Since 23 January, the London Stock Exchange is listing four new synthetic replication ETFs from iShares. The iShares S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll Agriculture Swap, the iShares S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll Energy Swap, the iShares S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll Metals Swap and the iShares S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll Commodity Swap are UCITS-compliant funds which replicate newest-generation S&P GSCI indices, and offer exposure to agriculture, energy, industrial metals and commodities as a whole.The products use the multiple counterparties platform from iShares for synthetic replication ETFs, with 120% overcollateralisation on a daily basis, and total transparency of the portfolio (collateral, indices, swap counterparties, aggregate exposure to swaps and swap spreads), also on a daily basis.

The former co-CEO for Asia at Janus Capital, Jack Lin, is taking over as head at Pioneer (UniCredit group) for Asia and the Middle East, Asian Investor reports. He will be in charge of development for institutional activities in the region. As of 31 December, assets under management at Pioneer totalled EUR162bn, of which 51% were in Italy, 22% in the United States, 12% in Germany, 6% in Austria and 6% internationally.

This year, as in 2011, the protection of savings investors will be at the centre of the efforts of the French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). The watchdog is planning to scale up its actions to promote improvement in sales conditions for financial products, with the creation of a Savings Observatory, the chairman of the AMF, Jean-Pierre Jouyet, announced on 26 January at a press conference. Having gained much knowledge in the past few months, “we will also clarify the doctrine applicable to investment advising services, for example in the area of training of sales staff and the traceability of advising,” says Jouyet. This doctrine will be elaborated in a concerted manner with the ACP in a joint unit, which Natalie Lemaire has led since the beginning of the year.Investor protection will also be a reason for the AMF to address two major challenged: preparation of the UCITS V legislation, which will aim to harmonise regulation of depositories, and the transposition of the MiFID directive for alternative management. A working group led by Monique Cohen and Jean-Luc Enguéhard will present its conclusions by the end of June for the future of alternative management in France.Shareholder rights will also be on the agenda for 2012 at the AMF, with areas of improvement in the operation of shareholders’ meetings, where rules will be formulated on the basis of the findings of a working group led by Olivier Poupart-Lafarge. The findings of the working group will be open for consultation in the first few weeks of February.In the area of efficiency and integrity of markets, Jouyet points out that the new market direction was intended to become the central interlocutor for financial intermediaries. The AMF will also extend its surveillance to reporting on a significant portion of derivative transactions, which will be included in AMF databases.Jouyet has also reiterated the AMF’s opposition to the introduction of a tax on financial transactions. “The Paris financial centre will be better preserved if we do not penalise it,” the AMF chairman says. Citing the competitiveness of the market and continued efforts to develop bond platforms and allow for CDS settlement in Paris.

A tax on financial transactions would bring in EUR1bn per year, four times more than the market tax repealed in 2008, Les Echos reports. The government will target all securities traded in Paris. Equities would be taxed 0.1%, as stipulated in the European directive. Bonds would not be taxed.

AllianceBernstein on 26 January announced the European launch of the AB Select US Equity Portfolio fund (LU0683600562), managed by Kurt Feuerman. The Luxembourg-registered fund is focused on US large and midcaps, selected on the basis of bottom-up analysis and macroeconomic information. Feuerman, who joined AllianceBernstein in June 2011 after leaving Caxton Associates, has nearly 30 years of experience in the sector, and a track record proven over several market cycles. His US equity portfolios have consistently outperformed the S&P 500 since their creation. The strategy is not subject to any constraints in terms of market capitalisation, style, or sector. The team targets businesses which it considers to be well-established, with strong profit growth combined with reasonable valuation, transparent activity models, solid management teams, business policies favourable to shareholders, payment of dividends and share repurchases, and an imminent catalyst factor, such as profit announcements that will be likely to surprise investors with their solidity or to dissipate investor concerns.

Are they beginning to recover their health? European money market funds, which were widely avoided by investors again last year, are beginning to draw interest from investors seeking safety again. Statistics do not really argue in their favour, but outflows have slowed considerably from 2010 to last year.Signs of recovery in inflows have even been observed. In November, Swiss money market funds atrracted nearly CHF2bn, Cerulli reports in a research on money market funds. And the flagship fund from SWIP, the Sterling Global Liquidity Fund (GBP17.8bn), attracted about EUR840m in institutional assets in the first 10 months of 2011. SWIP hopes to continue in this vein in 2012, as institutionals begin to manifest interest in these vehicles that present reduced risk of loss once again.According to the research agency, the highly-regulated instruments that are money market funds may attract investors even though they may have lost their status as risk-free investments in the financial crisis.Asset management firms claim that the time has come to tap the aversion to risk of investors by launching new money market funds. ING Investments is working on a range of money market products to meet demand for “ultra-safe” investments. The boutique Prime Rate Capital, based in London, has launched a new “Cash Plus” product, aimed at investors seeking to park their money not only for a few days or weeks but for a few months, and who are therefore seeking slightly more attractive returns.Managers also state that the attraction of money market funds is expected to increase in parallel with investors’ revisions of their relationships with banks, whose ratings have widely been lowered by ratings agencies, and who are seeking to diversify their short-term exposure.

The new single interlocutor for alternative management in Luxembourg at BNY Mellon is Brian McMahon, managing director, business development executive. He has particular experience in the areas of private equity and real estate, and aims to develop activities and client relations in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA). He had previously worked in the investment departments at Citi and State Street.Valeria Anderson, who for 6 years has been at BNY Mellon, has been appointed as senior sales person, vice president, in the Alternative Investment Services (AIS) development team in London. She will be in charge of developing relationships with funds of hedge funds and managed account and UCITS platforms. She will also work to develop the activity in France. McMahon and Anderson will both report to Marina Lewin, global head of businesses development for the AIS team.

Nexity and La Française AM have merged their real estate management, property management and real estate trading activities in a new joint venture (LFP Nexity Services Immobiliers). The new joint venture is 75% owned by Nexity, and 25% by La Française REM.

The largest hedge fund in the world, Bridgewater Associates, last year earned returns of 23%, at a time when the average hedge fund finaished the year with losses of 5%, the New York Times reports.The source of the good results for Bridgewater, whose assets under management total about USD120bn, was positions on US Treasury bonds, German bonds, and the Japanese yen, according to sources close to the firm.In the past 20 years, Bridgewater has earned annual returns of 14.7%, bringing USD50m in profits for investors. In the same period, the S&P 500 made returns of about 8.7%.

The Australian asset management firm First State Investments International has opened an office in Paris, as initially announced in Newsmanagers in September last year.The office, located at 14, avenue d’Eylau in the 16th district of Paris, will have a staff of 2 people, as reported previously.Philippe Taillardat, who in September was appointed as co-head of investments for Euorpean infrastructure, will work alongside Eva von Sydow, head of sales for Europe, who has managed distribution of First State products in the region for nearly 10 years.First State already knows the French market, as the firm first offered its products there in 2002. Now, 13 funds are licensed for sale in France, including Asian equity and emerging markets, global resources, global equities, publicly-traded real estate and infrastructure funds, which are the specialties of the firm, which had GBP87.7bn in assets under management as of the end of September.The firm had previously served French clients from London. These clients include funds of funds, private banks, insurance companies, and family offices, with an undisclosed total amount in assets under management.The Paris office is First State’s first address on the European continent, but the firm is not planning to stop there. The next step is Germany, with an opening planned in Frankfurt later this year.

In 2011, Janus has seen a decline in its assets from USD169.5bn to USD148.2bn. This is largely the result of net redemptions from long-term funds (USD12.2bn). Market effects played a role in this totalling USD91bn. The US asset management firm has also seen a decrease in its net profits, from USD169.5bn in 2010 to USD148.2bn in 2011.

As of the end of December, assets under administration at Raymond James Financial totalled USD270bn, 5% more than at the end of September, and 3% more than one year previously. Assets under management were up 9% for the quarter and 5% over twelve months, at USD35bn.Net profits in October-December, the first quarter of the new fiscal year, came out to USD67.32m, compared with USD68.93m in July-September, and an all-time record of USD81.72m for the corresponding period of 2010.Pre-tax profits for asset management activities totalled USD15.81m, compared with USD17.76m the previous quarter and USD15.59m in October-December 2010.

For the year to 31 December, Invesco Ltd has reported adjusted net profits of USD781.6m, up 22% compared with 2010. By US-GAAP accounting standards, these net profits total USD729.7m, representing an increase of 56.7% compared with the previous year. These 2011 results take into account a complete year of activity for the retail funds acquired from Morgan Stanley, compared with only 7 months in 2010.Assets as of 31 December were up 1.4% year on year, to USD625.3bn, while average assets in 2011 came out to USD634.3bn, 19.2% more than in 2010.

Vanguard has appointed two new managing directors. The Financial Advisor Services group welcomes Martha King as managing director of the affiliate. Chris McIsaac is appointed managing director of the Institutional Investor Group.

DWS Investments is releasing a range of more than 70 funds for French clients. The objective for DWS Investments is to become one of the top 10 foreign asset management firms in France. “We are going to concentrate on strategies which work well, while offering innovative strategies. Several new products are in preparation,” says Philippe Goettmann, director of DWS Investments for France and Monaco. In spring, the asset management firm will be adding to its range in this asset class in France, and will release a sub-fund of the Luxembourg Sicav DWS Invest, German Equities, on the French market. In 2012, the asset management firm of the German Deutsche Bank group is planning to put the commercial emphasis on five groups of products on the French market: high dividend equities, convertible funds, emerging market funds (Africa, Russia, eastern Europe, and others), theme funds (agribusiness, infrastructure, new resources, and others), and of course, German equity funds. “We have found that French investors hve a strong interest in German equities,” says Goettmann. The DWS Deutschland fund, which has total assets of EUR2.9bn, attracted EUR900m in net subscriptions in 2011. DWS Investments manages EUR256bn in assets worldwide, of which about EUR1bn were for French clients as of the end of 2011, a stable level compared with the end of 2010.

From 1 to 20 January, assets in Spanish funds increased by 1.42%, or EUR1.893bn, due to positive market effects of EUR1.271bn, and EUR622m in net subscriptions, according to statistics from VDOS reported by Cotizalia. The two largest firms by assets are Santander, with EUR24.284bn, and a market share of 18%, and BBVA with EUR21.251bn.

The three open-ended real estate funds from Deka in 2011 posted net subscriptions of EUR500m in total, Handelsblatt reports. Institutional real estate funds had net inflows of EUR460m. Matthias Danne, CFO at Deka, says he is doubtful that the open-ended real estate funds CS Euroreal (Credit Suisse) and SEB ImmoInvest, which have EUR6bn in assets each, will bring in enough liquidity to be able to reopen to redemptions by May, the deadline for reopening the funds. The same question may be asked of the KanAm grundinvest fund, which is considerably smaller.

The strategy of the former BlackRock Income Portfolio has been loosened in order to allow the management team a wider choice of potential sources of revenue and performance, including alternative sources of revenue such as master limited partnerships (MLP), REITs, and other instruments. The name of the fund has also been changed to BlackRock Multi-Asset Income Fund (acronym: BAICX); the product will be offered to retail and high net worth private clients.The product has no constraints, and will be managed by the team at BlackRock Multi-Asset Client Solutions (BMACS), which includes 150 people, and as of the end of December managed USD80bn for retail clients. BMACS develops institutional-type tactical allocation strategies for foundations, pension funds, sovereign funds, 401(k) corporate savings plans, and retail clients. The objective of the tactical allocation is to exploit a vast range of possibilities while limiting volatility. For the new fund, volatility will be maintained at a lower level than a traditional balanced portfolio (60/40).

The NYSE Euronext trading platform in Paris on 26 January admitted a new Amundi ETF based on government bonds, replicating the EuroMTS Highest-Rated Gvt 1-3 Y, to trading. The addition brings the listings on the European markets of NYSE Euronext to 586 ETFs, listed 684 times. Name: Amundi ETF HR 1-3 ISIN code: FR0011161215 TER: 0.14%

At the request of members seeking more intimate understanding of asset management techniques that are sometimes poorly understood and relatively underdeveloped in France, the French association of institutional investors (Af2i) on 26 January published its “Guide to alternative management investments and operational due diligence” (on sale form the website http://www.af2i.org/ for EUR100). The 50-page document was created by a working group led by Vincent Ribuot (UMR) and Francis Weber (Réunica), vice-presidents of the association, and composed in partnership with HDF Finance and Reinhold & Partners. The pedagogical guide aims to bring institutional investors better understanding of the particularity of alternative management funds, their strategies, and the various types of actors and vehicles encountered in the industry, and of regulatory constraints which apply to French investors.

Credit Suisse presented a research on 26 January at the Davos Forum on impact investing, Agefi Switzerland reports. The Credit Suisse Research report, published in partnership with the Schwab Foundation, covers the major current trends in investment strategies that aim to generate a social or environmental impact while also delivering financial returns. The first finding is that the opening up of the sector beyond big-name high net worth investors (Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, etc.) is only beginning. Investments “are still for the vast majority coming from high net worth persons or foundations,” explains Robert Ruttimann of Credit Suisse. “The involvement of retail and institutional clients is still just getting started. In order to fully realise the long-term potential of the sector, the next step would be to make more standardised investment products available, in order to offer more opportunities to ordinary investors and institutional clients.”

La stratégie de l’ancien BlackRock Income Portfolio a été assouplie pour permettre à l'équipe de gestion un choix plus vaste de possibilités de revenus et de performance, y compris des sources de revenu alternatives comme les master limited partnerships (MLP), les REIt et d’autres instruments. De ce fait le nom du fonds a changé en BlackRock Multi-Asset Income Fund et sera proposé aux clients retail ainsi qu’aux particuliers haut de gamme.Il s’agit d’un produit sans contrainte que gère l'équipe de BlackRock Multi-Asset Client Solutions (BMACS), qui comprend 150 personnes et qui gérait fin décembre plus de 80 milliards de dollars pour le compte de particuliers. Le BMACS développe des stratégies d’allocation tactique du type institutionnels pour des fondations, des fonds de pension, des fonds souverains, des plans d'épargne d’entreprise 401(k) et des particuliers. L’objectif de l’allocation tactique est d’exploiter une vaste gamme de possibilités tout en limitant la volatilité. Pour le nouveau fonds, il s’agit de maintenir la volatilité à un niveau inférieur à celui d’un portefeuille équilibré traditionnel (60/40).

En 2011, Janus a vu ses encours diminuer de 169,5 milliards de dollars à 148,2 milliards de dollars. Ce recul résulte principalement de rachats nets sur les fonds de long terme (12,2 milliards de dollars). L’effet marché a joué à hauteur de 9,1 milliards de dollars.La société de gestion américaine a aussi vu son bénéfice net revenir de 169,5 milliards de dollars en 2010 à 148,2 milliards de dollars en 2011.

La société de gestion d’origine australienne First State Investments International vient d’ouvrir son bureau à Paris, confirmant une information parue dans Newsmanagers en septembre dernier. Situé 14, avenue d’Eylau dans le 16ème, ce bureau accueillera deux personnes. Ainsi, Philippe Taillardat, nommé co-responsable des investissements dans les infrastructures européennes en septembre, travaillera aux côtés d’Eva von Sydow, directrice commerciale Europe, qui gère la distribution des produits First State dans la région depuis près de 10 ans.First State connaît déjà le marché français, puisque la société y a lancé ses produits en 2002. Aujourd’hui, treize fonds sont agréés dans l’Hexagone, dont des produits fonds actions asiatiques et marchés émergents, ressources mondiales, actions mondiales, immobilier coté et infrastructures, qui sont les spécialités de la société. Celle-ci gérait 87,7 milliards de livres fin septembre. Jusqu’ici, la société couvrait sa clientèle française depuis Londres. Celle-ci se compose de fonds de fonds, de banques privées, de compagnies d’assurances, de family offices… pour un montant qui n’a pas été divulgué.Ce bureau parisien constitue la première adresse de First State sur le continent européen, sachant que la société ne compte pas s’arrêter là. La prochaine étape est l’Allemagne, avec une ouverture à Francfort prévue dans le courant de l’année…

La plate-forme NYSE Euronext de Paris a admis à la négociation le 26 janvier un nouvel ETF d’Amundi sur les obligations gouvernementales qui réplique l’indice EuroMTS Highest-Rated Gvt 1-3Y . Cela porte la cote des places européennes de NYSE Euronext à 586 ETF cotés 684 fois.Dénomination : Amundi ETF HR 1-3Code Isin : FR0011161215TFE : 0,14 %

Le colonais Oppenheim Fonds Trust GmbH (OPFT) annonce qu’il élargira au 1er mars son offre aux fonds offerts au public d’Investec Asset Management. OPFT a été retenu comme distributeur exclusif de ces produits pour l’Allemagne.L’allemand, filiale de Sal. Oppenheim (groupe Deutsche Bank), gérait fin novembre 15,5 milliards d’euros tandis que l’encours d’Investec se situe actuellement aux alentours de 83 milliards de dollars.

En complément au Focus Nordic Cities lancé en 2007, l’allemand Catella Real Estate (1 milliard d’euros) vient de lancer le Catella Scandia Chances, un fonds immobilier institutionnel qui se focalisera sur la Norvège, la Suède, la Finlande et éventuellement le Danemark et s’adresse plus particulièrement aux compagnies d’assurances et aux caisses de retraite, indique Fonds Professionell.L’objectif de collecte est d’un maximum de 250 millions d’euros d’ici au 30 juin 2013, qui seront investis dans des actifs core/core plus. L’objectif de performance se situe à 5,5-6,5 % et la distribution devrait se situer à 3,5-4 % annuels.

DWS Investments qui gère 256 milliards d’euros dans le monde dont environ 1 milliard auprès de sa clientèle française à fin 2011 met à disposition de ses clients dans l’Hexagone une gamme de plus de 70 fonds. Cela étant, l’objectif de DWS Investments est de se hisser parmi les dix principales sociétés de gestion étrangères en France. «Aussi nous allons nous concentrer sur les stratégies qui fonctionnent bien, tout en proposant des stratégies innovantes. Plusieurs nouveaux produits sont en préparation», précise Philippe Goettmann, directeur de DWS Investments pour la France et Monaco. Au printemps, la société de gestion va notamment renforcer son offre et commercialiser un compartiment de sa sicav luxembourgeoise DWS Invest, le German Equities car «nous avons constaté chez les investisseurs français un fort intérêt pour les actions allemandes», confirme le responsable. Actuellement, le fonds DWS Deutschland totalise des actifs de 2,9 milliards d’euros, et a attiré 900 millions de souscriptions nettes en 2011.En outre, toujours en 2012, la société de gestion du groupe allemand Deutsche Bank veut mettre l’accent commercialement sur cinq groupes de produits sur le marché français : les actions hauts dividendes, les fonds convertibles, les fonds marchés émergents (Afrique, Russie, Pays de l’Est…), et les fonds thématiques (agribusiness, infrastructure, new resources …).

Vanguard vient de nommer deux nouveaux managing directors. L'équipe Financial Advisor Services accueille Martha King en tant que managing director de la filiale. Chris McIsaac est nommé managing director de Institutional Investor Group.

BNP Paribas aurait mis sur le marché un portefeuille de prêts octroyés à des sociétés gazières et pétrolières pour 11 milliards de dollars, selon les informations du Financial Times. La banque négocierait avec au moins trois acheteurs potentiels.