In January-June 2013, operating profits at BHF Bank, which is on the verge of being acquired by RHJ International from Deutsche Bank, totalled EUR6.8m, compared with EUR5.4m, confirming the success of the firm’s recovery plan.Meanwhile, the total assets have been reduced to EUR7.5bn, from EUR8.4bn one year earlier.Assets under management have remained stable at EUR37bn.

The Zurich-based private bank Rothschild Bank is seeking to develop its international wealth management activities in Asia. To this end, Alois Müller has been recruited from early September as Managing Director, responsible for the Rothschild Wealth Management arm in Northern Asia, with headquarters in Hong Kong, a statement released on Wednesday states. Asia is a central axis in the growth strategy for wealth management, the bank notes. Müller joins from UBS, where he served in various management rols for 35 years, in Zurich, London, New York, and most recently, Hong Kong.

For Swiss banks, the requirements of MiFid II and the financial services law (LSFIN) do not represent an insurmountable obstacle to the continuation of their activities abroad. Swiss banks estimate that international activities will remain attractive for it, despite regulations now in preparation, particularly in Europe. They see particular potential for growth in wealth management mandates, a durvey by PwC published n 28 August entitled “Barometer Investor Protection Rules,” concerning the impact of investor protection on the Swiss financial market, states. Swiss financial service providers are continuing to bet on cross-border acivities, although a future requirement for Swiss banks located outside the European Union to have a branch inside the European Union governed by MiFID II, the Euorpean directive concerning financial instrument markets, has often been mentioned, the survey finds. Two thirds of investment banks and 44% of cantonal and regional banks intend to remain attractive to clients in the European Union, and to attract them. All participants in the survey say that they would like to grow in the wealth management mandate section as a priority, where margins are comfortable. In this sector, spending related to the introduction of new regulatory rules is “relatively low” and banks could realise significant economies of scale. Another lesson of the survey is that nearly three quarters of participants would like to restrict the current diversity of complex products offered to their clients. They are planning “a general reduction in the complexity of the number of investment products, followed immediately by a decline in volume for these products.” The survey covered 30 Swiss financial service providers with a banking license in Switzerland, or licensed there for securities trading. These are investment banks (foreign and Swiss private banks and wealth managers) and cantonal or regional banks.

The Bank of Thailand is planning to create a sovereign fund in order to use its excess currency reserves and increase the revenues of the central bank, the Bangkok Post reports. The government of the central bank has for years been calling for the creation of a sovereign fund. This time, the return of this project to the foreground is related to the delicate financial situation at the central bank, which has seen losses of THB531bn, or over EUR12bn, largely due to its intervention in the currency markets to stabilise the currency. The sovereign fund, which will be known as the New Opportunity Fund, will be managed as a separate entity or by the central bank itself. The size of the fund has not been specified yet. Currency reserves in Thailand total about USD172bn.

The investment company Eurazeo has returned to profitability in first half, announcing net profits of EUR328.8m, compared with a loss of EUR126.6m in the same period of last year. In the year 2012 as a whole, Eurazeo posted a net loss for the part of the group of EUR198.5m related to one-time charges. Consolidated net income totalled EUR1.1bn in second quarter, down 1.8% year on year. For the half, it is down 2.2% to EUR2.1bn, according to a statement from the group. The amount of proceeds from sales is EUR853m since the beginning of the year, a statement says. Re-evaluated net assets (RNA), which are considered the most relevant figure for investment companies to measure the value of its stakes as a whole, totalled EUR58 per share as of 30 June 2013, up 7.2% compared with the end of 2012. The firm has since the beginning of the year made four acquisitions for a total of EUR100m (IES, Idéal Résidences, Peters Surgical and Cap Vert Finance), two of which are in the key target strategic sectors of health and the environment.

Funds People reports that N mas1 AM in July registered the Spanish hedge fund QMCII Iberian Capital Fund with the CNMV, which aims to acquire large but not majority stakes (between 5% and 20%) in five to seven Spanish and Portuguese small caps (up to EUR1bn in market cap), and which uses the IBEX Small Cap as its benchmark index. The fund manager may also invest in convertible bonds in exceptional cases.The fund is available in four share classes, with fees of 1.35% for the A share class, 1.55% for the B share class, 1.75% for the C share class, and 0.95% for the D share class. All of these charge a performance commission, of 15% for A, B and C share classes, and 10.5% for the D share class. This commission will be charged only of internal returns for the subscriber exceed 7.5% p.a..

Assets under management at the LGT group, a specialist in private banking and asset management, as of the end of June totalled CHF108.7bn, up by about 7% compared with the end of December 2012, according to a statement released on 28 August. This development is largely due to a net inflows of CHF4.8bn in first half, down slightly compared with first half 2012 (CHF5.5bn), but which represents an annual growth rate of 9%, which it considers “encouraging.” Net profits, however, were down 33% in first half, to CHF86.3m, due to an increase in provisions to confront changed fiscal conditions, including a tax withholding agreement signed between Switzerland and the United Kingdom, a statement says.

MetLife Advisors has selected ClearBridge Investments, an affiliate of Legg Mason, to manage a growth fund, according to an SEC document cited by Mutual Fund Wire. The fund had previously been managed by Janus, and will thus be changing names, to become the ClearBridge Aggressive Growth Portfolio II.

Sweden’s East Capital, a specialist in emerging and frontier markets, will launch a master-feeder structure in line with the possibilities provided by the UCITS IV legislation.The asset manager’s five Swedish UCITS funds will be converted into feeder funds investing their assets in the corresponding master funds, under East Capital’s existing Luxembourg SICAV umbrella. Implementation is planned for October 1. The master funds are managed by East Capital’s dedicated management company in Luxembourg – East Capital Asset Management SA.“The master-feeder structure will enable East Capital to increase operational efficiency and enhance its distribution efforts internationally, while ensuring its investment approach remains consistent”, according to a press statement. The new structure will also enable investors in the Luxembourg SICAV funds to invest into three new funds; East Capital Baltic Fund, East Capital Balkan Fund and East Capital Turkey Fund.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners is planning to transfer all of its Eastern European management, including management from Paris, to its subsidiary Alfred Berg, based in Stockholm, Sweden, Realtid reports, citing an article in the Swedish daily business newspaper Dagens Industri. “We are going to become the centre for BNP Paribas IP for the management of assets in Eastern Europe, particularly for equities,” Thomas Scherp, CEO of Alfred Berg, has told Dagens Industri. So far, Alfred Berg has about SEK5bn in assets under management in a Russian fund in Stockholm. Dagens Industri esimates BNP Paribas IP’s Eastern European asset management at about USD2bn.

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) on 28 August launched a consultation on methodology to evaluate key attributes of resolution regimes for systemic financial institutions. The Council has laid out a draft methodology with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank as well as normalisation organisms. The methodology proposes a series of evaluation criteria for each international standard, as well as examples and explanations to guide interpretation of the standards. This represents a significant step in settling the problem of institutions that are “too big to fail,” the Council says in a statement. On 12 August, the Council had previously submitted proposals for a financial resolution mechanisms aimed at systemic non-financial institutions.

A group of leading international investment institutions with USD 5.8tn of assets has urged tough new public disclosure rules for oil, gas and mining companies listed in Canada, even as it has warned against the US rolling back its own disclosure rules in this area, according to a press statement released on August 28.In separate letters to the US Securities and Exchange Commission and Natural Resources Canada, the investors - among which Amundi, Allianz GI, Aviva Investors, ING IM and UBS GAM, have urged the adoption of a consistent global standard for all significant tax and royalty payments made by extractive companies across their global operations.The move reflects a growing global trend aimed at deterring corruption in resource-dependent countries, beginning with the passage in 2010 of tough extractive sector transparency provisions within the US Dodd Frank Act. This was followed by equivalent requirements in the EU’s Transparency and Accounting Directives in June 2013, following which Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced plans at the G8 Summit in June to follow suit with similar regulations for Canadian-listed extractive companies.However, a July ruling in a US District Court on a suit filed by the American Petroleum Institute threatens to set back this effort by seeking to block the US regulation, and raises uncertainty for companies and investors operating internationally. Investors have therefore come together to highlight the importance of high standards of transparency as well as consistent global regulation.

The British firm Legal & General Investments has launched an inflation-linked fund, the Global Inflation Linked Bond Index Fund, at the request of independent financial adivsers (IFA), Fund Web reports. The fund, which will charge 0.2% per year, will be based on the Barclays World Government ex UK Inflation Linked Bond fund, composed of inflation-linked bonds issued by governments not including the United Kingdom. The bonds included in the index must be rated at least A- for G7 countries and the euro zone, and AA- for other issuers.

M&G has been required to adjust the income paid to clients for the second consecutive month after accounting errors which led it to overpay investors in its High Yield Corporate Bond Fund (GBP1.3bn), Fund Web reports. About 32,000 subscribers received an excessive sum in May. In July, payments were reduced to take that error into account, but an M&G investigation has found that the firm had excessively reduced the payments. As a result, the next payments, on 31 August, will be more than normal.

The alternative asset management group Man Group has decided to close some products which had aimed to protect the capital of their clients against potential losses, which did not meet their performance objectives, Bloomberg reports. The Man Vision fund, whose assets under management total USD40m, and which aims for returns of over 10% per year, has been closed, according to a letter sent on 12 August to clients, which was obtained by Bloomberg. Man Group has also closed other similar products whose performance was related to that of AHL Diversified, the largest hedge fund from the firm, whose assets under management total about USD14bn, and which has been affected by the announcement by the US Federal Reserve that it is gradually phasing out its quantitative easing. Man Vision, whose assets under management totalled USD160m one year ago, has lost about 5.6% in first half 2013, according to statistics from Bloomberg. The fund also shows a loss of 12% since its launch in July 2008. Assets under management by the guaranteed products unit have fallen 64% in the past two yearsa, to a total of USD4.7bn.

The investment office of the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) would like to increase its exposure to Asia by a factor of seven in the next few years, Asian Investor reports. The Office currently has nine investment professionals in Hong Kong, and is already planning to increase its investment capacity in private equity and consequently to increase its personnel by at least 30% by the end of the year. The only problem is that it is currently difficult to find private equity specialists in the region, Asian Investor observes. Assets under management by the investment office of the CPP total about CAD189m.

The Australian fund management firm AMP Capital has already raised AUD305m for its second infrastructure fund, which it hopes to close with about AUD1bn in early 2014, Asian Investor reports. Most investors in the AMP Capital Infrastructure Debt Fund II are Japanese insurers and pension funds, but one of the largest South Korean insurers is also present, as well as Chinese insurers and pension funds. The fund will invest in subordinate debt on infrastructure assets for services including water, gas electricity, transport and communication in Europe, North America and Australia. An initial investment of GBP50m was made in late July in the form of a subordinate loan to Heathrow airport.

The CAC 40 is calculated not including dividends, unlike the German DAX. The Paris stock exchange would now light to emphasize profitability on the index, which includes dividends, Les Echos reports. The various indices of the Paris stock exchange are price indices which do not take into account dividend payments to shareholders. The CAC 40 price index has risen 8.77% since the beginning of the year, while the profitability index, for its part, is up by 11.95%.

Renaissance Asset Management is planning to merge its Russian infrastructure fund and its Russian equity fund, Citywire reports. In a letter to shareholders, the asset management firm states that it feels the Renaissance Russian Infrastructure Equities fund will be more useful as part of a larger strategy.

According to statistics from the Luxembourg financial sector surveillance commission (CSSF), net assets at collective investment organisms totalled EUR2.523186trn as of 31 July. 3,884 OPC funds have been counted, of which 2,530 have multiple sub-funds. These number 12,215, in which net assets represent EUR2.287086trn, the CSSF states. As of 30 June, total assets in collective investment organisms in Luxembourg totalled EUR2.48658trn, which represents a decline of EUR97.51bn compared with the end of May.

Renaissance Asset Management prévoit de fusionner son fonds infrastructures russes et son fonds actions russes, rapporte Citywire. Dans une lettre aux actionnaires, la société de gestion indique qu’elle pense que le fonds Renaissance Russian Infrastructure Equities sera plus utile dans le cadre d’une stratégie plus large.

Selon les statistiques de la Commission de surveillance du secteur financier (CSSF) au Luxembourg, l’actif net des organismes de placements collectifs s’est élevé à 2 523,186 milliards d’euros au 31 juillet dernier. 3884 OPC ont été recensés dont 2 503 à compartiments multiples. Ces derniers sont 12 215 dans lesquels l’actif net représente 2 287,086 milliards d’euros, indique la CSSF.A noter qu’au 30 juin, l’encours total des organismes de placement collectifs au Luxembourg est ressorti à 2.486,58 milliards d’euros, ce qui représentait une diminution de 97,51 milliards sur fin mai.

La société d’investissement Eurazeo est repassée dans le vert au premier semestre, annonçant mercredi un bénéfice net de 328,8 millions d’euros contre une perte de 126,6 millions d’euros sur la même période l’an passé. Sur l’ensemble de 2012, Eurazeo avait enregistré une perte nette part du groupe de 198,5 millions d’euros liée à des exceptionnels.Le chiffre d’affaires consolidé est ressorti à 1,1 milliard d’euros au deuxième trimestre, en baisse de 1,8% sur un an. Pour le semestre, il a diminué de 2,2% à 2,1 milliards d’euros, selon un communiqué du groupe. Le montant des produits de cessions s'élèvent à 853 millions d’euros depuis le début de l’année, selon le communiqué.L’actif net réévalué (ANR), donnée jugée la plus pertinente pour les sociétés d’investissement et qui mesure la valeur de l’ensemble des participations, atteint 58 euros par action au 30 juin 2013, en hausse de 7,2% par rapport à fin 2012.La société a réalisé depuis le début de l’année quatre acquisitions pour un montant de 100 millions d’euros (IES, Idéal Résidences, Péters Surgical et Cap Vert Finance), dont deux dans des secteurs stratégiques cibles, la santé et l’environnement.

Pimco a l’intention de renforcer son activité de gestion alternative dans les mois qui viennent, à la fois pour les clients individuels et institutionnels, rapporte le Wall Street Journal. Cette initiative pourrait se traduire par le lancement de nouveaux fonds investis dans des actifs comme la dette des entreprises en difficulté en Europe. Douglas Hodge, le COO de Pimco, a qualifié les placements alternatifs de « domaine très important pour nous » dans une interview au Wall Street Journal. Pimco dispose déjà d’une activité de gestion alternative, mais celle-ci a jusqu’ici été éclipsée par sa forte présence dans les obligations. La société gère 110 milliards de dollars d’actifs dans des fonds alternatifs liquides et 27 milliards de dollars dans des stratégies de private equity et de hedge funds.

MetLife Advisers a choisi ClearBridge Investments, une filiale de Legg Mason, pour gérer un fonds de croissance, selon un document de la SEC cité par Mutual Fund Wire. Le fonds était précédemment géré par Janus et changera donc de nom pour devenir ClearBridge Aggressive Growth Portfolio II.

La société de gestion suédoise East Capital, spécialiste des marchés émergents, va lancer une structure « maître-nourricier », l’un des outils de la directive OPCVM IV qui permet de regrouper les actifs gérés dans un OPCVM coordonné maître en y associant des OPCVM coordonnés nourriciers de différents Etats de l’Espace économique européen.Concrètement, les cinq OPCVM de droit suédois de la société de gestion seront transformés en OPCVM nourriciers qui investiront leurs actifs dans les fonds maîtres correspondants logés dans la Sicav luxembourgeoise d’East Capital. Ces derniers sont gérés par la structure luxembourgeoise East Capital Asset Management. La mise en œuvre est prévue pour le 1er octobre.Cette structure « maître-nourricier » va permettre à East Capital de « gagner en efficience et d’accroître ses efforts de distribution à l’international », indique un communiqué. La nouvelle structure va aussi donner aux investisseurs de sa Sicav luxembourgeoise un accès à trois nouveaux fonds : East Capital Baltic Fund, East Capital Balkan Fund and East Capital Turkey Fund.

BNP Paribas Investment Partners prévoit de transférer toute sa gestion Europe de l’Est, notamment gérée depuis Paris, à sa filiale Alfred Berg basée en Suède, à Stockholm, rapporte Realtid, citant un article du quotidien d’affaires suédois Dagens Industri. « Nous allons devenir le centre de BNP Paribas IP pour la gestion des actifs Europe de l’Est, notamment pour les actions », déclare Tomas Scherp, directeur général d’Alfred Berg, à Dagens Industri.A ce jour, Alfred Berg gère environ 5 milliards de couronnes suédoises dans un fonds russe depuis Stockholm. Dagens Industri estime la gestion d’actifs Europe de l’Est de BNP Paribas IP à environ 2 milliards de dollars.

Funds People rapport que Nmas1 AM a fait enregistrer fin juillet par la CNMV le fonds alternatif de droit espagnol QMCII Iberian Capital Fund qui a vocation à prendre des participations significatives mais non majoritaires (entre 5 et 20 %) dans cinq à sept sociétés de petite capitalisation espagnoles et portugaises (au maximum 1 milliard d’euros de capitalisation) et qui utilise l’IBEX Small Cap comme indice de référence. A titre exceptionnel, le gérant pourra investir également en obligations convertibles.Le fonds est disponible en quatre classes de parts chargés à 1,35 % pour les A, à 1,55 % pour les B, à 1,75 % pour les C et 0,95 % pour les D. Toutes comportent une commission de performance, de 15 % pour les A, B et C, et de 10,5 % pour les D. Cette commission ne sera facturée que si le taux de rendement interne pour le souscripteur est supérieur à 7,5 %.

M&G a été contraint d’ajuster les revenus versés aux clients pour le deuxième mois consécutif après des erreurs comptables qui l’ont conduit à surpayer les investisseurs de son fonds High Yield Corporate Bond Fund (1,3 milliard de livres), rapporte Fund Web. Environ 32.000 souscripteurs ont perçu une somme excessive en mai. En juillet, les paiements ont été réduits pour prendre en compte cette erreur, mais une enquête de M&G a démontré que la société avait diminué de manière excessive ces versements. Résultat, les prochains revenus, prévus le 31 août, seront supérieurs à la normale.

Le groupe de gestion alternative Man Group a décidé de fermer un certain nombre de produits qui visaient à immuniser les capitaux de leurs clients contre des pertes éventuelles et qui n’ont pas atteint leurs objectifs de performance, rapporte Bloomberg.Le fonds Man Vision, dont les actifs sous gestion s'élevaient à 40 millions de dollars et qui visait une performance de plus de 10% par an, a été fermé, selon une lettre du 12 août adressée à la clientèle et dont l’agence Bloomberg a eu copie.Man Group a également fermé d’autres produits similaires dont la performance était liée à celle d’AHL Diversified, le plus gros hedge fund de la société, dont les actifs sous gestion s'élèvent à quelque 14 milliards de dollars et qui a été affecté par l’annonce de la Réserve fédérale américaine d’un arrêt progressif de sa politique accommodante.Man Vision, dont les actifs sous gestion totalisaient 160 millions de dollars il y a un an, a perdu environ 5,6% au premier semestre 2013, selon les statistiques de Bloomberg. Le fonds affiche également une perte de 12% depuis son lancement en juillet 2008.Les actifs sous gestion du pôle des produits garantis ont chuté de 64% au cours des deux dernières années pour s'établir à 4,7 milliards de dollars.