2% including all taxes Withdrawal penalty: none Minimal subscription: 1 share

GSO/Blackstone, the credit unit of the US private equity firm, has announced that its new credit fund, the GSO Strategic Credit Fund, has raised USd834.8m in ordinary shares, an amount which could be increased to USD960m if all greenshoe shares are subscribed to. The fund is listed on NYSE under the acronym BGB.This is the third closed fund from GSO/Blackstone. The lead managers of the underwriting syndicate were Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, BofA Merrill Lynch, UBS Investment Bank and Wells Fargo Securities.

Several big names in alternative management, such as Steve Einhorn (Omega Avisors), Harvey Eisen (Oak Advisors) and Michael Novogratz (Fortress) have agreed at a conference in New York that it is time to migrate bond assets to equities, Forbes reports.According to Novogratz, “Bernanke has told investors that he will push interest rates on bond instruments to such low levels that they will be forced to invest in riskier assets.”This opinion is shared by Eisen, who claims that the migration being considered could take some time, particularly for pension funds, which will not modify their allocations from one day to the next.According to a survey of the audience at the conference, which included hedge fund and institutional managers, European equities are expected to post the best returns in 2013, followed by US equities and gold.

Morgan Stanley has changed the name of its wealth management activities within Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, which will become Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. The activity was founded in 2009 as a joint venture of Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney. The broker-dealer activities will retain their current name of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC.

The French pension fund FRR has launched a limited request for proposals process with a view to selecting up to three investment service providers to manage its transition process. The Transition Manager’s role and responsibilities shall be as follows: - to manage one or more portfolios assigned to it by the FRR during the transition periods. - to execute and, potentially, receive and transmit buy and sell orders on financial instruments originating from the FRR’s asset Managers for execution during the transition periods, subject always to the strictest confidentiality. The aim of these tasks will be to reconfigure the portfolios in accordance with the wishes expressed by the asset managers acting on behalf of the FRR to whom such portfolios will subsequently be transferred and reduce the overall costs that are customarily associated with such operations. In March 2010 the FRR appointed Goldman Sachs International and Russell Implementation Services Limited to carry out the same tasks. As this contract expires in March 2013, it is now necessary to relaunch a new selection process. The FRR estimates, on a purely indicative basis, that the amount of funds involved in the transition could fall within a spread of between one hundred million euros and two billion euros. Applications must reach the FRR before Monday 5th November 2012, 12.00, French time, on the terms and conditions set forth in the consultation regulations. All documents relating to this request for proposals are available on the dedicated platform http://www.achatpublic.com/accueil/frr/medias/ or on the FRR’s website www.fondsdereserve.fr

The French national pension fund, the Fonds de réserve pour les retraites (FRR), which has recently launched a request for proposals (see elsewhere in today’s Newsmanagers), has published the results of a request for proposals to select active management mandates investing in developed country equities exposed to growth in the emerging economies.The request for proposals launched on 23 November 2011 comprised two lots:1. Active management mandate with an investment universe comprising European companies. 2. Active management mandate with an investment universe comprising companies from throughout the world. Following this selection process, the FRR has decided to accept the following proposals: Lot 1 : European universe 1. BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited 2. Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management 3. La Française AM Lot 2 : World universe 1. J.P. Morgan Asset Management (UK) Limited 2. Schroder Investment Management Limited The indicative overall amount of funds earmarked for these mandates may be in excess of 200 million euros for each lot.

The Quilvest group (“Quilvest” or the “Group”) on 26 September announced that it has opened two new offices, one in São Paulo, Brazil, and one in Geneva, Switzerland. These offices, the twelfth and thirteenth Quilvest offices worldwide, reinfoce the international platform of the Group and provide a physical presence in two of the largest capital cities in the world. The two offices will be wholly integrated into the Quilvest global network and involved in the commercial development of its activities. The São Paulo office will concentrate on direct investments and co-investments in non-publicly traded companies and investments in private equity funds and private real estate, while the Geneva office will specialise in wealth management.

Rich Americans have started to abandon the prudence which had led them to hoard cash and bonds since the financial crisis, according to a new survey which will be published on Thursday by Merrill Lynch Wealth Management. Only 30% of respondents see themselves as conservative investors, compared with half in 2010.

L’Allemagne a fait le dernier pas vers la ratification du traité instituant le nouveau fonds de sauvetage de la zone euro en confirmant les conditions posées par la Cour constitutionnelle allemande. Sur la même ligne que l’avis de la cour de Karlsruhe, la déclaration émanant du cabinet de la chancelière précise que le Parlement disposera d’un droit de veto concernant une éventuelle augmentation de la contribution allemande au MES, fonds de sauvetage doté de 700 milliards d’euros.

Selon le département du Commerce, les ventes de logements neufs aux Etats-Unis ont baissé de 0,3% à un volume annuel CVS de 373.000 logements en août contre 374.000 (372.000 en première estimation) en juillet, un plus haut depuis avril 2010. Par rapport à août 2011, les ventes affichent une progression de 27,7%. Le prix médian d’un logement était en hausse de 11,2% en août, à 256.000 dollars, du jamais vu depuis mars 2007. Sur un an, la hausse du prix médian est de 17%.

Le gérant alternatif a récolté plus de 800 millions de dollars dans le cadre de son troisième fonds de placement collectif coté dédié à l’investissement dans le crédit corporate à haut rendement. L’activité crédit de Blackstone affichait quelque 50,5 milliards de dollars d’actifs sous gestion à la fin du mois de juin. Le nouveau fonds, baptisé Blackstone/GSO Strategic Credit Fund, lèvera 960 millions de dollars en cas d’exercice complet de l’option de surallocation.

Le déficit prévisionnel du budget de l’Etat français devrait ressortir autour de 61-62 milliards d’euros fin 2013 dans le projet de budget présenté vendredi en conseil des ministres, rapporte le quotidien Les Echos sur son site internet. Ce chiffre, équivalent à environ 3% du produit intérieur brut, correspond à une réduction d’environ 20 milliards d’euros du déficit de l’Etat par rapport au solde attendu fin 2012.

Alors que les spécialistes attendaient une hausse de 900.000 barils, les stocks de pétrole brut des Etats-Unis ont diminué contre toute attente la semaine dernière, de 2,45 millions de barils à 365,18 millions, selon l’Administration américaine d’information sur l'énergie. Les réserves d’essence ont diminué de 481.000 barils à 195,83 millions (consensus: +200.000 barils), tandis que ceux de produits distillés se sont contractés de 482.000 barils à 127,75 millions (consensus: +800.000 barils).

Les bailleurs de fonds internationaux de la Grèce divergent sensiblement quant aux moyens à adopter pour résoudre la crise de la dette de ce pays, le FMI exigeant notamment que les pays de l’Union européenne inscrivent une décote sur la dette grecque qu’ils détiennent à l’image de ce qu’ont accepté bon gré mal gré les créanciers privés. Selon un responsable grec cité par Reuters, l’Europe veut en revanche «plus de temps pour voir ce qui se passera avec l’Espagne et l’Italie, peut-être même après les élections allemandes de 2013». Ces tensions surviennent alors que la troïka des créanciers internationaux a suspendu sa mission en Grèce et que le pays connaît aujourd’hui une première journée de grève nationale sur fond d’émeutes.

L’inflation mesurée par les prix à la consommation a probablement décéléré en septembre en Allemagne pour revenir sous l’objectif d’un peu moins de 2% fixé par la Banque centrale européenne, au vu des données de cinq Länder. Le taux annuel d’inflation est passé de 1,9% en août à 1,6% ce mois-ci en Rhénanie du Nord-Westphalie, le Land le plus peuplé et qui fait office de baromètre pour l’ensemble du pays. Il a également ralenti à 2,0% dans le Land de Hesse, contre 2,3% en août, à 2% en Saxe et à 1,9% dans le Brandebourg, contre 2,3% et 2,0% respectivement. L’inflation annuelle a en revanche légère augmenté dans le Bade-Wurtemberg, à 2% après +1,8% en août.

Le Groupe Quilvest annonce l’ouverture de deux nouveaux bureaux, les douzième et treizième dans le monde, l’un à São Paulo au Brésil qui se concentrera sur les investissements directs et co-investissements dans des sociétés non cotées ainsi que sur les investissements dans des fonds de capital-investissement et d’immobilier non coté,

Le produit intérieur brut (PIB) de l’Espagne a poursuivi sa forte baisse au troisième trimestre, a déclaré mercredi la Banque d’Espagne. Le ministre de l’Economie, Luis de Guindos, a déclaré samedi que l'économie devrait s'être contractée d’environ 0,4% au troisième trimestre, comme au deuxième.

L’Allemagne a placé mercredi 3,191 milliards d’euros de dette à dix ans lors d’une adjudication qui n’a pas été couverte en totalité, les investisseurs étant apparemment dissuadés par le coupon historiquement bas. L’opération portait sur cinq milliards d’euros de dette à long terme mais la demande a porté sur seulement 3,951 milliards. L’agence fédérale de la dette a du coup retenu 36% pour le marché secondaire, contre 20% en moyenne.

Axa Private Equity et Permira envisagent d’introduire en Bourse OdigeO, première agence de voyage en ligne européenne, a rapporté Reuters de sources proches du dossier. Les actionnaires d’OdigeO ont contacté des banques en vue d’une éventuelle IPO l’an prochain qui pourrait valoriser le voyagiste 1,5 milliard d’euros. OdigeO, dont le siège est à Barcelone, pourrait entrer en Bourse à Londres, Paris ou Madrid, reflétant l’origine des sociétés composant le groupe, a indiqué l’une des sources. Aucune banque n’a encore été mandatée, ni aucune décision prise concernant l’IPO. Axa PE et Permira ont créé OdigeO il y a un peu plus d’un an, en rachetant la société de réservation en ligne Opodo et en la fusionnant avec leurs autres sociétés Go Voyages et eDreams. Les réservations brutes d’OdigeO ont représenté 3,9 milliards d’euros en 2011, en hausse de 14% sur 2010. Son Ebitda avait augmenté de 14%, suivant ses propres comptes.

Le gouvernement allemand doit approuver aujourd’hui un projet de loi visant à mettre de l’ordre dans le trading haute fréquence, qui représente selon des estimations officielles 40% des échanges outre-Rhin. «Le but de la loi allemande est de limiter les risques associés au trading haute fréquence», a justifié un représentant du ministère allemand des Finances cité par le Wall Street Journal.

A l’occasion de l’ouverture hier à Rennes du Congrès de l’Union sociale pour l’habitat, le Premier ministre Jean-Marc Ayrault compte réunir les investisseurs institutionnels (banques, compagnies d’assurance) pour établir avec eux un diagnostic des raisons de leur retrait du marché immobilier et déterminer les moyens de leur remobilisation.

L’Association des banquiers britanniques (BBA) se dit prête à abandonner ses prérogatives dans la définition des taux Libor si le régulateur propose une telle mesure. «Si les recommandations de M. Wheatley (directeur exécutif de la FSA, ndlr) incluent un changement de responsabilité pour le Libor, la BBA soutiendra cela », a déclaré l’association dans un bref communiqué. La BBA a pris le contrôle du Libor en 1986 et couvre désormais une série de 150 taux dans des devises et des maturités diverses.