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26/08/2013

Vol de codes servant au trading à haute fréquence

Selon le quotidien qui se réfère à des sources proches du dossier, le procureur du district de Manhattan, Cyrus Vance, a mis en examen trois personnes accusées d’avoir dérobé des codes informatiques appartenant à une société pratiquant le trading à haute fréquence.
23/08/2013

Edward Bramson to step down as F&C chairman

The activist investor Edward Bramson has resigned from his position as chairman of F&C Asset Management, effective immediately. He is replaced by Kieran Poynter, who had joined the board at F&C in June 2009 as an independent non-executive director. Bramson, founder of the activist firm Sherborne Investors, took over at F&C in 2011 during a major shake-up at the troubled firm. This decision seems to suggest that the recovery plan has been a success. At any rate, Bramson had announced last spring that a restructuring at F&C was well underway.
23/08/2013

Ignis wants to broaden its product range

The asset management firm Ignis Asset Management, an affiliate of the insurance group Phoenix, has announced at the release of its interim results that it has been working to broaden its product range with the launch of absolute return strategies. The Ignis absolute return suite of products is expected to be complemented by a hedge fund version this year, targeted primarily at more sophisticated institutional investors. Emerging Market Debt and Tactical Asset Allocation funds were launched internally, with the former expected to be launched to third parties in due course. Ignis Asset Management also continued to grow its third party franchise in the first half of 2013, winning GBP0.9 billion of net third party inflows. Assets under management totalled GBP64.9 billion at 30 June 2013 compared to GBP66.0 billion at 31 December 2012, reflecting the run-off of life company assets offset by third party asset inflows. IFRS operating profits were flat compared to the first half of 2012 at GBP19 million.
23/08/2013

Former governor of Swiss central bank under investigation

The former governor of the Swiss central bank, Philipp Hildebrand, is under investigation by Swiss prosecutors to determine whether he infringed Swiss federal secrecy laws, the Financial Times reports. A spokesperson for BlackRock, where the person is now employed as vice-chairman, has stated that the investigation was initiated by a complaint from an individual in July 2012, and covered the period preceding Hildebrand’s arrival at the asset management firm. News of the investigation was first published in the magazine Die Weltwoche.
23/08/2013

Aviva Investors recruits for Swiss distribution

Aviva Investors is adding to its distribution team in Switzerland, with the recruitment of Alain Meyer as Business Development Director, Agefi Switzerland report. In this newly-created position, Meier will be responsible for distribution activities serving institutional clients, particularly pension funds in German-speaking and French-speaking Switzerland. Meier, 35, has previously served in a similar position at Oddo Asset Management serving German-speaking clients in Europe.
23/08/2013

BPER group posts half-year inflows of CHF1.1bn

The Groupe Banque Privée Edmond de Rothschild (BPER Group) has reported net inflows in first half 2013 of CHF1.1bn, according to a statement released on 22 August. Assets under management increased by 3.4% to a total of CHF106bn. Net profits for the half remained stable at CHF40m.
23/08/2013

Schroders wins a USD200m mandate in Mexico

Afore Banamex, a pension fund and wholly-owned subsidiary of Citigroup in Mexico, has launched Mexico’s first international investment mandate – initially a $200m global segregated account - with Schroders, with $357.51 billion in assets under management.Afore Banamex awarded Schroders this mandate with the aim of diversifying their investment strategy and taking a specialized approach to investing in international markets. This is the first mandate to be awarded to an international asset manager in the history of the mandatory pension fund system in Mexico.
23/08/2013

Assets under management up 3% at Banque cantonale vaudoise

Assets under management at the Banque cantonale vaudoise group (BCV) as of the end of June were up 3% compared with the end of 2012, to CHF84.4bn, according to a statement released on 22 August. Net inflows for the half totalled CHF540m, resulting in subscriptions totalling CHF1.1bn on the Swiss market, partly offset by redemptions from offshore funds totalling CHF560m. The bank in first half 2013 earned net profits of CHF151m, down 4% compared with the corresponding period of last year.
23/08/2013

New head of institutional activities at PGGM

Jeroen F.J. de Munnik has been appointed chief of institutional business (CIB) and member of PGGM’s executive committee. He succeeds Else Bos, who has been CEO of PGGM since the beginning of March and served as CIB previous to that. Jeroen de Munnik will start at PGGM on 1 October.Jeroen de Munnik joined Aegon Nederland’s management board in 2008, becoming responsible for Aegon’s entire pension business. At the end of 2012 Jeroen de Munnik decided to leave Aegon, after more than 19 years with the company, and take a sabbatical and explore his options for a new step in his career. This step turned out to be PGGM.
23/08/2013

New president and CEO at Catella

The board of directors of Catella AB has appointed Knut Pedersen as the new president and CEO. Knut Pedersen was most recently managing director of ABG Sundal Collier in Sweden. He has previously worked for UBS, Nordea and Öhman in various roles in Sweden and internationally.Knut Pedersen will take up his post on 1 January 2014. He succeeds Johan Ericsson who will then continue in a senior operational role within Catella.
23/08/2013

Funds: Branding is important, but isn't enough

A good brand image alone is not sufficient to attract inflows to a fund when it is coupled with mid-range or poor perforamnce, a study carried out by three employees of ING Investment Managmeent and a member of the Finance School in Luxembourg reveals. The study is entitled “The Lure of the Brand, Evidence from the European Mutual Fund Industry,” published by Jan Jaap Hanzenberg (ING IM), Fabien Irek (Luxembourg School of Finance), Willem van der Scheer (ING IM) and Mariela Stefanova (formerly of ING IM and now of Triodos MeesPierson). Past performance is the primary driver of fund flows, the authors of the study confirm. Brand image nonetheless plays an important role, as it accentuates a “past performance” effect in one direction or the other. A “superior” brand increases sensitivity to past performance, while an “inferior” brand decreases it. “A superior brand could add to their [investor] confidence that they are selecting a winning fund that is able to repeat its outperformance streak in the future,” the document, reported by Financial News, states. The authors of the study claim that investment performance, together with a superior brand, is a “powerful combination” to attract fund inflows. For fund providers, this result is a justification for paying attention to and spending resources on not only the investment performance that they achieve, but also the positioning of their brand image among investors. Finally, a superior brand image protects against outáows. On the contrary, in the case of underperformance, the áows of funds with a superior brand image are more sensitive to past performance than the áows of funds with a mediocre or inferior brand image.
23/08/2013

European funds have a deficit of USD100bn in inflows compared to other markets

Since 2007, the performance of European equity markets has lagged behind those recorded in American markets. As a corollary of this development, in terms of net inflows since 2007, European equity funds (ETFs and mutual funds) have not yet returned to their 2007 levels, and in fact show a deficit of USD100bn, Société Générale Cross Asset Research estimates in its most recent edition of the monthly SG Mutual Fund & ETF Watch. All other markets hae returned above their 2007 levels. This has been the case in emerging markets for several years, and more recently the United States has clearly overtaken its reference levels. It is also the case in Japan, but still to a more modest extent.
23/08/2013

Universe of “F1+” rated money market funds in Europe lost ground in July

The downgrade of French banks in July has not had an effect on the ratings of European money market funds, the financial ratings agency Fitch notes in its most recent surveillance report on money market funds. However, the downgrade has resulted in all three currencies experiencing a decrease in the portfolio weighting of ‘F1+' holdings. The average exposure in ‘F1+' in July has decreased to 44% from 64% in June for Euro MMFs, 46% from 61% for GBP MMFs and 50% from 61% for Offshore USD MMFs.
23/08/2013

Vontobel plans to add to its emerging market debt range

The new head of emerging market debt at Vontobel, Luc D’Hooge, is planning to launch a corporate emerging market debt strategy, as well as a strategy based on debt denominated in local currencies, Citywire reports. Vontobel currently offers only one emerging market fund, the Vontobel Fund Emerging Markets Debt, which was launched in May for D’Hooge, who had recently joined the Swiss group after leaving Dexia AM. The team dedicated to emerging markets at Vontobel includes four people, including D’Hooge, the only portfolio manager at the group, while the other three members are largely responsible for research and analysis functions.
23/08/2013

Two Millennium managers preparing to launch a USD1.4bn hedge fund

Two members of upper management at Millennium Management are preparing to launch a hedge fund in Asia with USD1.4bn, according to sources consulted by the news agency Reuters. This would be the largest hedge fund ever launched in the region. The new hedge fund, known as Symmetry Investment Management, will be based in Hong Kong and led by a portfolio manager from Millennium, Feng Guo, and the regional head of the firm, Michael Robinson. The activity could start up during first quarter 2014, after licenses are obtained and an office is set up. The duo could start up with USD1.2bn from Millennium and USD200m from external investors, which would make the hedge fund the largest ever launched in the region, overtaking Azentus Capital, launched in 2011 with USD1bn. Assets under management at Millennium total USD18.6bn.
23/08/2013

Brazilian fund posts inflows of USD1.3bn in a few months

The Brazilian hedge fund Peninsula Hedge Master Fundo de Investimiento Multimercado, launched in December last year by Peninsula Investimientos, has posted inflows of USD1.3bn since that date, the news agency Bloomberg reports. The Peninsula asset management firm was founded last year with the support of the Credit Suisse group. The fund, which is now closed to new investors, is managed by the CEO of Peninsula, Antonio Quintella, who had previously led the Americas region at the Credit Suisse group. The fund has earned returns of 7.14% since the beginning of the year, compared to 4.62% for the inter-bank rate.
23/08/2013

Appointment at RBC GAM

RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM) has appointed Mayur Nallamala as head of Asian equities. Nallamala joined RBC GAM a few months ago to become responsible for Asia-Pacific ex Japan mandates totalling about USD4bn. In his new role, Nallamala will be responsible for Asian equity portfolios at RBC GAM which represent a total of about USD4.5bn. He will lead a team of managers and analysts from Hong Kong.
23/08/2013

Banks to reimburse up to GBP1.3bn for abusive sales

The British Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on 22 August announced that banks would need to reimburse up to GBP1.3bn to their clients for abusive sales of credit card protection policies. In addition to the Card Protection Plan Limited (CPP) company, there are 13 banks implicated, including Barclays, HSBC Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and an affiliate of Lloyds Banking Group (LBG). Seven million clients, who have in all purchased or renewed 23 million insurance policies, are concerned. They had purchased protection products for their credit cards or to protect against theft of identity documents. These clients received misleading or unclear information about the policies, which was intended to incite them to buy protection which was not needed, or which covered exaggerated risks, the FCA explains. The major banks and companies issuing the credit cards incited millions of their clients to buy products from the CPP company. “A large number of companies have teamed up voluntarily to create a recovery plan which will offer a fair solution to clients. This type of responsible, collaborative approach represents a good example of the way that these groups are increasingly taking responsibility for rebuilding trust, step by step,” says Martin Wheatley, CEO of the FCA, in a statement.
23/08/2013

Giant market outage at Nasdaq

The US electronic stock exchange Nasdaq on 22 August experienced an extremely rare incident: the suspension of trading of all equities for several hours due to a technical problem. The suspension of trading, which occurred in the middle of the trading day, lasted nearly three hours for most shares. The Nasdaq authorities decided to suspend trading of all equities registered on Nasdaq at approximately 12:15 local time (16:15 GMT), due to a problem which affected the communication system which allows for trades on equities listed on Nasdaq to be made from other market platforms, such as the New York Stock Exchange. Nasdaq is so far not providing any information about the source of the problem, but some observers of the market are pointing the finger at high-frequency traders.
23/08/2013

Moody's may downgrade ratings for four major US banks

The ratings agency Moody’s on 22 August announced that it is planning to lower its ratings for four of the largest US banks, due to an expected reduction in financial support that can be expected from the United States governmet in the future. Moody’s “examines the ratings of priority and subordinate lenders to the holding companies for the six largest US banks, at a time when it is considering reducing its projections of government support” in the event of a financial crisis, the ratings agency has explained in a statement. JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank by asset volumes, whose main rating is A2, Wells Fargo, also A2, an the business banks Goldman Sachs (A3) and Morgan Stanley (Baa1) may see their ratings downgraded in the mid-term. Bank of America (Baa2), the second-largest US bank, and Citigroup (Baa2) are also subject to review by Moody’s. But the ratings agency does not make predictions about the direction that nay potential changes to their ratings may go, where the two ratings had previously been on a positive watch for potential upgrade. Bank of New York Mellon and State Street, whose ratings had previously been on a negative ratings watch, are also in the spotlight.
23/08/2013

Nomination chez RBC GAM

RBC Global Asset Management (RBC GAM) vient de nommer Mayur Nallamala en qualité de responsable des actions asiatiques.Mayur Nallamala avait rejoint RBC GAM il y a quelques mois pour prendre en charge des mandats Asie-Pacifique hors Japon pour un montant d’environ 4 milliards de dollars. Dans ses nouvelles fonctions, Mayur Nallamala sera en charge des portefeuilles d’actions asiatiques de RBC GAM qui représentent un montant de quelque 1,5 milliard de dollars. Il dirigera une équipe de gérants et d’analystes à partir de Hong Kong.
23/08/2013

Nouveau responsable de l’activité institutionnelle chez PGGM

Le fonds de pension néerlandais PGGM (140 milliards d’euros) a recruté Jeroen F.J. de Munnik en tant que chief of institutional business et membre du comité exécutif. Il succède à Else Bos, qui est CEO de la structure depuis début mars et était précédemment en charge de ces fonctions de responsable de l’activité institutionnelle.Jeroen de Munnik travaillait précédemment chez Aegon, où il était responsable jusqu’à la fin 2012 de l’activité retraite. Fin 2012, il avait décidé de quitter la société où il avait passé 19 ans pour prendre une année sabbatique.
23/08/2013

Rabobank rattrapé par l'affaire du Libor

La banque néerlandaise Rabobank a indiqué hier avoir passé une charge dans ses comptes du premier semestre en vue d’un accord avec les régulateurs sur son implication dans la manipulation du taux interbancaire, rapporte L’Agefi. La banque a précisé que la somme mise de côté pour le Libor n'était pas incluse dans le poste «provisions» de son bilan mais dans la catégorie «autres engagements», cette dernière s'élevant à 11,88 milliards de dollars à fin juin, contre 11,07 milliards fin décembre et 11,32 milliards il y a un an.
23/08/2013

Nouveau président et CEO chez Catella

Knut Perdersen a été nommé nouveau président et CEO de l’établissement financier suédois Catella. L’intéressé était dernièrement managing director d’ABG Sundal Collier en Suède. Il a aussi travaillé pour UBS, Nordea et Öhman en Suède et à l’international.Knut Perdersen, qui prendra ses fonctions le 1er janvier, succèdera à Johan Ericsson, lequel restera au sein de la société et occupera un rôle opérationnel senior.
23/08/2013
Fonds

Deux cadres de Millenium préparent un hedge fund de 1,4 milliard de dollars

Deux cadres dirigeants de Millenium Management préparent le lancement en Asie d’un hedge fund de 1,4 milliard de dollars, selon des sources consultées par l’agence Reuters. Il s’agirait du plus gros hedge fund jamais lancé dans la région.Le nouveau hegde fund, dénommé Symmetry Investment Management, sera basé à Hong Kong et piloté par un gérant de portefeuille de Millenium, Feng Guo, et le responsable régional de la société, Michael Robinson. L’activité pourrait démarrer dans le courant du premier trimestre 2014, après obtention des licences et mise en place du bureau. Le duo pourrait démarrer avec 1,2 milliard de dollars de Millenium et 200 millions de dollars d’investisseurs extérieurs, ce qui ferait de ce nouveau hedge fund le plus important jamais lancé dans la région, devant Azentus Capital lancé en 2011 avec 1 milliard de dollars.Les actifs sous gestion de Millenium s'élèvent à 18,6 milliards de dollars
Fonds
23/08/2013

123Venture cède à Samsung sa participation dans Novaled AG

La société de gestion 123Venture spécialisée dans le capital-investissement a annoncé la vente au groupe coréen Samsung, de sa participation au capital de Novaled AG, une société leader dans le domaine de la technologie et des matériaux OLED et de l'électronique organique. Le montant de la transaction s'élève à 347 millions de dollars (260 millions d’euros), selon un communiqué.Dans le détail, la société Cheil Industries, une filiale de Samsung prend 50% du capital de l’entreprise, tandis que Samsung Electronics prend pour sa part 40%. Par l’intermédiaire de sa filiale de capital-risque (Samsung Venture Investment), le coréen détenait déjà depuis 2011 les 10% restants de Novaled AGLes fonds gérés par 123Venture (FCPI) ont rejoint le capital de Novaled dès ses premiers tours de table en 2003 et ont été les premiers investisseurs français à rejoindre le capital de l’entreprise, basée à Dresde (Allemagne) et présidé par un Français, Gildas Sorin. Novaled emploie plus de 130 personnes et détient plus de 500 brevets autour des technologies OLED. Plusieurs fonds de capital-risque français et allemands avaient financé la société, dont TechFund Europe, 123Venture, Omnes Capital, eCapital, TechnoStart Ventures.

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