David Hanratty, who joined the firm in January 2003, was appointed on 13 March as the sole director of institutional and wholesale distribution for the United Kingdom and Ireland and the Global Strategic Partners Group at Pioneer Investments. The two segments have been identified as important elements in the new five-year growth strategy announced by CEO Roger Yates. They have increasingly similar characteristics, and the creation of a single position for a director of both is a recognition of the importance of London in strategic selection by global platforms and institutional consultants.In practice, Hanratty will leave the Dublin hub to move to London, where he will lead a team of nine people focused on the UK and Ireland, located both in London and Dublin. He will also be in charge of five members of the Global Strategic Group in Singapore and London, and will coordinate with a specialist in New York for the offshore US market.

Although operating profits for the group in the half ending 31 January have remained virtually unchanged at GBP63.2m, compared with GBP63.4m in the corresponding period of 2010-2011, Close Brothers has posted a loss, “as expected,” of GBP2.6m, compared with GBP6m for its asset management activities.The division is now “in the final stages of its restructuring,” although Close Brothers is still expecting a “small” loss in the second half of its fiscal year.As of 31 January, assets under management totalled GBP6.9bn, compared with GBP6.5bn as of the end of July 2011 for “private clients,” and GBP8.6bn, compared with GBP9.6bn, for the division as a whole, due to the withdrawal of a GBP1bn mandate from an institutional investor.

Jamie Broderick, the European head of JP Morgan Asset Management, will be leaving the firm at the end of the year, according to reports in Financial News. He joined the firm in 1993. The firm has not stated where he will be going, nor who will replace him.

Jamie Broderick, the head of JP Morgan Asset Management Europe, will be leaving the asset management firm at the end of this year, according to reports that first appeared in the British press, and which were confirmed to Newsmanagers yesterday. The name of his replacement has not yet been announced, a spokesperson for the firm says, and neither has his destination. Broderick arrived at JPMorgan Asset Management in 1993.

The conference of the Luxembourg Investment Fund Association (ALFI) has over the years become an obligatory event to catch up on all regulatory issues under debate. On 13 March in Luxembourg, ALFI put the emphasis on three themes: the Volcker Rule, the financial transaction tax, and the Fatca law.On the subject of the Volcker Rule, ALFI expresses surprise that US mutual funds, which are excluded from the Volcker Rule, are treated differently from UCITS funds, which offer the same guarantees as US-registered funds. The professional association points out that numerous comments sent to the US administration, and these may lead to a redrafting of the law, and a legislative report which will be delivered in July this year.On the proposed European directive to introduce a tax on financial transactions, the professional body repeats the arguments already often advanced: there is no positive contribution from such a tax if it is not applied internationally, investment funds are not the cause of the financial crisis, such a tax will hurt sales of European funds in non-European jurisdictions, and as the Swedish example shows, it may also lead to a rapid move of transaction activities elsewhere.The Ecofin meeting, held on 13 March, has also given positive signs, with an inviation to the European Commission to undertake a more detailed analysis of the fiscal burdens borne by the various member states, and to consider other types of taxation (stamp duty, for example).The Fatca law is also one of the hot topics on which ALFI has been seeking to form a more precise idea. While pointing to the confidentiality rules which forbid direct communications with the US tax authorities, the Association would like to be able to more precisely evaluate the impact of the law, via the first contracts to be concluded with the IRS, though it does not hope for much enlightenment from the US tax authorities, who are not known for their flexibility.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), which has been in place for nearly a year now, is in the process of making a place for itself as an increasingly present actors in the European regulatory environment. With staff of under 50 at the beginning of 2011, the authority will have 100 employees by the end of the year, and is aiming for about 160 by 2013, the president of ESMA, Steven Maijoor, announced in Luxembourg on 13 March, at the spring conference of the Luxembourg investment fund association (ALFI). This raises the question of the institution’s financing. The current model, which is based on mixed financing from the European Union and national authorities, is not well-adapted. “The European Union should provide 100% of the financing for ESMA’s budget,” the president says.Maijoor says the two major objectives of ESMA are to create a body of shared rules for all member states, and to set up appropriate supervision in order to ensure that the rules are applied consistently throughout all member states. In addition to these two long-term priorities, ESMA has several major projects underway, including surveillance of ratings agencies, which in 2012 will see the publication of a first report in the wake of inspections initiated in autumn 2011, rules for short-selling, and relations with outside countries. On this last point, Maijoor points out that ESMA has recently become an affiliated member of the International Organisation of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), which he feels is the appropriate body to facilitate dialogue on various issues such as UCITS funds.In the area of financial innovation, Maijoor says that he has set up an ad hoc committee, which is currently concentrating on protection of retail investors and is gathering information from national regulators, in order to identify trends within this client segment.To this end, ESMA may issue warnings, which it has already done at least once, and may also be led to bar certain products, but it is still acting as a new power, whose contours have yet to be defined, particularly under the MiFID directive. Nonetheless, “the power to bar products may also help the financial sector in terms of reputation,” Maijoor says.

The European funds industry enjoyed inflows of EUR30.7bn in January, a 9-month high, according to Lipper. Excluding money market funds, net sales of funds were catapulted back into positive territory in January (EUR22.4bn) after five months of redemptions.High yield bond funds have come rapidly back into fashion and enjoyed net sales of EUR6.3bn in January, with EUR3.4bn flowing into USD products. Global emerging market funds also reignited investors’ ardour, both for bonds (EUR4bn) and equities (EUR2.3bn).Overall equity funds enjoyed net sales of EUR4.2bn (EUR1.4bn of which was into ETFs) although this paled in comparison to fixed income sales (EUR18bn).Allianz/PIMCO has started the year fastest out of the blocks with net sales of EUR2.8bn in January. When looking just at equity funds it is Aberdeen that leads the field, with net sales of EUR1bn, according to Lipper. Those funds at the top of the best-sellers list were Ashmore’s Emerging Markets Liquid Investment Portfolio (EUR970m) and PIMCO’s GIS Global Investment Grade Credit fund (EUR885m)

After leaving her position as senior vice president in investor relations at the alternative management firm Paulson & Co in Hong Kong at the beginning of this year, Sandra Paulson has joined the Carlyle Group as managing director of investor relations for Asia-Pacific, a newly-created position, Asian Investor reports.

On Tuesday, Nomura announced that it had launched 35 new ETFs on its Navesis-ETF platform, largely focused on emerging markets, Handelsblatt reports. That brings the number of ETFs listed on the market reserved for institutional investors and limited to primary markets to 200.

Man Group will launch a new quantitative fund investing in commodities, which will be directed by the former trader from Ospraie Management and Amaranth, Scott Kerson, the Financial Times reports. The fund will be created in the Systematic Straetgies unit led by Sandy Rattray, the founder of the VIX index, and will have a capacity of USD5bn.

Aviva Investors and Tiberius Asset Management have joined forces to launch the commodity fund Aviva Investors Global Commodity Plus, for institutional or qualified investors. The management team will seek to outperform the Dow Jones UBS Commodity Index through investments which may be deviating partly from the index, on the basis of fundamental and quantitative analysis.CharacteristicsName: Aviva Investors Global Commodity Plus FundISIN code: LU0520770289TER: about 1.50%Minimal initial subscription: EUR250,000

Olivier Noël, Directeur Technique et Financier du Groupe D&O: Pendant trois ans et demi, nous avions confié à l’un de nos gérants un fonds diversifié ISR (approche Best in class), mais au regard des coûts, la performance obtenue était en deçà de nos attentes. L’analyse qui a conduit à sortir cette classe d’actifs prenait en compte la performance à 1 an, à 3 ans, les frais de gestion, la qualité du reporting. Nous nous sommes séparés du gestionnaire qui gérait notre fonds commun de placement ISR ainsi qu’une petite poche obligataire. Nous avons réattribué ces actifs (environ 20% de notre portefeuille) aux gestionnaires en présence, après étude d’une commission des risques. Ces gestionnaires, au nombre de 5, sont AXA IM, CPR AM, CAM Gestion, Rothschild &Cie et Lazard.

Pour les investisseurs institutionnels ou qualifiés, Aviva Investors et Tiberius Asset Management ont lancé ensemble le fonds de matières premières Aviva Investors Global Commodity Plus. L'équipe de gestion cherche à battre le Dow Jones UBS Commodity Index grâce à des investissements qui s'éloignent volontairement de cet indice sur la base d’analyses fondamentales et quantitatives.CaractéristiquesDénomination : Aviva Investors Global Commodity Plus FundCode Isin : LU0520770289TFE : 1,50 % environSouscription minimale initiale : 250.000 euros.

La banque centrale, qui évoque une croissance modérée, ne se prononce pas sur un éventuel QE3

Un projet du Conseil des ministres de l’UE sur CRD 4, qui transpose les règles de Bâle 3, suggère de prendre en compte certains titres adossés à des créances hypothécaires dans le calcul du ratio de liquidité à court terme des banques. De quoi redonner un coup de fouet au marché, même si rien n’est fait.

Le candidat socialiste souhaite trois taux d'imposition différents selon la taille de la société, et entend orienter l'épargne vers l'économie productive

Le pessimisme chez les analystes financiers faiblit et donne un second souffle aux marchés actions européens. Mais cela ne devrait pas durer

La banque centrale, qui évoque une croissance modérée, ne se prononce pas sur un éventuel QE3

George Osborne souhaiterait profiter de la faiblesse actuelle des rendements pour lancer des obligations de maturité supérieure ou égale à 100 ans

John Sinsheimer, responsable de la dette de l’Etat américain, indique au quotidien que l’émission de 575 millions de dollars réalisée hier aurait reçu des ordres de 2,3 milliards de la part des investisseurs, soit le meilleur ratio de couverture jamais atteint dans l’Illinois. Le montant initialement visé était de 500 millions. Pour autant, l’Etat a dû concéder un taux moyen de 4,19%, contre 3,9% en janvier.

Suite à l’augmentation du salaire minimum en Chine, de 8,6% en janvier à Pékin et de 14% en février à Shenzhen, le gouvernement de la Malaisie s’apprêterait pour la première fois à installer la fixation d’un salaire minimum, selon le quotidien qui cite des sources proches du gouvernement. Son niveau pourrait être fixé entre 800 et 900 ringgits par mois, soit entre 200 et 230 euros par mois.

La Chine a accordé au Japon un quota lui permettant d’acheter jusqu'à 65 milliards de yuans (7,8 milliards d’euros) d’obligations d’Etat chinoises

Dans une proposition sur CRD 4, le Conseil des ministres suggère que certains titres, dont les RMBS, puissent être considérés comme des actifs liquides

Les exigences de l'Europe en matière budgétaire devront être assouplies pour que les objectifs soient supportables pour les gouvernements

Les actionnaires du premier courtier d’assurance en gros aux Etats-Unis ont mis la société en vente, espérant une valorisation d’environ 1,5 milliard de dollars, ont confié plusieurs sources proches du dossier à Reuters. AmWINS est détenu par la direction et par le fonds de private equity Parthenon Capital Partners qui a prévu de céder sa participation de 50%.

Au sein d’un environnement difficile dans le domaine des levées de fonds, la société de capital investissement britannique a levé trois milliards d’euros dans le cadre du premier bouclage de son dernier véhicule, a indiquéà L’Agefi une source proche du dossier. Alors que le processus de levée a été lancé il y a six mois, Cinven vise un objectif final de 5 milliards d’euros pour ce fonds de cinquième génération. «Le closing final pourrait intervenir fin 2012 - début 2013», a déclaré la source. La répartition de la base d’investisseurs se révèle assez similaire à celle du fonds précédent, à savoir quelque 40% d’investisseurs européens, 40% d’américains et 20% d’investisseurs asiatiques. Cinven, qui rendu 2,8 milliards d’euros à ses investisseurs l’an passé, disposait auparavant d’un véhicule levé en 2006 de 6,5 milliards d’euros, dont l’objectif initial était également de 5 milliards.

Groupe Bruxelles Lambert a annoncé le lancement de la vente de sa participation de 10,01% au capital d’Arkema, par placement privé auprès d’investisseurs institutionnels. Cette investissement représente environ 3% du portefeuille de GBL et l’opération, réalisée dans le cadre de sa «stratégie dynamique de valorisation», lui permettra de réduire son endettement de façon «substantielle».

Selon la 27ème édition de l’indicateur Chausson Finance, les investissements dans le capital-risque ont diminué de 21% en 2011, à 822 millions d’euros. Les dix plus gros tours de table ne totalisent plus que 122 millions d’euros au deuxième semestre contre 270 millions il y a un an.

Les ministres des Finances de l’Union européenne ont décidé mardi de suspendre une aide de 495 millions d’euros destinée à la Hongrie à partir de 2013 en raison de son manque de maîtrise de budget et ils décideront en juin si le pays a fait suffisamment pour échapper à cette sanction, ont déclaré des diplomates et de hauts fonctionnaires cités par Reuters.

Malgré le renchérissement du carburant, les ventes au détail aux Etats-Unis ont augmenté de 1,1% au total en février, leur plus fort gain depuis septembre dernier, après avoir grimpé de 0,6% en janvier (+0,4% en première estimation). Les économistes interrogés par Reuters anticipaient une hausse de 1,0% le mois dernier. Ces chiffres ont été diffusés par le département du Commerce alors que se tient aujourd’hui une réunion du FOMC.