To replace Oriol Dalmau, who has been appointed as a board member at the private bank but remains as chairman of the asset management firm, CatalunyaCaixa has appointed Xavier Pinzolas as CEO of CatalunyaCaixa Inversió (EUR2.4bn in assets), Funds People reports. Pinolas was CEO of Caixa Manresa Inversió from 2006 to 2010, before the asset management firm was absorbed by CatalanyaCaixa Inversió.

For 2011, Renta4 has declared a net profit of EUR4.6m, compared with EUR6m for the previous year. The decline is largely due to an exceptional charge of EUR1.5m related to the adoption of bank status by the business.Assets under management and administration as of the end of December totalled EUR5.57bn, compared with EUR5.2bn one year previously, while net inflows totalled EUR663m, compared with EUR278m in 2010.As of 31 December, assets under management in investment funds had increased 3.4% year on ear, to EUR817m, while assets in pension funds totalled EUR292m (+15%), and assets in Sicavs were down 2.8% to EUR481m.At a publication of its annual results, Renta4 announced that it has created an affiliate in Dublin, Renta4 Investment Funds plc, to facilitate international marketing of its funds and investment instruments. Agreements in the same vein have been concluded with distributors in France and Germany.In addition, the firm has opened an office in Santiago, Chile, with the objective of developing activities in Latin America.

Henderson Global Investors on 1 March announced that its UCITS-compliant hedge fund Henderson Credit Alpha has been admitted to the UCITS Alternative Index Blue Chip, an index of 50 absolute return hedge funds calculated by the Swiss firm Alix Capital.The Henderson Credit Alpha fund, launched in 2007, is a long/short credit fund investing in CDS and corporate bonds. Its assets totaled EUR628.7m as of 31 January.

Several European professional associations on 1 March called on the European Commission to reconsider its proposed revisions to the Institutions for Occupational Retirement Provision (IORP) directive, at a public hearing on the subject in Brussels. “We argue that it is dangerous to apply legislation which is designed for insurance companies to professional retirement institutions There are fundamental differences between them. All efforts to harmonise the regulatory regime are based on a biased logic, and may have unpredictable consequences for participants in pension programmes, retirement institutions and the economy as a whole, as they may slow growth and the creation of jobs,” statement signed jointly by the European financial and asset management association (EFAMA), th European venture capital association (EVCA), the European association of paritarian institutions (AEIP), the European trade union confederation (ETUC) and Business Europe. The associations therefore call on the European Commission, with the help of the European insurance and occupational pensions authority (EIOPA) to reconsider the issues at stake and then to formulate new proposals. The European Commission should revise its bill as soon as possible and test the validity of its new proposals with quantitative impact studies, and a political debate involving all participants, including European social partners.

Neptune Asia Pacific Opportunities will be renamed as Neptune South-East Asia Fund, Money Marketing reports. The fund, managed by Tom Sinclair, has GBP17bn in assets.

The British asset management firm Renaissance Asset Managers on 1 March announced the launch of the Renaissance Frontier Markets Fund, a sub-fund of its UCITS-compliant, Luxembourg-registered Sicav. The new product is available to institutional and qualified retail investors.The manager, Sven Richter, says that the portfolio will be concentrated on shares from ten of the 25 countries in which annual growth is expected to be higher than 4%. These countries are Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, Ukraine and Vietnam. At all times, these countries will account for 85% to 100% of assets.These countries were chosen because they satisfy a number of criteria, including a population of over 35 million, projected GDP growth of over 4% per year over the next decade, a GDP per capita of less than USD6,000, relatively undeveloped markets, a significant young population, attractive resources, and the potential to develop due to these factors.

As announced in mid-January, the British asset management firm Baring Asset Management (Barings) on 1 March launched a fund of global mining sector shares. The Baring Global Mining Fund is a sub-fund of the UCITS-compliant, Irish-registered OEIC fund Baring Investment Funds plc (see Newsmanagers of 17 January).The fund of equities in all cap sizes will be managed by Clive Burstow. It is available in share classes denominated in EUR (IE00B5VDNH0), USD (IE00B55BZX02), and GBP (IE00B704RW18).

Murielle Faure, chairwoman of IT AM, and Béatrice Philippe, chairwoman of PIM Gestion France, have announced the merger of their asset management firms. Faure says the decision was motivated both by highly similar philosophies at the two firms in management – equities, growth type and conviction-based – and by the considerable complementarity of the fund ranges from the two firms. “We are exclusively invested in the IT sector,” says Faure, “while PIM Gestion France invests in all industries except IT, which its management considered to be a gap.”Clients of the two asset management firms are also complementary, as IT AM largely serves investors such as private banks, wealth management advisers, etc., while PIM Gestion is largely known by multi-managers and institutionals. The merger will allow both firms to increase their fields of activity. “The merger will be completed retaining all management teams,” says Faure, adding that the two firms will join forces to form a single entity whose name will soon be announced, with EUR800m in assets under management. The remaining question is who will head up the new firm. “Governance will be known in May,” says Faure. “Meanwhile, teams will work to unite and become operational as soon as possible.”

According to an exclusive report in Financial Times Deutschland, Deutsche Bank is said to be planning to integrate the ETF arm of its operation, db x-trackers (EUR30bn in assets), into its asset management firm DWS, which it plans to retain after the sale of the rest of its asset management operations. The bank has declined to comment on the reports. db x-trackers has hitherto been a part of the investment banking unit, led by the future co-CEO of the firm, Anshu Jain.

Prashant Kothari, vice president and senior investment manager at ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company, is joining the emerging market equities team at Pictet Asset Management in London, where he will continue to focus on Indian equities.According to some sources, Kothari may become co-manager of an Indian equity fund with David Chaterjee, replacing Oliver Bell, who has become manager of the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) fund at T. Rowe Price.Pictet AM says that its assets in emerging market equities total about GBP4.3bn.

Credit Suisse decided to reduce its stake in Aberdeen from 19.9% to 9.9% at the end of last week, Financial News reports. A second block of 57 million shares was placed yesterday by the bank at 240 pence each.

Assets under management at Man Group as of the end of December totalled USD58.4bn, compared with USD64.5bn as of the end of September, and USD69.1bn as of the end of March 2011, the alternative asset management firm announced on 1 March at a presentation of its results for the quarter and the first nine months of its 2011-2012 fiscal year. The first nine months of the fiscal year brought net outflows of USD1.5bn. In the quarter to the end of December alone, outflows totalled USD2.5bn. Over nine months, negative market and currency effects totalled USD4bn and USD1.7bn, respectively. Man Group states, however, that as of the end of February, assets under management totalled USD59.5bn, largely due to good results at GLG and a more modest positive contribution from AHL. “Investor confidence improved compared with the last quarter of 2011, and the slowdown in redemptions led to a significant decline in net outflows,” Man Group explains, adding that confidence remains fragile and that it will take more time for inflows to pick up again. Man Group states that performance was positive from the beginning of the calendar year to 24 February for the major UCITS strategies from GLG, with 6% for European Equity Alternative, 4% for North American Equity Alternative, 5.2% for Alpha Select, 8.4% for Global Convertibles, 6.9% for Emerging Markets, 19.3% for Japan Core Alpha, and 11.3% for Global Equity. Only the Atlas Macro fund has seen negative performance of 0.4%. Pre-tax profits in the first nine months of the year totalled USD262m, compared with USD599m for the year to the end of March 2011. The board has confirmed that it will recommend a final dividend of 7 cents per share for the nine months to the end of December, which brings total dividends for the period to 16.5 cents per share. Dividends for the fiscal year may total 22 cents.

With the Investing for a New World service, at www.blackrock.com/newworld, BlackRock has made an online multimedia toolboox to help investors of any size to better take advantage of the opportunities offered by the markets, by constructing more dynamic and more diversified portfolios.The product, which includes access to the BlackRock Institute information platform, is BlackRock’s contribution to the offensive that Lawrence D. Fink, chairman and CEO of BlackRock, is hoping to see take off in the asset management sector, which, he says, should “collaborate with businesses to help investors adopt a long-term perspective. We should redouble our efforts to offer advice and provide answers. … If we want to finance a longer life expectancy, we need to convince individuals that they need to start investing for the long term now. Longevity is an advantage that we should exploit, and not a handicap.”

Despite uncertainty surrounding the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, there were very few corporate defaults in 2011, the financial ratings agency Moody’s reports in its latest annual study. Only 35 issuers rated by Moody’s defaulted in 2011, on a total of USD36bn in debt, the lowest level in four years, the agency states. The majority of defaults were in North America, with 25 issuers (USD26bn in debt), while the remainder were in Europe. Default rates for corporate issuers rated by Moody’s fell to 0.8% as of the end of 2011, compared with 1.3% the previous year. The agency says the default rate may come in at about 2.8% at the end of 2012.

A planned merger of the Geneva-based private bank Cramer and the Zurich-based Hottinger, announced in November 2011, has fallen through, according to a joint statement from the two groups. The two firms and the Geneva-based investment firm Norinvest, owned by Cramer, have decided to call off plans to merge, “for reasons related to the future strategic development of their activities.” The decision was taken by common agreement, and “the two groups will continue their activities independently, each developing their existing strategy and optimising their structure in order to achieve ongoing and sustainable growth.” Hottinger is present in Switzerland (Zurich, Basel and Geneva), New York, and the Bahamas. Cramer is present in Switzerland, where the bank has 45 employees, and the Bahamas.

Rolf R. Frehner, who for the past four years had been executive vice president for central and eastern Europe at Coutts Bank in Zurich, on 1 March began in his new position as a member of the general board at Bank Sal. Oppenheim jr & Cie (Schweiz), in charge of private banking for eastern Europe.At Coutts, Frehner had been responsible for the markets of Russia and the CIS, after coorginating the entry of the Liechtensteinische Landesbank into the markets of eastern Europe. In 2007, he was also one of the founders and the president of the public association Swiss Russian Forum.

Jon Andrea von Planta has been appointed as co-head private clients at Rothschild Wealth Management in Zurich, Agefi Switzerland reports. He began in his new role on 1 march, and is co-head with Riccardo Petrachi of all private clients of the bank in Zurich. Von Planta spent 16 years at Morgan Stanley & Co International in London, where as project lead, he developed business with high net worth clients in continental Europe. After returning to Switzerland in 2008, Von Planta founded his own asset management consulting firm, in which he continued to manage the assets of high net worth clients as well as a private commodities fund.

The bank Sal. Oppenheim jr & Cie (Switzerland) has appointed Rolf Frehner as head of its private banking activities in eastern Europe, Agefi Switzerland reports. He began in his new role on 1 March 2012. Frehner also becomes a board member at the firm. Frehner spent four years at Coutts bank, as executive vice president for central and eastern Europe.

The resignation of Bernard Joei, who has chosen to leave the group, will lead to two promotions in the asset management unit at Zurich Financial Services (ZFS). The outgoing Joei is replaced from 1 March as head of alternative investments by Urban Angehm, currently head of investment strategy implementation. Angehm will be based in New York, and will report to Cecilia Reyes, CIO. Angehm came to ZFS in 2007 from Winterthur Asset Management, where he had been head of allocation & strategy.Thomas A. Rogers, regional investment manager for Americas, has been appointed as Angehm’s successor as head of investment strategy implementation in Zurich. He will also report to Reyes.

The US firm Citi has appointed Cheeping Yap as its head of administration services for Asia, as part of an internal reshuffle which has also included the appointment of a new head for the Australian market, Asian Investor reports. Yap, who began in his new role on 1 February, covers alternative investment, long-only mutual funds, transfer agency services and fuduciary services. In the position he replaces Matt Brown, who takes up new responsibilities in fund administration for the EMEA region. Citi is also planning to create a position for a global head of ETFs, an activity which Citi would like to develop steadfastly.

Stephen Schwarzmann, founder of Blackstone, was the highest-paid chief in the private equity industry last year. He made USD213.5m in salary, dividends and cash. That puts him in first place in the profession, and represents a 33% increase compared with his 2010 income. However, last year he made 50% less than he did in 2006, when Blackstone held its IPO.

Convictions AM has announced the recruitment of Philippe Weller as head of international development for the French asset management firm. The German Weller, 41, had previously been head of international development at La Financière de Champlain, in charge of European, and then French clients, from 2007 to 2010.In his new role, he will be in charge of the commercial development of Convictions AM in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Luxembourg. He joins Edoardo Chiozzi-Millelire, head of international development for the countries of southern Europe (Italy, Switzerland, Monaco, etc.), who joined the firm in 2010.“International markets currently represent 15% of our assets, and remain a strong area of development for Convictions AM. We have seen strong demand from private banks and family offices in European countries, particularly for our Convictions Premium fund,” says Hugues Riant, head of management mandates and communications at Convictions AM.

The former CEO of cominvest Asset Management SA, Heinrich Echter, was recruited on 15 February as chief compliance officer at Alceda Fund Management, an affiliate of Aquila Capital. Since November 2011, he had been a strategic adviser at Alceda.

Olivier Hereil, directeur des investissements et des gestions d’actifs de BNP Paribas Cardif dans un article paru dans Option Finance numéro 1161: Pour les obligations, nous investissons très principalement dans la zone euro. La dégradation de la France n’a pas eu d’impact pour notre allocation. La part consacrée aux emprunts d’Etat de notre portefeuille est en constante diminution ces dernières années et représente actuellement 38% de notre allocation. Celle ci privilégie désormais les corporate. Mais nous avons toujours considéré qu’il fallait capter la valeur à long terme des obligations. Le rendement relatif, c’est à dire les spreads des corporate par rapport aux emprunts d’Etat, était au plus bas en 2005 et 2006, c’est pourquoi nous investissions peu dans ces titres. Depuis 2008, le monde change complètement, les spreads de crédit corporate progressent alors que les taux d’Etat baissent. Nous avons donc acheté beaucoup de papiers d’entreprises entre 2008 et 2010. Le stress sur les souverains a tout de même eu un impact sur le crédit corporate. Depuis les crises des Etats, nous sommes plus opportunistes. A certains moments, les spreads des grands corporate diminuent trop et nous n’hésitons pas à vendre. Nous gérons en direct les obligations de la zone euro. Nous travaillons ensuite essentiellement avec les équipes de BNP Paribas Investment Partners. BNP Paribas Cardif fait également appel à la délégation externe pour des expertises spécifiques. La délégation représente 20% de nos actifs et, sur ce chiffre, 70% sont confiés à BNP Paribas IP. Nous sélectionnons les gestionnaires extérieurs au groupe grâce à notre équipe d’analystes. De plus, nous ne fonctionnons pas sous forme d’appels d’offres, mais faisons très régulièrement appel à des gérants spécialisés. D’autre part, nous avons engagé depuis 2007 une démarche volontariste dans l’univers de l’ISR. Des critères extra financiers sont intégrés dans notre processus d’investissement. Nous le faisons sur tous nos actifs, que ce soit sur les obligations, les actions ou l’immobilier. Pour rappel, l’allocation d’actifs de BNP Paribas Cardif est la suivante: 79.9% d’obligations, 11.7% d’actions, 6.2% d’immobilier et 2.2% de divers (cash, gestion alternative. Les encours totaux s'élèvent à 150 milliards d’euros.

Prévifrance est une mutuelle Santé régie par le Code de la Mutualité. A l’occasion d’un appel d’offres restreint effectué en 2011 avec l’assistance du cabinet Alpha Institutionnels Conseil, Oréade Prévifrance a investi 3 millions d’euros dans un OPCVM ouvert sur les actions émergentes. Le gérant sélectionné est Franklin Templeton.

Le risque d’un brusque ralentissement économique mondial s’est estompé en raison des mesures prises par la zone euro pour résoudre sa crise de la dette, a estimé jeudi le Fonds monétaire international (FMI). L’institution a toutefois ajouté que les risques pesant sur la croissance mondiale restaient «clairement baissiers». La croissance économique mondiale devrait ralentir à 3,3% cette année contre 3,8% en 2011. Dans un rapport distribué aux ministres des Finances du G20 le week-end dernier à Mexico, mais publié seulement ce jeudi, le FMI souligne que la zone euro doit agir de manière décisive sur plusieurs fronts pour achever de résoudre sa crise de la dette. «Le risque principal réside dans la possibilité de voir les mesures prises ne pas orienter l’Europe vers un «bon équilibre (...)», relève le FMI, qui table pour la zone euro sur une contraction de l’économie de 0,5% en 2012.

Les revenus des ménages américains ont augmenté de 0,3% en janvier, mais l’inflation et la fiscalité ont effacé ces gains, ce qui fait que la consommation ajustée de la hausse des prix est resté inchangée, selon les chiffres publiés jeudi par le département du Commerce. Le taux d'épargne des ménages a atteint 4,6% contre 4,7% en décembre.

Le rythme de croissance du secteur manufacturier aux Etats-Unis a ralenti contre toute attente en février, selon l’indice des directeurs d’achats publié jeudi par l’Institute for Supply Management (ISM). L’ISM s’est établi à 52,4 contre 54,1 en janvier et 53,1 en décembre, alors que les économistes interrogés par Reuters l’anticipaient en hausse, à 54,5.

Les parlementaires français ont adopté définitivement jeudi la proposition de loi UMP dont l’objet est d’empêcher le détournement d’actifs d’une entreprise défaillante comme cela est reproché dans le cas de la raffinerie Petroplus. La proposition de loi vise à faire face «efficacement aux comportements abusifs de ces tiers en permettant l’adoption de toute mesure conservatoire utile à l'égard de leurs biens».

Brasilia a modifié une taxe de 6%, baptisée IOF, sur les prêts étrangers à court terme pour englober tous les prêts jusqu’à 3 ans afin de se défendre dans une «guerre des changes mondiale», selon le ministre des Finances,Guido Mantega. Une mesure qui n’a pas empêché le real de s’apprécier à 1,7112 hier. Il est en hausse de plus de 9% contre dollar depuis le début de l’année.