As of the end of December 2011, assets under management at BNP Paribas (Switzerland) totalled CHF37.4bn, down 9%. The bank earned pre-tax profits in 2011 of CHF414m, up 14% year on year. Revenues, however, were down 12% to CHF1bn. Operating profits rose 16% compared with 2010 to a total of CHF428m, due to a reduction in management fees (-3%) and capital gains on the sale of real estate properties.

Swiss Fund Platform, which claims to be the first Swiss independent fund distribution platform aimed at wealth managers, on 21 May announced the launch of its activities. “Wealth managers can consult the trading conditions at any time and rapidly receive detailed reports on their products in order to work with as much transparency as possible. All risks of conflict of interest must be minimised,” says Michael Däppen, Managing Director, in a statement. The platform already has 100 funds issued by 18 providers, including Man Investments, Bank Vontobel, Lombard Odier, Skandia and Banque Cantonale Vaudoise BCV. In addition to these, small investors such as Anaxis and Plenum Investments are also represented.

Assets under management at the Swiss private bank Espirito Santo remained virtually unchanged last year at CHF4.7bn, virtually unchanged compared with the previous year, despite an increase in the number of new clients. Net inflows were hindered by unfavourable evolution of the markets and currencies, and totalled CHF190m, which drove down assets under management by 1.6%. Net profits fell 28% to CHF4.6m, largely due to costs related to credit risks.

The Financial Times reports that Credit Suisse is studying a sale of JO Hambro Investment Management, its private management activity in the United Kingdom. A source familiar with the matter has confirmed that a sale of the business is under study, although no decisions have yet been taken.

EFG International has agreed to sell its entire holding of approximately 10.2 million treasury shares - 7% - to its largest shareholder EFG Bank European Financial Group, a Swiss bank based in Geneva, at a price of CHF 7.43 per share, subject to the prorataclaw-back rights of other eligible shareholders.If EFG Bank European Financial Group acquired all 10.2 million treasury shares, its shareholding would increase to circa 56% vs a current holding of circa 49%."From a business standpoint, this transaction provides a stronger foundation for EFG International to build upon and reinforces its ability to focus on delivering medium term targets through disciplined, profitable growth (....)», according to a press release. «The sale of treasury shares also removes a source of uncertainty and evidences the largest shareholder’s commitment to EFG International and EFG International’s stated objective to remain a leading independent private bank».

Losses at Spanish banks may total EUR260bn, and the sector may need a bailout of up to EUR60bn, according to the international institute of finance (IIF). In the basis of calculations comparing them with Irish banks, which also had to confront a collapse of a speculative bubble in the real estate market, economists at the Washington-based banking organisation estimated the losses at Spanish banks at EUR218bn to EUR260bn in 2012-2013. “A number of factors suggest that losses may be at the high end of the range. Macroeconomic outlooks in Spain are worse than those Ireland faced, particularly in terms of growth and unemployment,” they say in a note on the global economy published on 21 May. “The heaviest losses will be generated by real estate mortgages, which are concentrated at the Cajas,” the regional savings banks, they added.

According to statistics from the CNMV relayed by Cotizalia, Egerton has become the seventh hedge fund management firm to declare a short position, representing more than 0.5% of capital in the Spanish firm Indra. Overall, declared short positions on the shares represent 11.3% of its capital.Other asset management firms with short positions on Indra include Adelphi Capital, Antiopodean Advisors, Eminence Capital. Hoplite Capital. Morton Holdings and Odey AM.

The Environmental Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has issued a call for the creation of a genuine global environmental governance body in a statement which will be presented on Tuesday, addressed to the Rio+20 summit. If a genuine global environmental governance body is not created to further sustainable development objectives, with the power to take decisions and require adherence to them, future generations will be endangered, says Françoise Vilain, rapporteure for the statement to be released today. One month ahead of the UN summit scheduled for 20-22 June in Rio.

Since its launch in May 2011, the PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF has seen inflows of about USD1.6bn, more than any of the 400 other funds launched last year, and it has gained 9.5%, compared with losses of 0.7% for the S&P 500 in the same period, the Wall Street Journal reports. This appears to reinforce the argument that solid shares outperform without causing the wrenching ups and downs that many investors consider unnecessary punishment. But some indices already show that the tide may already have turned against the fund: its lead on the larger market has fallen in the past three to four months.

The banker Pascal Quiry has left BNP Paribas to launch an investment fund, Les Echos reports. Quiry, who has been a partner at Paribas since 1986, had for the past five years been in charge of execution teams in European and American mergers and acquisitions at the bank. He was also a member of the international board of directors. The objective of the small asset management firm which he is in the process of founding, and which is expected to be up and running by the end of the year, is to invest in blocs of shares in businesses which are considered undervalued, for the long term. A team of three to four people is in the process of being recruited.

Frédéric Lasserre and Christophe Cordonnier, two former managing directors of commodity market activities at Société Générale, have announced the launch of Belaco Capital, a commodity investment fund which will be managed in Paris. The official launch date for the fund is set for 4th quarter 2012. Lasserre built and led the research and strategy teams at Société Générale, while Cordonnier, who has worked with him for the past 15 years, set up and led the sales and commodity structuring teams at Société Générale, a statement says. They will be joined by François Beuzelin, who has spent 12 years at Société Générale, where he had been director of trading activities for metals, before working on an investment fund for the past 2 years.

AXA Investment Managers has announced the launch of a series of innovative corporate bond strategies. ‘SmartBeta’ strategies have been designed specifically for investors seeking low-cost credit exposure without the drawbacks of market capitalisation weighted index-based strategies. AXA IM’s SmartBeta strategies take an active approach to define the investment universe and therefore aim for a more attractive risk/return profile than that offered by passive index tracking strategies.Tim Gardener, Global Head of Consultant Relations, AXA IM commented: «We have seen significant interest from institutional investors and their consultants, who want a more intelligent and pragmatic approach to capture the market return within the corporate bond segment. SmartBeta offers a middle ground for those clients looking to harvest the return of the market whilst still avoiding the inefficiencies of a purely passive approach. It is a strategy that is designed with the aim of protecting portfolios from both systemic and event risk and to deliver a less volatile return."AXA Fixed Income’s Portfolio Manager Analysts begin by using a number of rules based and fundamental filters to arrive at the investible universe of bonds. The portfolio is then constructed to achieve an optimal level of diversification such that it is not unduly exposed to a tail risk at a stock, sector or country level. Using relative value analysis, those bonds that are deemed to be best value are purchased and equally weighted in the portfolio. Given that the purchase price of a bond is critical to overall return of a buy and hold strategy, this approach maximises the beta of the portfolio over the medium term.AXA IM’s approach boasts two differentiating features: it optimizes purchase costs by striving for best execution and also rebalances investments more optimally than standard index funds. Unlike with a purely passive approach in which the evolution of the index dictates the buying and selling of bonds potentially leading to overweighting the most indebted issuers, AXA IM’s approach strives to ensure that poorly valued or ‘at risk’ bonds are not purchased. In addition, regular monitoring by the AXA Fixed Income team aims to ensure that diversification and credit worthiness of the portfolio is maintained as the SmartBeta strategy rests on the premise that a bond held to maturity delivers its beta in full provided it does not default even partially.SmartBeta strategies will be managed by senior portfolio managers within AXA IM’s Fixed Income expertise. Mark Benstead, who is Head of AXA Fixed income for UK and Asia, will be responsible for managing SmartBeta portfolios across the sterling denominated corporate bond market. Anne Velot, Head of Continental Credit will manage European SmartBeta strategies, and Nicole Montoya, Head of Global Credit and Money Market will manage the strategy across the global universe of corporate bonds.The SmartBeta strategies will be managed by senior portfolio managers in the bond management team at AXA IM. Mark Benstead, head of credit in the United Kingdom, will manage the SmartBeta Sterling portfolios; Anne Veelot, head of credit for continental Europe, will be in charge of euro SmartBeta strategies, while Nicole Montoya, head of global credit and money markets, will manage global credit strategies.

The post-2008 influx of institutional money into hedge funds has resulted in a marked increase in the global industry’s operational sophistication and transparency to investors, according to a new report by KPMG and the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA). The report, entitled “The Evolution of an Industry”, is based on a survey of 150 hedge fund management firms globally with more than USD550bn in combined assets under management. It found that hedge fund management firms have increased their operational infrastructure in areas like investor transparency and regulatory compliance as allocations from institutional investors have increased. Seventy-six per cent of respondents have observed an increase in investment by pension funds since 2008, while institutional investors as a whole, including funds of funds, accounted for a clear majority (57%) of assets under management. The report finds that the increase in institutional investment has led to more thorough due diligence and greater demands by investors for transparency, with 90% of respondents reporting an increased demand for due diligence since 2008. Eighty-four per cent of all respondents indicated they had increased transparency to investors since 2008, which is reflected by the fact that the majority of firms have taken on multiple members of staff to respond to these increased investor demands.

A growing number of institutional investors are using ETFs to facilitate their management practices, including liquidity management, according to a study published by Greenwich Associates. The study, sponsored by iShares, finds that a significant number of institutional investors use ETFs to improve the liquidity of their portfolios. “Liquidity has become a governance issue since the outbreak of the financial crisis. Institutional investors have learned their lessons from this period to develop effective liquidity solutions. From this point of view, ETFs can represent a useful tool,” the study finds.

Sales of pension funds in Europe could be compromised if the sector is included in the PRIPs (Packaged Retail Investment Products) directive, Financial Times Fund Management suggests. The Association of British Insurers is preoccupied by a proposed rule that individuals would be required to seek independent advice before subscribing to any fund. That would hamper the long-awaited introduction of a British proposed regulation which would ensure that employees automatically join corporate pension funds, FT FM reports.

Jay Rosoff has joined Thesis Fund Management, an asset management firm which offers the Thesis Flexible Fund. He will be director of distribution for the product. Until 2010, Rosoff served as national sales manager at Allianz Global Investors in the United States.

BNY Mellon has announced that it has been selected by AdvisorShares to provide it with administration, accounting and custody services on 14 ETF funds in its range, which have total assets of over USD500m.

Only a few weeks after SEB Asset Management on 7 May announced the liquidation of the open-ended real estate fund SEB ImmoInvest, the German asset management firm Credit Suisse Asset Management Immobilien announced on 21 May that it was not in a position to satisfy all redemption demands for the CS Euroreal fund (EUR6bn in AUM, like ImmoInvest). The fund will therefore be liquidated by 30 April 2017. The asset management firm will issue payments every 6 months, with the first payment to come in the second half of 2012, along with December dividends at the latest.CSAM Immobilien states that redemption demands for the Euroreal fund (whose redemptions had been frozen for two years) exceeded available liquidity of EUR1.6bn (27% of assets), of which EUR1.25bn came from subscriptions and sales of properties at their market value or higher.

In April, equity markets lost 0..65%, while after six months of steep decline, implicit volatility increased month on month by 1.7 percentage point to 17.2%.In this environment, only two of the 13 strategies monitored by the Edhic-Risk Institute posted positive results, with monthly returns of 1.02% for short selling and 0.50% for bond arbitrage. The heaviest losses were for long/short equity, with 0.65%.Since the beginning of this year, the best returns were for distressed securities (6.2%) and long/short equity (5.5%), while the worst performer was short selling, with losses of 11.8%.Meanwhile, since the beginning of January 2001, the best two results, according to Edhec, were for distressed securities, with 10.4% per year (the only ratio with a Sharpe ratio of over 1, at 1.02), just ahead of emerging markets at 10.2% (with a Sharpe ratio of 0.60).

According to a survey on German institutional funds (Spezialfonds) by the Kommalpha and Telos agencies, obtained in advance of its release by the Börsen-Zeitung, more than one in two institutional investors is disposed to change its asset mangement firm in the next twelve months. One year ago, in the previous edition of the survey, only one in three institutional managers said it was considering changing managers.

On 21 May, the Scottish asset management firm Martin Currie announced that it is opening the UCITS IV-compliant version of its Asian Long Term Unconstrained (ALTU) strategy to investors, in the form of a sub-fund of its Luxemborg Sicav Martin Currie Global Funds. It will be available in share classes denominated in US dollars, pounds sterling and euros.The Martin Currie GF – Asia Long Term Unconstrained Fund is managed by Jason McCay and Andrew Graham, who are already responsible for USD441m in the ALTU strategy. The unconstrained portfolio will have 20 to 30 holdings, and will be managed with a long-term absolute return approach, and the objective of minimising transaction costs and limiting volatility.The managers will place particular emphasis on the transparency of books and good governance at businesses selected.

A London court has upheld fines levelled by the British Financial Services Authority (FSA) against two former advisers in the wealth management unit at the major bank UBS, the FSA announced in a statement on 21 May. The two former employees in 2007 and 2008 undertook rogue trades totalling several billions of pounds. The two former employees, whom the FSA has fined a total of GBP1.3bn, will not be allowed to work in the regulated financial services industry in the future, the FSA announced on Monday.

The British bank Barclays on 21 May announced that it has sold its 19.6% stake in the capital of the BlackRock group. This stake is estimated at slightly over USD6bn. BlackRock will buy a part of the bloc of shares, for a total of USD1bn. Barclays entered the capital of BlackRock in June 2009, when it sold its affiliate Global Investors.

Investec Asset Management reach GBP61.5bn in assets as of the end of March, largely due to net subscriptions of GBP5.2m in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, Investment Europe reports. For the past three years, net inflows have averaged over GBP5bn.

Paul Manduca, founder of Threadneedle, may be nominated to take over as head of the Prudential financial group, which in addition to insurance, also has asset management activities at M&G, the Telegraph reports. Manduca would succeed Harvey McGrath. Recently, Manduca’s name is said to have been submitted to the British Financial Services Authority (FSA), who would then be required to ensure that the nominee has the “appropriate capabilities” to direct one of the largest British financial groups. Prudential may announce the appointment in the next few days. Manduca would then leave his position as chairman at Aon in order to take over as head of Prudential over the summer.

Selon une étude PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) reprise par L’Agefi, les fonds d’investissement disposent d’une manne financière de 60 milliards d’euros destinés à être investis dans les actifs jugés non stratégiques des banques en Europe. Ces dernières sont contraintes de réduire leur bilan, tandis que leurs portefeuilles d’actifs non stratégiques dépasseraient actuellement 2.500 milliards d’euros, soit 6% de l’ensemble de leurs actifs. Se basant sur un sondage réalisé auprès d’une cinquantaine d’acteurs composés de banques d’investissement, de hedge funds et de fonds de capital investissement, les investisseurs continuent majoritairement à s’intéresser aux prêts décotés, la moitié de l'échantillon ayant investi plus de 75% de leur fonds dans ce type d’actifs en 2011. Cela dit, l’appétit pour les prêts non décotés, un marché estimé à 1.700 milliards d’euros au sein des banques européennes, s’accroît ainsi que pour de nouvelles catégories d’investisseurs, visant des rendements plus stables issus d’actifs de plus longue maturité.

Les gestionnaires d’actifs Waddell & Reed, BlackRock et Norges Bank Investment Management ont acquis auprès de CVC Capital une part au capital du circuit automobile qui prépare une IPO à Singapour pour 1,6 milliard de dollars, rapporte L’Agefi qui cite une information de Reuters. La part de CVC est ainsi passée selon cette source de 63,4% à 40%.

Le gendarme des marchés américain a autorisé un élargissement des investisseurs ciblés pour la prochaine émission de Royal Bank of Canada

Les chefs d’Etat discuteront demain d’une augmentation du capital de la Banque européenne d’investissement d’environ 10 milliards d’euros comme outil de croissance.

Le gouvernement a nommé deux cabinets pour faire la lumière sur la situation du secteur, durement touché par la crise immobilière