The wheels are turning at La Banque Postale AM. Jean-Luc Enguéhard will be leaving his position as chairman of the board at La Banque Postale AM, and will become an adviser to Philippe Wahl, chairman of the board at La Banque Postale, the firm announced on 15 February. At the same time, he will become chairman of the supervisory board at La Banque Postale Asset Management (LBPAM).He will be replaced in his position as chairman of the board of LBPAM by Chantal Lory, who becomes a member of the executive board at La Banque Postale.Enguéhard was appointed as chairman of the board at Sogéposte in 1999, which became La Banque Postale Asset Management in 2006. He has been a member of the AMF college since June 2011, and he will retain this position as well as his seats as a member of the strategic committee of the French financial management association (AFG) and the representative of corporate members of LBPAM to EFAMA.Lory, for her part, joined La Banque Postale Financement in March 2009, and was chairman of the board.

Brookfield Asset Management has recruited Neil Thassim as director of private funds for Asia. He will be based in Hong Kong, Asian Investor reports. The asset management firm will in the next few months make a series of recruitments as additions to its local team. Thassim had previously been managing director at RREEF, where he was head of Asia-Pacific real estate business at the Deutsche Bank affiliate.

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and the International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) have on February 15 published a second consultative paper which represents a near-final proposal on margin requirements for non- centrally cleared derivatives. Several features of the near-final proposal are intended to manage the liquidity impact of the margin requirements on financial market participants. The proposed requirements would allow for the introduction of a universal initial margin threshold of EUR50 million. The results of a quantitative impact study (QIS) conducted in 2012 indicate that application of the threshold could reduce the total liquidity costs by 56% relative to a margining framework with a zero initial margin threshold, which was initially proposed in the July 2012 consultative paper on margin requirements for non-centrally cleared derivatives. The proposal also envisages a gradual phase-in to provide market participants with sufficient time to adjust to the requirements. The requirement to collect and post initial margin on non-centrally cleared trades is proposed to be phased in over a four year period beginning 2015 and begin with the largest, most active and most systemically risky derivative market participants. Comments on these issues should be submitted by Friday 15 March 2013.

The Basel Committee on 15 February published its recommendations on the management of risks related to the settlement of currency transactions. This is an update of a document initially published in 2000. Since then, the market has developed considerably, and although significant progress has bee made to reduce the risks in currency transactions, an update was necessary. The document is particularly focused on issues related to governance in currency transactions, and varius risks inherent in the practice of currency transactions, such as liquidity risks, operational risks and legal risks.

The CNMV has issued a sales license for the Luxembourg-registered G Fund from the French firm Groupama Asset Management, founded in December 2010, and which currently has six sub-funds, with the objective of eventually creating 15, Funds People reports, citing s statement from Groupama AM.For now, the firm will only sell the G Fund Alpha Fixed Income sub-fund, managed by Laurent Fabiani Lagarde, in Spain.

Earlier this year, ING launched the ING (L) Liquid Euribor 3M fund, which so far has assets of EUR207m. These are largely sums invested by investors who were already clients of the firm, as part of their asset allocations. The fund, however is in an active sales phase, and when asked by Newsmanagers, Vincent Juvyns, client portfolio manager at ING IM, says the firm expects assets under management of EUR500m by the end of the year. Due to the presence in the portfolio of papers rated Investment Grae – A3/P3/F3 short term – currently 5% - meaning securities below the rating required by regulations, the fund is not classed as a traditional Money Market Fund, but, says Juvyns, it may be considered a “cash equivalent” fund. This is because for security, for securities with the minimum rating, the exposure of the portfolio cannot exceed 1% per issuer (and 10% per government issuer). ING (L) Liquid Euribor 3M aims to earn returns equal to those of the euribor 3 month over a period of three months. In the range, this product finds its place alongside the flagship money market fund (Short-Term Money Market Funds) from ING IM, ING (L) Liquidi euro, with EUR4.4bn in assets, out of EUR8bn in this asset class overall at the giant. ISIN code: LU0396758384 (A share class) /LU0396758541(B share class) /LU0396758897 (C share class)/LU0396759192 (E share class)

A spokesperson for Lombard Odier has told Citywire that LO Funds – Pzena Global Value was closed at the beginning of January because the product, launched in May 2007 and managed by the New York asset management boutique Pzena Investment Management, no longer had sufficient assets. The most recent fact sheet indicates that as of the end of September, assets totalled USD40.53m. The performance of the fund over three years to the end of November totalled 9.2% in US dollar, compared with 24.22% for the MSCI World TR USD.

Since 15 February, Euronext Fund Service (EFS) from NYSE Euronext has been listing 179 open-ended funds (non-ETF), following the admission to trading of five Netherlands-registered profiled products from SNS. The funds all charge fees of 0.30%.The products are the SNS Profiel Blauw (NL0010364451), SNS Profiel Geel (NL0010364469), SNS Profiel Oranje (NL0010364477), SNS Profiel Rood (NL0010364485) and SNS Profiel Paars (NL0010364493).

The French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), on 15 February announced the appointment of Olivier Vigna as chief economist and director of the research, strategy and risk division of the office of the director of regulation and international affairs. Vigna, educated at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Cachan and a graduate of IEP Paris, joined the Bank of France in 1996. He spent 5 years as a banking controller for the banking commission, and then 5 years as an economist and statistician in the balance of payments office. In 2005, he became a macroeconomist in the office of foreign economies, and then head of the conjunctural diagnostic department of the conjuncture and macroeconomic projections department in 2007, and then head of the market relationships and crisis management office of the financial stability department in 2010, and a member of the consulting commission of the AMF on individual and collective management activities.

On 15 February, the day after the announcement that Berkshire Hathaway and 3G Capital are acquiring H.J. Heinz Company for USD28bn, the SEC announced that it has obtained an order from a Manhattan court to freeze the assets in a trading account in Zurich which is suspected of having been used for trades which benefited from inside information about the operation, which may have made illegal profits of USD1.7m.The Wall Street Journal reports that the account was at GS Bank, an affiliate of Goldman Sachs, which is not involved in the deal.The case concerns the purchase of call options the day before Heinz shares gained 20%, and trading volumes on the share rose by more than 1,700%.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) is currently exploiting the responses to requests for information which it sent in late 2012 to operators of dark pools, and that requests will be sent to other operators.The regulator wants to obtain additional information about the way in which these trading systems process orders from clients, and the contents of information provided to clients. It would also like to know if the affiliates of operators of dark pools have access to information about trades made by clients.

The Qatar sovereign funds is rumoured to have entered talks with the second-largest player in the Russian banking sector, VTB, which is listed in Russia and London, the Telegraph reports. The Qatari fund would be prepared to invest USD3bn to USD3.5bn in the banking giant.

Le taux de créances douteuses figurant dans les portefeuilles de prêts des banques espagnoles s’est élevé à 10,4% en décembre, un ratio en recul ainsi après le record de 11,4% du mois précédent, selon des données publiées lundi par la Banque d’Espagne. Ce taux est lié au transfert d’actifs toxiques vers la Sareb, la structure de défeasance espagnole. Le total des créances en situation d’arriérés atteignait 167,4 milliards d’euros en décembre.

La banque collabore avec le gendarme boursier américain dans le cadre d’une enquête ouverte par ce dernier pour soupçons de délits d’initiés dans le cadre du rachat de Heinz par Berkshire Hathaway et 3G Capital. La SEC a porté plainte contre des courtiers ayant utilisé un compte en Suisse pour acheter des options Heinz avant l’annonce du projet de rachat. La SEC ne mentionne pas Goldman Sachs mais se réfère au compte en Suisse avec la mention «Compte GS».

La Banque centrale de Singapour et les banques concernées songent à signer l’acte de disparition du taux interbancaire local en dollar, le Sibor (Singapore interbank offered rate), sur fond de poursuites à travers le monde au sujet de soupçons de manipulation de tels taux.

Dans le cadre des négociations européennes sur l’encadrement des salaires des banquiers, le Royaume-Uni devrait proposer un compromis avec ses partenaires qui inclut « le principe» d’une rémunération plafond, selon le journal qui cite un document gouvernemental de huit pages dont il se serait procuré une copie. Londres compte également faire pression pour obtenir le retrait de certaines propositions telle que celle d’un niveau de bonus qui ne pourrait pas excéder le montant du salaire fixe. Selon le rapport, cette mesure encouragerait la mise en place d’une politique «de salaires fixes plus importants» qui pénaliseraient la stabilité financière.

Le quotidien veut croire que l’arrivée effective d’Emmanuel Roman en remplacement de Peter Clarke à la direction générale du gestionnaire alternatif le 28 février, à l’occasion de la présentation des résultats annuels, sera l’occasion d’une refonte de la direction. Le nouveau patron va notamment étendre ses propres pouvoirs et ceux du comité exécutif.

Le Conseil planche sur un projet de rotation tous les dix à douze ans. Les professionnels français souhaitent un allongement jusqu'à 24 ans

Stefan Isaacs, gérant senior obligataire chez M&G

Les commissaires aux comptes français craignent que la rotation régulière des cabinets, débattue à Bruxelles dans le cadre de la réforme de l’audit, nuise à la qualité de leur travail. Les propositions qui circulent au Conseil des ministres ne sont pas faites pour les rassurer.

Philippe Sabbah, président de Robeco France

Ce matin le yen chutait de 0,7% contre dollar, mais la Corée du Sud menace déjà de mener des politiques de rétorsion pour protéger son économie

Les clients de SAC Capital Advisors auraient fait des démarches pour retirer 1,7 milliard de dollars sur les 6 milliards que gère la société du fait de l’érosion de leur confiance face à l’enquête qui la vise pour délit d’initié, selon le journal qui cite des sources proches. Malgré des rendements moyens de 30% affichés par la société, environ 660 millions d’encours pourraient ainsi être retirés dès le mois prochain.

L'IPO de la Bourse de Moscou réalisée en bas de la fourchette prévue, a rapporté 373 millions d'euros. La Russie veut s'affirmer comme place financière

La région des 3.515 points devrait contenir toute baisse supplémentaire et réorienter l’indice vers les 3.900 points

Réunis à Moscou, les ministres des Finances et les banquiers centraux du Groupe des 20 ont ménagé le Japon, critiqué pour son pilotage du yen

Rachid Medjaoui, directeur adjoint de la gestion à La Banque Postale AM

David Ganozzi, gérant allocation d’actifs, Fidelity Worldwide Investment

Olivier de Larouzière, directeur taux d’intérêt de Natixis AM

Julien Le Louët, responsable du service financier et immobilier de l’OCIRP dans un article paru dans Option Finance numéro 1208 : Nous gérons actuellement 1.9 milliard d’euros, essentiellement en produit de taux afin de maintenir constamment un rendement comptable conforme à nos engagements. Nous détenons un peu plus de 73% de produits de taux, 20% d’actions, 5% d’immobilier en direct. Les 2% restants sont constitués en liquidités. Compte tenu de nos engagements assez longs et de la faible rémunération de placements à court terme, nous essayons à l’heure actuelle de limiter au maximum nos placements en monétaire. Sur la partie obligataire, nous investissons uniquement dans des émetteurs de la zone euro. Cette poche à beaucoup évolue avec le temps. En 2007, nous détenions très majoritairement des emprunts d’Etats Français. Mais, dès 2009, nous avons pris le virage du crédit en introduisant une part importante d'émetteurs corporates notés investments grade. De ce fait ces derniers représentent aujourd’hui environ 40% de notre poche obligataire. L’an passé, nous y avons même intégré le segment du crossover - émetteurs situés à la marge entre l’investment grade et le high yield -, que nous avons investi au travers d'émetteurs industriels français. Cette stratégie très opportuniste n’aurait pas pu être possible si nous avions adopté trop tôt un positionnement sur le segment du crédit. Nous sommes particulièrement préoccupés par la cherté du crédit. Pour acheter aujourd’hui des obligations d’entreprise qui dégagent un bon rendement, il faut accepter de prendre plus de risques que par le passé. Or, nous sommes un investisseur traditionnellement prudent et nous ne souhaitons pas accroître le risque global de notre portefeuille. Plus globalement, la valorisation actuelle des marchés, nous préoccupe. Nous assistons à un rallye très fort sur l’ensemble des marchés et, dans ce contexte, certaines classes d’actifs, comme les dettes souveraines ou encore les obligations à haut rendement, nous apparaissent chères.