Fondatrice et managing principal du gestionnaire alternatif Park Hill Group, Donna Toth a rejoint Alternative Investment Management (AIM) comme chief operating officer (COO), sous la responsabilité de Jonathan Harris, président d’AIM. Elle est basée à New York.Avant de créer Park Hill, l’intéressée a été directrice financière (CFO) d’Atlantic-Pacific Global, poste qu’elle a occupé après avoir quitté Ziff Brothers International, où elle était controller & director of financial reporting.

Le Credit Suisse Group a enregistré au troisième trimestre 2011 un bénéfice avant impôts de 1,036 milliard de francs contre 1,08 miliard un trimestre plus tôt et 753 millions de francs au troisième trimestre 2010 et annoncé dans le même de nouvelles mesures de réduction des coûts et des risques qui , selon un communiqué publié le 1er novembre.Le bénéfice net distribuable aux actionnaires s’est inscrit à 683 millions de francs fin septembre contre 768 millions au deuxième trimestre 2011 et 609 millions au troisième trimestre 2010. Le groupe suisse a annoncé dans le même temps de nouvelles mesures de réduction des coûts et des risques qui se traduiront par environ 1.500 nouvelles suppressions de postes.La collecte nette s’est élevée au troisième trimestre à 7,1 milliards de francs suisses contre 14,3 milliards au deuxième trimestre 2011 et 14,6 milliards au troisième trimestre 2010. Les actifs sous gestion s’inscrivaient fin septembre à 1.196,8 milliards de francs suisses, contre 1.233 milliards de francs un trimestre plus tôt et 1.251 milliards de francs en septembre 2010.Le pôle Asset Management (AM) du Credit Suisse a dégagé au troisième trimestre un bénéfice avant impôts de 92 millions de francs suisses, en baisse de 110 millions de francs (54%) par rapport au deuxième trimestre 2011 et de 43 millions par rapport au deuxième trimestre 2010. La collecte nette du pôle Asset Management s’est élevée à 0,2 milliard de francs, dont 4,2 milliards de francs dans les placements alternatifs, avec des souscriptions dans le private equity, l’immobilier, les matières premières et les hedge funds, et des rachats nets de 4,2 milliards de francs dans les placements traditionnels, principalement dans les activités de conseil en Suisse et les «multi-asset class solutions», reflétant les difficultés inhérentes aux marchés.Dans sa division Private Banking (Wealth Management Clients au niveau mondial et Corporate & Institutional Clients en Suisse), Credit Suisse a dégagé un bénéfice avant impôts de 183 millions de francs suisses, incluant des provisions pour litiges de 295 millions de francs en relation avec une affaire fiscale aux Etats-Unis et de 183 millions de francs (150 millions d’euros) en relation avec l’affaire fiscale en Allemagne. Credit Suisse avait fait état d’un bénéfice imposable de 843 millions de francs au titre du deuxième trimestre 2011 et de 836 millions pour le troisième trimestre 2010.Wealth Management Clients a enregistré une perte avant impôts de 34 millions de francs au troisième trimestre, en raison des provisions pour litiges susmentionnées de 478 millions de francs. Le pôle Private Banking a réalisé une collecte nette de 7,4 milliards de francs. Le pôle Wealth Management Clients a drainé 6,6 milliards de francs de souscriptions nettes, avec de fortes contributions du segment UHNWI et du segment des marchés émergents. Par rapport à la fin du troisième trimestre 2010, les actifs gérés par Private Banking ont reculé de 4,7%, la forte collecte nette ayant été plus que neutralisée par des mouvements défavorables liés au change, en raison principalement de la dépréciation du dollar américain et de l’euro vis-à-vis du franc suisse et d’autres évolutions négatives du marché.

Anthony Zammar prend la direction de l’un des deux desks dédiés à l’Arabie saoudite par UBS à Genève, rapporte L’Agefi suisse. Il travaillera sous la direction d’Ali Janoudi, qui supervise le wealth management pour l’Arabie saoudite, le Proche-Orient et l’Afrique du Nord.Avec plus de vingt ans d’expérience sur le marché saoudien, Anthony Zammar rejoint UBS en provenance de J. P. Morgan, où il était managing director et senior client advisor pour le Moyen-Orient, après avoir été head of sales management sur la région.

Le groupe Vontobel a annoncé le 1er novembre l’ouverture d’une succursale dédiée au private banking à Dubaï afin d’accompagner sur place la clientèle fortunée de la région. L'établissement sera dirigé par Ramzi Charaf, qui a la double nationalité suisse et libanaise et qui, avec une équipe d’experts, a rejoint Vontobel l’été dernier.Vontobel précise que la clientèle du Moyen-Orient pourra désormais accéder à son expertise en matière de produits structurés, jusqu’ici seulement disponible en Suisse et en Allemagne.

Le pôle immobilier de Henderson Global Investors, qui gère quelque 12,4 milliards de livres, a annoncé le 1er novembre la nomination de Michael Samuel en qualité de gérant de l’immobilier nord-américain pour un montant de 1,3 milliard de livres.Michael Samuel sera basé à Chicago et il aura en charge la gestion au jour le jour des activités ainsi que la gestion de portefeuilles de fonds et de mandats discrétionnaires. Il travaillait précédemment chez Pearlmark Real Estate (ex-Transwestern Investment Company).

Mark Dunn, head of strategic business development de LV= Asset Management (LVAM), rejoint Carmignac Gestion comme sales director pour le Royaume-Uni, selon la presse britannique. Il retrouvera comme supérieur hiérarchique Matthew Wright, tout récemment nommé head of country UK de Carmignac Gestion (lire Newsmanagers du 11 octobre), qui était précédemment responsable de la clientèle professionnelle de LVAM.

Conformément à l’accord de partenariat conclu le 15 août, Threadneedle a repris le 1er novembre la gestion de 21 fonds retail de LV= Asset Management et nommé de nouveaux gérants. Ces fonds représentent au total un encours de l’ordre de 8 milliards de livres, alors que lors de l’annonce (lire Newsmanagers du 18 août) les actifs gérés avaient été chiffrés à 8,5 milliards de livres. Le nom de tous ces fonds a été modifié pour porter la marque de Threadneedle. Mais il n’y a aucun changement en matière de frais, et Threadneedle n’a pas dans l’immédiat l’intention de changer les objectifs ou la politique d’investissement des produits ex LV=.On trouvera la liste complète des fonds, avec leurs nouveaux nom et gérant(s) ici.

Les actifs sous gestion de LG Investment Management se sont inscrits à fin septembre à 347 milliards de livres contre 342 milliards de livres un an plus tôt, selon un communiqué de la société publié le 1er novembre.La collecte nette de LG IM s’est élevée à 4,8 milliards de livres, dont 3,6 milliards de livres (contre 8,2 milliards de livres au troisième trimestre 2010) pour le pôle Investment Management et 1,2 milliard d’actifs d’épargne gérés pour le compte du groupe.LG IM souligne que la collecte brute a représenté 25,1 milliards de livres, dont 4,7 milliards dans le segment LDI (Liability Driven Investments). Les actifs sous gestion du segment LDI, qui s’inscrivaient à 39 milliards de livres au troisième trimestre 2010, ont atteint fin septembre 52 milliards de livres.

La collecte nette du britannique Rathbones s’est élevée au troisième trimestre à 284 millions de livres, soit une progression de 7,4% sur une base annualisée, a indiqué la société dans un communiqué publié le 1er novembre.Les actifs sous gestion s’inscrivaient au 30 septembre à 15,1 milliards de livres, en recul de 3,2% par rapport à fin décembre 2010, et à comparer à des baisses sur les neuf premiers mois de 2011 de 13,1% de l’indice FTSE 100 et de 8,2% de l’indice FTSE APCIMS Balanced.

Après avoir été head of global equities de Pioneer Asset Management de 2003 à 2010, puis global portfolio manager chez Martin Currie, Neil Robson rejoint en novembre Threadneedle comme gérant de fonds au sein de l'équipe global equities.Subordonné à Jeremy Podger, head of global equities, il sera gérant principal du Threadneedle (Lux) Global Focus Fund, l’ancien Threadneedle (Lux) World Equities Fund (jusqu’au 29 juillet 2011). De plus, il participera à la gestion des fonds Global Alpha de Threadneedle.L'équipe actions internationales de Threadneedle comprendra ainsi huit personnes ; elle gère 2 milliards d’euros.

Le conseil d’administration d’Investa Foundation Property Trust a décidé de mettre fin au mandat de gestion confié à Invista Real Estate Investment Management (IREIM), rapporte Fund Web.Le mandat a été confié à Schroder Property Investment Management (Schroder PIM) dont la commission annuelle de gestion devrait s'élever à 1,1%. Selon le Trust, ce changement devrait entraîner une économie de l’ordre de 1,8 million de livres par an.

Henderson Global Investors’ property business, which manages around GBP12.4 billion of property assets, has hired Michael Samuel as an asset manager for its GBP1.3 billion North American Property Business. He will be based in Henderson’s Chicago office where he will be responsible for the ongoing management of operations, value enhancement and dispositions of a portfolio of North American fund and separate account assets, including industrial, multifamily and retail property types. Prior to joining Henderson, Michael Samuel was a senior associate and loan officer with Transwestern Investment Company (now Pearlmark Real Estate), where he was responsible for the origination and asset management of commercial real estate mezzanine loans on behalf of a series of institutional investment funds. He was also responsible for the workout and resolution of distressed loans and REO.

The Hamburg-based alternative management firm Aquila Capital (EUR3bn in assets) on 31 October announced that it is opening a representative office in Singapore.The new location (Aquila Capital had already been present in seven other international locations) is led by Cumyong Quah, who in the past two years has been head of private banking & South East Asia development at Fidelity.

As corporate salary costs overall increased by 4% in 2010-2011 compared with 2009-2010, pay scales in asset management increased by an average of 18% (with bonuses up by as much as 30%). The 2011 issue of the “Asset Management Reward Survey” from Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) also finds that in asset management, remuneration (basic salary and bonuses) increased more rapidly for investment specialists than for distribution specialists. The average pay level for chief investment officers (CIO) also increased more rapidly than for all management positions, including chief investment officers (CEO).The survey also finds that pay scales are increasing at a faster pace in Asia, where asset management is a growing industry and inflation is high, and in some product niches such as ETFs, global emerging markets and international equities.PwC states that competition to win over the most talented managers, at a time when the subsequent evolution of bonuses depends particularly on the asset manager’s ability to deliver consitently high performance, has resulted in significant increases in pay scales.The study finds that although the third European Capital Requirements Directive (CRD III) is not as restrictive as initially thought, it does work to the disadvantage of European asset managers, particularly against their Asian counterparts, as 85% of respondents to the PwC study say that they are concerned about the new regulations, particularly due to practical difficulties in recruiting top talent when faced with competition from outside Europe.

In October, Spanish securities funds saw further net redemptions of EUR891m, following outflows of EUR681m in September, and EUR699m in August. It is the seventh consecutive month of net outflows from funds, according to the Spanish Inverco association of asset management firms.However, total assets as of 31 October came to slightly over EUR129.48bn, stable compared with the initial Inverco estimates for the end of September (see Newsmanagers of 3 October), but an increase of EUR241m in one month compared with the revised total for 30 September.Of the twelve largest asset management firms by volume, ten saw net redemptions in October, with the heaviest outflows from Santander Asset Management (EUR239.6m), BBVA Asset Management (EUR183m) and CatalunyaCaixa Inversió (EUR127.6m).Of the leading firms, the two ones which posted net subscriptions are Ahorro Corporación, with nearly EUR1.5m, and Barclays Wealth Management, with EUR10.25m.

US Federal judge Colleen McMahon has turned down a request by Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the business interests of Bernard Madoff, seeking USD20bn from J.P. Morgan Chase and UBS, the La Tribune de Genève reports. The judge found that the trustee did not have the right to bring the two banking establishments before the courts in this case. Only investors who lost money in the fraud would have been entitled to do so.

Anthony Zammar has become director of one of the two desks dedicated to Saudi Arabia at UBS Geneva, Agefi Switzerland reports. He will report to Ali Janoudi, who oversees wealth management for Saudi Arabia, the Middle East and North Africa. With more than 20 years of experience in the Saudi market, Zammar joins UBS from J.P. Morgan, where he had been managing director and senior client advisor for the Middle East, and previously Head of Sales Management for the region.

In the first few days of October, investors opted for high yield bonds, according to the most recent estimates from EPFR Global. Net inflows to these funds totalled USD4.7bn in the week to 26 October, bringing total inflows in the past two weeks to nearly USD8bn.This rebound in investor appetite for risk has also benefited emerging market bond funds. Since the beginning of this year, inflows to these funds have once again topped USd900m, 102% of total inflows in the year 2010. Bond funds as a whole have posted net inflows of USD1.69bn.Equity funds, for their part, have seen a net inflow of USD2.8bn, as subscriptions to ETFs more than offset redemptions from actively-managed funds. Investor sentiment in relation to emerging markets appears to be improving, although investors are still hesitant to increase their exposure to specific regions or countries. In the first ten months of the year, net outflows from all funds dedicated to emerging market equities totalled USD40.2bn, while in the corresponding period of 2010, net outflows totalled over USD52bn.

Clients of John Paulson have chosen to remain invested in his hedge fund, in a sign of their confidence in the manager’s ability to cancel out his recent losses, the Financial Times reports. In a letter to investors, Paulson says that gross redemptions are estimated to represent less than 8% of the firm’s total assets under management. Subscribers had until 31 October to apply for redemption before the end of the year.

On 17 October, iShares (BlackRock group) launched the ETF Barclays Capital Emerging Market Local Govt Bond fund, which has been listed on the London Stock Exchange since 21 June, to trading on Borsa Italiana.The fund is the 43rd product of the bond range from iShares, which has total assets of USD30bn. It is a physical replication fund, which replicates the Barclays Capital Emerging Markets Local Currency Core Government index, which covers emerging market bonds in local currencies with a total initial duration of 2 to 30 years.

Fundweb reports that Invesco has announced to investors in the PowerShares EuroMTS Cash Three Months ETF that the fund may now invest more than 35% of its portfolio in government bonds and bonds from European local authorities.The fund had previously been required to invest in money market instruments and securities issued by the Italian government or by Italian local authorities.

The ABI association of British insurers is preparing a request to exclude newly-listed companies from indices such as the FTSE 100, for a period of three months. The rule would prevent ETFs from investing in these firms, the ABI claims, according to Money Marketing, which cites reports in the Mail on Sunday that ETFs have recently driven up the share prices of companies that have recently arrived on the market. These firms are said to include mining companies which joined the FTSE 100 as soon as they were admitted to trading in London.

The British Financial Services Authority (FSA) on 31 October launched a consultation on the calculation of regulatory commissions. The FSA is proposing to modify the way in which commissions are calculated, so as to be based not on the number of qualified personnel, but on the regulated earnings of the firm. The initiative is related to the MiFID directive, which introduces a different distribution system for authorised personnel. Regulated earnings are earnings resulting from advising, brokerage, commissions, and other revenues related to regulated activities of companies, the FSA says.

The asset management firm Octopus Investments has added to its multi-manager range with two new products, one global absolute return fund, and one fund dedicated to emerging markets, Investment Week reports. Both funds, IM Octopus Global Strategies and IM Octopus Emerging Market Equity, will be launched on 8 November. The absolute return fund will invest in alternative strategies, including long/short equity funds and thematic funds offering low correlation to high-risk assets. The fund dedicated to emerging markets will invest largely in BRIC countries, via 30 funds, two third of them based on active strategies, while the remainder are ETFs.

The board of directors at Investa Foundation Property trust has decided to withdraw a management mandate from Invista Real Estate Investment Management (IREIM), Fund Web reports. The mandate has instead been awarded to Schroder Property Investment Management (Schroder PIM), with an annual management commission of 1.1%. According to the Trust, the change will bring savings of about GBP1.8m per year.

Assets under management at LG Investment Management as of the end of September totalled GBP347bn, compared with GBP342bn one year earlier, according to a statement from the firm published on 1 November.Net inflows at LG IM totalled GBP4.8bn, of which GBP3.6bn (compared with GBP8.2bn in third quarter 2010) were for the Investment Management unit, and EUR1.2bn in savings assets under management by the group.LG IM says that gross inflows represented GBP25.1bn, of which GBP4.7bn were in the LDI (Liability-Driven Investment) segment. Assets under management in the LDI segment, which totalled GBP39bn in third quarter 2010, as of the end of September 2011 totalled GBP52bn.

In keeping with a partnership agreement signed on 15 August, Threadneedle on 1 November took over management of 21 retail funds from LV= Asset Management, and appointed new managers for the funds. The funds have total assets of about GBP8bn, while at the time of the announcement (see Newsmanagers of 18 August), assets under management were estimated at GBP8.5bn.The names of all the funds have been changed to include the Threadneedle brand name, but there are no changes to fee levels, and Threadneedle has no immediate plans to change the objectives or investment policies of former LV= funds.The complete list of funds, and their new names and managers, can be found here.

Mark Dunn, head of strategic business development at LV= Asset Management (LVAM), is joining Carmignac Gestion as sales director for the United Kingdom, according to reports in the British press.Dunn will report to Matthew Wright, who has recently been appointed as head of country UK at Carmignac Gestion (see Newsmanagers of 11 October). Wright had previously been head of professional clients at LVAM.

Le conseil d’administration d’Investa Foundation Property Trust a décidé de mettre fin au mandat de gestion confié à Invista Real Estate Investment Management (IREIM), rapporte Fund Web.Le mandat a été confié à Schroder Property Investment Management (Schroder PIM) dont la commission annuelle de gestion devrait s'élever à 1,1%. Selon le Trust, ce changement devrait entraîner une économie de l’ordre de 1,8 million de livres par an.

Threadneedle Investments has appointed Neil Robson as fund manager in its global equities team, reporting to Jeremy Podger, head of global equities. He will join in November 2011 and will be lead manager on the Threadneedle (Lux) Global Focus Fund. Neil Robson joins from Martin Currie Investment Management where he was global portfolio manager. Prior to this he was head of global equities at Pioneer Asset Management, having joined the company in 2003. Neil Robson’s appointment brings Threadneedle’s global equity team to a total of eight. The team manages EUR2.0bn.