The Spanish real estate market continues to be the subject of suspicion on the part of most European real estate funds, which, if not leaving the Iberian peninsula altogether, are remaining highly prudent. According to Cotizalia, the British fund Parkridge, which has been operating in Spain for three years, has decided to close its Barcelona offices. The firm is preferring to coordinate its investments in Portugal and elsewhere in Europe from France. For its part, the French firm Stam Europe remains operational in Spain, but is taking much longer than in the past before concluding a transaction. Stam had been planning since spring this eyar to acquire shopping centres from Eroski for a total of over EUR70m. One of the major barriers to real estate investment in Spain is that the level of returns is more attractive in Germany or the United Kingdom, and only opportunistic funds can really benefit from them, Cotizalia claims.

Many bankers believe that Unicredit could get a better deal if it broke up Pioneer Global Asset Management and sold the U.S. arm separately, writes Investment News. The U.S. business, which has USD56 billion in assets under management, has a number of suitors, with John Hancock Funds LLC, MFS Investment Management, and Eaton Vance Investment Managers topping the list, bankers said. Private-equity firms are also likely to look at the U.S. outfit.

The German BVI association of asset management firms announced the arrival on October 1st of a third managing director, Thomas Richter, one of the managing directors of DWS Investments (Deutsche Bank group) since 2007. Richter, who will be based in Berlin, will be responsible primarily for political communication, as BVI is planning to intensify its lobbying efforts. He is already a member of the board at the association.

The analyst Anna Ho, specialised in the Asian market, is leaving the management firm Investmentgesellschaft Carlson Fund Management (DnB NOR Group), Das Investment reports. She will subsequently cease to provide management of the Asian fund Asian Small Cap (WKN 986071), which has earned slightly over 58% in five years.

BlackRock has announced that Dirk Klee, who since early 2008 had been head of iShares activities for central and eastern Europe, has been appointed as country head of Germany Austria and Eastern Europe. He will also retain his previous functions. The former head of retail sales for Germany and Austria at Allianz Global Investors will continue to represent BlackRock on the board of the German BVI association of management firms. He will report to James Charrington, chairman of EMEA at BlackRock. The appointment of Klee comes as part of a redistribution of responsibilities at BlackRock, and will be seconded by Steven Bayly, who remains as head of institutional activities, while Andrej Brodnik remains head of retail. BlackRock’s assets in Germany, Austria and eastern Europe top USD55bn.

According to a study recently published by Aite Group (“European Execution Venues: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly,”) the MiFID directive has probably succeeded in intensifying competition between execution venues, but many new ones have not succeeded due to the lack of liquidity in European equities markets. “Many execution venues were created in 2007, when volumes on European equities were at peaks, and the MTF business model appeared certain to succeed,” writes Simmy Grewal, an analyst at Aite and author of the study. With the reduction in liquidity to about half of its 2007 peaks, some platforms realised that they would not be able to survive, and were taken over by larger market business, or were obliged to cease their activities. “If liquidity does not return to pre-2008 levels, further consolidation in multilateral trading platforms is to be expected,” Grewal predicts.

Selon S&P, les relèvements de notes ont été plus nombreux que les dégradations au premier semestre. Une première depuis 2004

Selon Asian Investor, deux spécialistes de la clientèle très fortunée viennent de quitter UBS Wealth Management qui a par ailleurs recruté une responsable pour son desk indien.Dominik Fuerst a ainsi présenté sa démission en qualité d’executive director au sein de l’équipe dédiée à la clientèle fortunée (UHNW) à Hong Kong. Il travaillait chez UBS depuis 1999.De son côté, Adeline Chien, ex-managing director et responsable de l’équipe dédiée à la clientèle UHNW, a quitté UBS Wealth pour rejoindre EFG International à Hong Kong où elle a pris ses fonctions la semaine dernière en tant que managing director et senior CRO (Client relationship officer).UBS Wealth a par ailleurs recruté Jaya Jayaram en qualité de executive director et responsable du desk pour le marché indien à Hong Kong. Elle a pris ses fonctions le 13 août dernier et devrait développer la gestion de fortune indienne à Hong Kong. Jaya Jayaram travaillait auparavant chez Deutsche Bank Private Wealth Management à Hong Kong.

Le fonds souverain de Singapour, Temasek, a annoncé le 19 août dans un communiqué la nomination de l’ancien patron de Bank of America (BofA), Gregory Curl, en qualité de president à compter du 1er septembre. Pour sa part, Simon Israel, actuellement executive director, assumera conjointement les fonctions d’executive director et de president à compter également du 1er septembre.Temasek ajoute que Hsieh Fu Hua a rejoint le fonds souverain le 1er août dernier en qualité d’executive director et de president. Hsieh Fu Hua, Gregory Curl et Simon Israel travailleront en étroite collaboration avec le CEO de Temasek, Ho Ching, pour accompagner l'équipe dirigeante et développer l’institution, souligne le fonds souverain dans son communiqué. A noter enfin que Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, managing partner du cabinet juridique Wong Partnership LLP, va rejoindre le 1er septembre Temasek en qualité de responsable de la gestion du portefeuille co-responsable de Singapour avec Simon Israel. Au 31 mars dernier, le portefeuille de Temasek s'élevait à 186 milliards de dollars de Singapour, soit un peu plus de 107 milliards d’euros.

Au premier semestre 2010, 167 ETF ont été lancés en Europe, dont 78 au deuxième trimestre, selon Lipper. db x-trackers a été de loin le plus actif avec 48 nouveaux produits. Julius Baer arrive en deuxième position (24) devant Amundi (19).Ces ETF ont drainé à eux seuls 3,06 milliards d’euros. Au total, les encours sous gestion des ETF en Europe ont progressé de 1,79 % sur le deuxième trimestre à 183,24 milliards d’euros, selon Lipper. Il y a un an, les encours ressortaient à 127,82 milliards d’euros.

L’encours de parts émises par les OPCVM non monétaires de la zone euro est ressorti en baisse à 5293 milliards d’euros en juin 2010, contre 5301 milliards en mars, selon les données communiquées par la Banque centrale européenne. Une évolution qui résulte d’une baisse de la valeur moyenne des parts, toutefois compensée en partie par les émissions nettes. Sur la même période, l’encours des parts émises par les OPCVM monétaires de la zone euro a diminué, revenant de 1175 milliards d’euros à 1167 milliards.Les souscriptions nettes de parts d’OPCVM non monétaires de la zone euro sont ressorties à 23 milliards d’euros au deuxième trimestre 2010, contre 133 milliards au premier trimestre, tandis que les OPCVM monétaires ont accusé des rachats nets de 48 milliards. Le rythme de progression annuel des émissions de parts d’OPCVM non monétaires de la zone euro, calculé sur la base des transactions, s’est inscrit à 10% en juin 2010. S’agissant des OPCVM monétaires, ce taux est ressorti à ‑12,3% sur la même période. S’agissant des actifs des OPCVM de la zone euro (autres que les OPCVM monétaires), le taux de croissance annuel des titres autres que les actions s’est inscrit à 10,2% en juin 2010, les transactions ressortant à 3 milliards d’euros au cours du deuxième trimestre. Dans le cas des actions et autres titres de participation, le taux de croissance annuel correspondant s’est établi à 11,7%, et les transactions à ‑36 milliards d’euros, au deuxième trimestre. Pour les parts d’OPCVM, le taux est ressorti à 9,2%, et les transactions à 8 milliards d’euros. En ce qui concerne la ventilation par stratégies de placement, le rythme de progression annuel des parts émises par les fonds «obligations» s’est inscrit à 11,8% en juin 2010. Les souscriptions nettes de parts émises par ces fonds se sont élevées à 17 milliards d’euros au deuxième trimestre 2010. S’agissant des fonds «actions», le taux de croissance annuel est ressorti à 11,9% et les souscriptions nettes se sont inscrites à ‑20 milliards d’euros. Pour les fonds mixtes, le taux de croissance a atteint 7,2% et les souscriptions nettes se sont établies à 17 milliards d’euros.

Ignis Asset Management va lancer un fonds technologies monde qui sera géré par Geoff Paton, rapporte Money Marketing. Il se composera de 40 à 55 actions et aura pour référence l’indice MSCI all countries global IT. Il s’agira du premier fonds techno d’Ignis, precise le site Internet.

Au premier semestre, les actifs sous gestion du groupe suisse BCV (Banque cantonale vaudoise) sont demeurés stables à 76 milliards de francs suisses. La collecte nette des six premiers mois de l’année s’est inscrite à 989 millions de francs suisses, précise le groupe dans un communiqué.Le bénéfice net du groupe a progressé de 7% au premier semestre à 146 millions de francs.

Clariden Leu a annoncé le 19 août que son bénéfice net a chuté de plus de moitié au premier semestre à 102 millions de francs, contre 219 millions à la période correspondante de l’an passé. Les actifs sous gestion de l'établissement zurichois, issu de la réunion des banques privées du Credit Suisse, se sont contractés de 3% par rapport au premier semestre 2009 à 99 milliards de francs suisses en raison d’un impact négatif des marchés et d’un affaiblissement des devises étrangères contre franc suisse. Clariden Leu fait également état d’une décollecte nette de 800 millions de francs.

La société zurichoise active dans la gestion de fortune VZ Holding a fait état pour le premier semestre 2010 d’un bénéfice net de 23,1 millions de francs contre 15,3 millions de francs un an plus tôt. Au 30 juin, les actifs sous gestion s’inscrivaient à 7,2 milliards de francs suisses contre 6,7 milliards de francs à fin décembre.

En juillet, les encours sous gestion du secteur des hedge funds à l'échelle mondiale ont progressé de 18,1 milliards de dollars, pour s'établir à 1.520 milliards de dollars, indique Eurekahedge. Cela reste inférieur au pic enregistré en 2007 à 1.950 milliards de dollars, mais supérieur au plancher de mars 2009 (1.290 milliards de dollars). La hausse de juillet est notamment due à 10,4 milliards de dollars de souscriptions nettes, tandis que les bonnes performances du secteur en juillet ont représenté 7,7 milliards de dollars. Après deux mois de déclin, les hedge funds ont en effet enregistré un gain de 1,47 % en juillet, d’après Eurekahedge.A noter que les souscriptions aux hedge funds basés aux Etats-Unis ont dépassé les 30 milliards de dollars depuis le début de l’année. Quant aux hedge funds Ucits III, ils ont attiré 5 milliards de dollars, précise Eurokahedge.

La décision de Stanley Druckenmiller de fermer son hedge fund Duquesne Fund Management ne devrait pas avoir un gros impact sur les marchés financiers, en partie parce que l’argent est principalement le sien et qu’il continuera à être géré par ses associés, indique le Financial Times, citant des personnes proches du dossier. 30 à 40 % des 12 milliards de dollars de Duquesne appartiennent à Stanley Druckenmiller.

The Singapore sovereign fund Temasek announced in a statement on 19 August that it has appointed the former head of the Bank of America (BofA), Gregory Curl, as president from 1 September. Simon Israel, currently executive director, will become both executive director and co-president, also effective from 1 September. Temasek adds that Hsieh Fu Hua joined the sovereign fund on 1 August as executive director and president. Hua, Curl and Israel will work in close collaboration with the Ceo of Temasek, Ho Ching, to assist the management team and develop the institution, the sovereign fund says in a statement. Dilhan Pillay Sandrasegara, managing partner of the law firm Wong Partnership LLP, will join Temasek on 1 September as head of portfolio management and co-head for Singapore with Israel. As of 31 March this year, Temasek’s portfolio totalled SGD186bn, or slightly over EUR107bn.

In first half, assets under management at the Swiss BCV (Banque cantaonale vaudoise) group held stable at CHF76bn. Net inflows for the half totalled CHF989m, the group says in a statement. Net profits for the group rose 7% in first half to CHF146m.

In July, Spanish managers reduced their cash allocation to 13.34%, from 18.41% in June, to increase their exposure to equities by nearly three percentage points (to 40.65%, from 37.73% previously), according to a monthly survey by Lipper. Sectoral allocation went largely to banks and other financial sector shares (46% of respondents were overweight in this sector in July, compared with 38% one month earlier), to the detriment of pharmaceuticals and utilities. The survey also finds that 31% of respondents, compared with only 15% the previous month, are planning to reduce their exposure to Euro zone bonds in the next three months. In July, allocation to bonds culminated at 42.42%, nearly its highest level ever (the record was slightly over 43% in November 2005).

Assets invested in shares issued by non-money market mutual funds in the Euro zone were down to EUR5.293trn as of Juen 2010, compared with EUR5.301trn in March, according to statistics from the European Central Bank. This development is the result of a decline in the average value of fund shares, which was nonetheless partially offset by net issues of shares. In the same period, assets in shares issued by money market mutual funds in the Euro zone fell from EUR1.175trn to EUR1.167trn. Net subscriptions to shares in non-money market mutual funds in the Euro zone came to EUR23bn in second quarter 2010, compared with EUR133bn in first quarter, while net subscriptions to shares in money market mutual funds were negative, at -EUR48bn. The pace of annual growth in non-money market Euro zone mutual fund share issues, calculated on the basis of transactions, came to 10% in June 2010. For money market mutual funds, the rate was -12.3% in the same period. For assets in Euro zone mutual funds (other than money market mutual funds), the annual rate of growth in shares in funds invested in assets other than equities was 10.2% in June 2010, while transactions totalled EUR3bn in second quarter. For equities and other participation assets, the corresponding annual growth rate came out at 11.7%, while transactions totalled -EUR36bn in second quarter. For shares in mutual funds, the rate came to 9.2%, and transactions totalled EUR8bn. In terms of ventilation by investment strategies, the annual growth rate in shares issued by bond funds was 11.8% in June 2010. Net subscriptions to shares issued by these funds measured EUR17bn in second quarter 2010. For equities funds, the annual growth rate was 11.9%, and net subscriptions totalled -EUR20bn. For mixed funds, the growth rate totalled 7.2%, and net subscriptions totalled EUR17bn.

The variety in the ETF segment listed on the pan-European exchanges rose by 167 new products during first half 2010 (78 during the second quarter), according to Lipper. db x-trackers launched the highest number of new funds (48) during the first half of the year, ahead of Julius Baer (24) and Amundi (19). The newly launched funds were able to gather 3.06 billion euros by the end of June 2010. Assets under management (AUM) in the pan-European exchange-traded funds (ETF) segment continued to grow over Q2 2010, gaining 1.79% to 183.24 billion euros.

Total assets under management in hedge funds grew by USD18.1 billion during July, bringing the size of the global hedge fund industry to USD1.52 trillion, according to Eurokahedge data. While performance-based gains for the month stand at USD7.7 billion as hedge funds from all regions recorded positive returns, the sector also witnessed strong positive net flows of US$10.4 billion. After witnessing two months of declines in May and June, hedge funds reverted to their winning ways in July with a string of strong performances. The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index gained 1.46%1 during the month. Inflows to US hedge funds crossed USD30 billion July YTD. UCITS III hedge funds attracted further inflows of USD5 billion July YTD.

Ignis Asset Management will launch a global technologies fund which will be managed by Geoff Paton, Money Marketing reports. It will invest in 40 to 55 shares, and will be benchmarked against the MSCI all countries global IT index. It will be the first technologies fund from Ignis, the firm’s website states.

Bill McQuaker, who manages three multi-management products at Henderson, has increased his exposure to inflation-linked bonds in the past few weeks, estimating that the global economy is facing significatn inflationary risk in the mid-term, Investment Week reports. Via the Royal London Linked Index Linked and Global Index Linked funds, the manager has installed a 5% allocation dedicated to inflation-linked bonds in all of his portfolios.

Les Echos reports that the US bankruptcy judge Burton Lifland is asking the London High Court to force HSBC to release a range of documents touching on the firm’s relations with the brokerage firm controlled by Bernard Madoff, from reports to registrations and contracts, ordered by the auditor KPMG. Like the Swiss bank UBS, London-based HSBC was a depository for feeder funds supplying the former US broker’s network of frauds. The funds concerned include the Luxembourg-registered Herald and the Irish-registered Thema. Three months before the arrest of the author of frauds estimated at USD50bn, KPMG wrote reports on behalf of HSBC on the fraud and the operational risks at Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities, according to the summary judgement. HSBC declined to comment on the reports to Bloomberg. A hearing is scheduled for 4 November in New York.

The US bank Goldman Sachs has filed a lawsuit against Natixis in London for failure to respect its engagements in regards to three credit default swap (CDS) contracts, the law firm Stephenson Harwood, which is representing Natixis, announced on Thursday. Reuters reports that Goldman Sachs, which has filed a suit in the High Court in London, accuses the French bank, an affiliate of the BPCE (Banque populaire - Caisse d'épargne) group, of violating an agreement in relation to three CDS, and is seeking damages and interest. The hearings are scheduled for 9 November.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is investigating whether Christopher Pia’s trading at Moore involved market manipulation, according to a person close to the situation cited by the Wall Street Journal. Specifically, the regulators are looking into whether the hedge fund manager improperly tried to push up prices of platinum and palladium, possibly to boost Moore’s returns and his own compensation. Moore paid a USD25 million fine to settle the matter, without admitting or denying wrongdoing, but the investigation of Christopher Pia is going on.

At a time when more than 20 million people in Pakistan are homeless due to recent floods in the country, Mark Mobius, the emerging market expert at Franklin Templeton Asset Management, says it is a perfect time to buy Pakistani shares at a low price. The valuation of these businesses is “particularly attractive at the moment,” the manager tells Bloomberg, noting that investors on the Karachi stock exchange have massively sold off shares in the wake of the catastrophe. Mobius predicts that the floods will not have a long-term impact on the Pakistani economy, and estimates that outlooks remain attractive.

Saxo Bank Asset Management, le pôle dédié à la gestion d’actifs au sein du groupe Saxo Bank, a porté ses actifs sous gestion à 28,8 milliards de couronnes danoises, soit quelque 3,90 milliards d’euros au premier semestre 2010, contre 21 milliards de couronnes précédemment. La collecte émanant de Saxo Bank A/S s’est élevée à 4,2 milliards de couronnes.Au premier semestre, le groupe a dégagé un bénéfice net de 551 millions de couronnes danoises, soit environ 74 millions d’euros, contre 41 millions précédemment.