Fund Strategy reports that Castlestone Management has launched a UCITS III-compliant version of its offshore multi-asset fund. The Ucits Intelligent Portfolio (IQ) Asset Allocation fund invests in global equities and bonds. It may also invest in alternative strategies, commodities, global real estate, and money market funds, The manager of the fund, Leon Diamond, guarantees investors protection of their capital and absolute returns. The fund, domiciled in Dublin, offers daily liquidity, and is available in shares denominated in pounds Sterling, US dollars, and Euros. The minimal investment for retail shares is set at GBP1,000.
In 2009, assets under management in pan-European ETFs increased by 47.37% to a total of EUR162.49bn, according to a Lipper survey reported in Funds People. But the trend did not hold out through fourth quarter, when assets increased by only EUR29.78, down from EUR31.27bn in October-December 2008. This is a sign, says Detlef Glow, head of European research, that ETFs are not being used exclusively for short-term trading support. Lipper counted 209 new ETFs launched last year; the most active provider was Crédit Agricole, with 41 product launches.
The British management firm Thames River Capital has registered the Irish Sicav Irish Traditional Funds Plc, which has 13 sub-funds, with the CNMV, Funds People reports. Sales of the products in Spain will be handled by Allfunds Bank.
The Inverco association of Spanish asset management firms on Friday reported that in 2009, trading volumes of transfers from one fund to another fell to EUR33.08bn, or 19.57% of assets as of the end of the year, which totalled EUR169.03bn, while these trades represented EUR66.23bn or 37.84% of EUR175.05bn in assets in 2008. According to Ángel Martínez-Aldama, Inverco CEO, it is “lamentable” that investors were unable to profit from the rebound on the stock market after they fell back to defensive positions in 2008. The composition of the average portfolio reveals that the most cautious categories, money market, bond, and guaranteed funds, last year accounted for 78.85% of total investments (50.44% in bonds and money market funds, 28.41% in guaranteed funds). By comparison, equities funds represented only 14.09%, while the remaining 7.06% was invested in “global” funds.
The CNMV has registered three new funds from Legg Mason: they are the Legg Mason Western Global Blue Chip, from Western Asset Management, the Legg Mason Capital Management Opportunity, managed by Legg Mason Opportunity Trust, led by Bill Miller, and lastly, the Legg Mason Royce Global Smaller, from Royce & Associates.
Les Echos reports that funds managed by women are smaller in average size than those managed by men, with a 1 to 2 ratio. This inequality has no justification (ability, experience), and can be observed in four countries (United States, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy), according to a study by Olaf Hübler and Lukas Menkhoff, researchers at Leibniz university in Hanover. The inequality is only observed at major management firms, and particularly in their ranges of smaller funds. Once a fund has a certain volume in assets under management, the inequality attenuates. Small management firms and boutiques, for their part, do not appear to be inclined to discriminate on the basis of sex.
According to statistics from BlackRock, last year a total of 17 ETFs were domiciled in Latin America, of which 16 were actively-managed, with total assets of USD9.84bn, compared with USD5.1bn twelve months earlier. The 79% increase in assets under management compares with a 98.15 increase for the MSCI EM Latin America index in US dollars. Net subscriptions totalled USD1.3bn last year, compared with nearly USD2.88bn in 2008. The top two issuers were iShares (15 products) with assets of USD8.37bn, and Banco Itaú, with one fund and USD1.47bn.
UBS Wealth Management Americas, an affiliate of UBS, has appointed Frank Minerva as chief operating officer (COO) for its ultra-high net worth activities, Financial News reports. He was previously in charge of the New York office of UBS Private Wealth Management.
BBH (Brown Brothers Harriman) has appointed Shawn McNinch as head of sales and international ETF products, globalcustody reports. McNinch previously worked at Barclays Global Investors, where he was senior principal in the iShares product strategy group.
The face-off between Barack Obama and the US Senate is intensifying over proposed banking regulations, Agefi reports. The White House made further statements last week in support of the “Volcker rules,” which would forbid banks from trading their owners’ equity and from speculative activities related to hedge funds, though the Senate has turned a deaf ear to the proposals. According to the newspaper, Senate Democrats see the creation of the CFPA (Consumer Financial Protection Agency), an agency which would be responsible for consumer protection, as the top priority.
Money Marketing reports that Vanguard is planning to enlarge its range of British tracker funds with the launch of two products, an index-based bond fund and a real estate fund. Assets under management in the funds, launched in June 2009 (nine equity and three bond funds), total GBP500m.
In January, asset management firms reporting to the BVI association posted total net subscriptions of EUR14.1bn, of which EUR10.4bn went to institutional assets, including EUR6.9bn to Spezialfonds, and EUR3.5bn in mandates. Open-ended funds attracted EUR3.7bn, of which EUR1.7bn went to real estate funds, and EUR1.17bn to diversified funds, while EUR649.8m went to money market funds. As of the end of January, assets in Spezialfonds totalled EUR732.2m, compared with EUR650.5bn for open-ended funds and EUR316.7bn for mandates. Only two of the major management firms posted net subscriptions in January: DWS/DB Advisors/Deutsche Bank group, with nearly EUR1.76bn in subscriptions, of which EUR420m went to ETF funds from db x-trackers, and Allianz Global Investors, with nearly EUR1.27bn, of which EUR667.3m were for Pimco. However, Deka (savings banks) saw net redemptions of EUR657.4m, while its affiliate ETFlab saw net outflows of EUR1.27bn. Union Investment (co-operative banks) has seen net outflows of EUR363m. As for the other two ETF promoters, BlackRock saw EUR381.2m in inflows, and ComStage (Commerzbank) brought in EUR182.7m.
The coverage ratio for US pension funds improved in the month of February to 85.3%, an increase of 1.6 percent, according to monthly statistics from BNY Mellon Asset Management. Assets increased by 1.8% in the month under review, while liabilities fell by 0.1%. Assets got a boost from the good performance of equities markets, particularly small and midcaps. Retirement programs also profited from a slight increase in returns on AA-rated corporate bonds, from 5.92% to 5.96%.
JPMorgan has recently released the JPMorgan Income Builder Fund for retail investors. The product invests in a very wide range of financial instruments, beyond equities and bonds: CMO (collateralized mortgage obligations), REITs, convertible bonds, emerging markets equities, and global high yield bonds. This is uncommon for a product made available to people saving for their retirement, the Wall Street Journal observes. Since the beginning of the year, the fund has tripled in volume, to USD64m. Since its launch in May 2007, the performance of the fund is 0.7%, while the S&P 500 has lost 9.5%, although the Barclays Capital Aggregate Bond Index, for its part, has gained 6.5%. Currently, equities, especially foreign equities, represent 32% of the portfolio, while REITs account for 5%, and allocation to high yield stands at 45%. Emerging market debt represents 8%, down from a peak of 18%, says Anny Lester, manager of the fund.
Investment Week reports that London & Capital has appointed Sanjay Joshi as senior portfolio manager in the fixed income team. Joshi will be in charge of portfolio construction and allocation, as well as the new UCITS fund product range. Joshi was previously at F&C Asset Management, where he was co-manager of a fixed income fund, but his arrival is actually a return, as he previously worked at London & Capital from 2002 to 2006.
Rabobank, qui déclare pour 2009 un bénéfice net de 2,28 milliards d’euros contre 2,75 milliards pour l’année précédente, a enregistré un gonflement de 25 % de ses actifs sous gestion et conservation, à 230 milliards d’euros. Cela recouvre Robeco, Sarasin, les Rabobank locales et Schretlen & Co.L’activité de gestion d’actifs et d’investissement n’a plus dégagé cependant qu’un bénéfice net de 13 millions contre 438 millions en 2008. Les recettes d’exploitation de la division sont en effet tombées à 984 millions contre 1,62 milliard d’euros tandis que les charges d’exploitation diminuaient seulement à 954 millions contre 1,05 milliard.
Le fonds de pension des enseignants coréens (le Korea Teachers Pension Fund ou KTPF), qui pèse quelque 9 milliards de dollars, a manifesté son intention de renforcer son exposition aux actions, tant sur son marché d’origine qu'à l’international. Le fonds de pension souhaite également s’impliquer davantage dans la gestion alternative, indique Asian Investor.En 2009, le fonds a dégagé un rendement de 12,7%.
L’agence Moody’s a annoncé le 4 mars la révision à la baisse assortie d’une perspective stable de la note long terme de la Deutsche Bank AG de «Aa1/B» à «Aa3/C+". Les notes de la plupart des filiales ont également été revues à la baisse.Cette décision reflète la combinaison de trois facteurs, explique Moody’s : la prépondérance des activités de marché qui continue d’exposer la banque à une volatilité de ses revenus, les retards enregistrés dans l’acquisition de la Postbank et enfin la volatilité des autres activités de la banque, la banque de détail mais aussi la gestion de fortune, un secteur soumis à une forte pression sur les marges.
Grapevault Wine Investments lance un nouveau fonds, qui sera investi dans des vignobles et des vins rares, rapporte Citywire. 70 % du portefeuille du Grapevault Wine Fund No. 1 seront répartis dans trois segments de l’industrie du vin : 30 % dans l’immobilier viticole, 30 % dans la fabrication de vin et 10 % dans le marketing et la distribution. Le fonds, qui prévoit un closing à 50 millions d’euros, sera investi également à hauteur de 20 % dans des vins rares et de 10 % dans des projets de capital risque pour soutenir de jeunes vignobles.
Selon les informations du Financial Times Deutschland, Sal. Oppenheim entamera prochainement la négociation d’un plan social pour les quelque 300 salariés qui doivent être licenciés dans les secteurs du conseil, des dérivés et du négoce d’actions qui ne sont repris ni par la Deutsche Bank (banque privée), ni par Macquarie (banque d’investissement).
Deux dirigeants de Deka Investment et de HSBC Global Asset Management, Michael Hallacker et Erich Schilcher, se sont mis à leur compte et ont créé à Francfort la société de gestion Agathon Invest qui se spécialisera sur l’obligataire et les changes. Ils sont secondés par Christian Schiweck, ancien gérant-star de Deka et de DWS, qui a pris l’an dernier une participation dans la boutique londonienne MT Thaler et qui gère le fonds luxembourgeois m4 Alpha Bonds d’Alceda Fund Management et dont Agathon Invest est le conseiller.Agathon Invest, qui compte se spécialiser sur la desserte des investisseurs institutionnels dans l’espace germanophone, a vocation à lancer des fonds offerts au public ainsi que des Spezialfonds ; elle acceptera également des mandats.
Aberdeen va entamer début avril la commercialisation du Aberdeen Global - Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond Fund, compartiment de la Sicav luxembourgeoise Aberdeen Global investi en dette de pays émergents en devises locales. Le lancement concernera aussi la France.Le compartiment est géré par l'équipe dette émergente de la société de gestion écossaise.
Selon le classement trimestriel des fonds français que publie désormais l’agence de notation allemande Feri EuroRating Services AG, Oddo Asset Management occupe la première place dans sa catégorie pour le palmarès au 31 décembre 2009. Feri a attribué les meilleures notes à 18 des 31 fonds d’Oddo Asset Management, ce qui la place en tête du classement avec un quota de fonds bien notés de 58%. Arrivent ensuite State Street et Threadneedle avec un quota de près de 55% chacune (voir aussi NewsManagers du 27 janvier).Au cours de l’automne 2009, Feri a élargi ses services au marché français des fonds et propose désormais une notation pour plus de 3.000 fonds. Plus de 1.000 produits ont reçu un A ou un B, ce qui correspond à un «très bien» ou un «bien». Ainsi, Feri met à disposition des investisseurs privés et institutionnels intéressés des informations et des évaluations sur les fonds pour six pays européens: l’Allemagne, la France, l’Italie, l’Autriche, la Suède et la Suisse. La plateforme en ligne www.feri-fund-rating.com permet aux investisseurs français d’obtenir plus d’informations sur l’ensemble des fonds agréés dans le pays. Selon Tobias Schmidt, membre du directoire de Feri EuroRating Services AG, «la crise économique et financière nous a fait prendre conscience de l’interconnexion mondiale des marchés financiers. Les investisseurs européens ont de plus en plus besoin d’analyses fiables sur les produits d’investissement. Le développement permanent de nos évaluations sur les fonds répond à cette demande croissante d’information. C’est un pas en avant vers l’unification de l’évaluation des fonds au-delà des frontières.»