Financière de l’Echiquier has announced the arrival of Bertrand Merveille as head of compliance and internal control (RCCI). Merveille, 31, had previously been director of the investment services providers division of the French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF). At the AMF, where he began in 2003 as a mutual fund analyst, Merveille then took charge of portfolio management firms, and then become deputy head of the investment services providers division, and then director of the division, in 2009.

Invesco Real Estate has added to its team dedicated to Europe, in order to improve solutions and services to international clients interested in investing in Europe. Sébastien Daguenet joins the team as fund and product manager – France. In this newly-created position, he will be in charge of the develpopment and management of funds in France, with the goal of offering French clients investment solutions from Invesco Real Estate. Daguenet, 34, had worked at CNP Assurances since 2004, where he served as a real estate portfolio manager for three years, and then as responsible for investments in non-publicly traded real estate funds. Tom Emson, currently head of transactions in France and Belgium, joins the New York office of the firm from 2 January 2012, to provide his European experience to international clients of Invesco Real Estate seeking to diversify their real estate portfolios in Europe, a statement says. Stéphanie Bensimon, who had previously been at CarVal Investors, where she was a specialist in opportunistic and high added value operations, joins the Paris office of Invesco Real Estate, replacing Emson as director of transactions for France and Belgium.

On 1 December, the Spanish regulator CNMV registered the Convictions Premium fund from the French asset management firm Convictions AM, the fifteenth foreign asset management firm to enter the Spanish market since the beginning of this year.Patrick Serre, a member of the executive committee and head of investor relations, tells Newsmanagers that Convictions is not opening an office in Spain for the moment, but that it has signed a partnership with the Madrid company Selinca AV, and with Pablo Chiodi in Paris.The French asset management firm, about 17% of whose EUR800m in assets come from abroad, is planning to register its other two flexible funds (Europactive and ActivInflation) in Spain, when they have EUR100m in assets and an adequate track record.Convictions is methodically continuing its expansion beyond the borders of France. Its flagship fund has been registered in Italy (March), Switzerland (September) and Germany (October), and the manager has recruited an Italian and a German in Paris to serve the Italian and German-speaking markets. Serre is optimistic about the firm’s penetration abroad, as the Premium fund has a “strong” qualitative rating from Fitch, and a AA+ from the German ratings agency Telos.

The Hartford and Wellington are scaling up their collaboration. Recently, the US insurer announced that Wellington will now be the sole sub-advisor for its 77 funds. The agreement also concerns bond funds from The Hartford, for which the sub-advisor had previously been its own asset management affiliate, Hartford Investment Management Company.

U.S. Bancorp Fund Services has launched ETF-Fusion, which offers a variety of services aimed at ETF professionals. The DASH interface puts providers and distributors in touch, while the GENUIS database offers inventory and accounting services.

Bloomberg reports that three German real estate funds, facing liquidation in spring, are seeking to sell EUR2.7bn in top-quality assets, including properties on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin, and the London headquarters of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), Agefi reports. The three funds, managed by KanAm Grund and the dedicated affiliates of Credit Suisse and the Swedish firm SEB (Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken), had total assets of EUR16.4bn in May 2010, when they were frozen.

Agefi relays reports in the Journal du Dimanche that the Caisse des dépôts et placements du Québec (CDPQ) is said to be at an advanced stage in negotiations to acquire Axa Private Equity for EUR500m. Axa would retain a minority stake in the affiliate.

Alain Wicker, one of the emblematic figures at the French asset management firm La Française AM, discusses developments in the sector. The firm, facing strong competition from multiple sides, has already entered a consolidation phase. But there is a lack of candidates in France, despite the good reputation that the French asset management firm enjoys.

La Tribune has procured a list of the companies which were invested in the Madoff feeder fund Luxalpha in December 2008 (on behalf of themselves, their clients, or as a settlement market maker). La Compagnie Financière Edmond de Rothschild the European urology association, the French Senate, Téthys (the holding company for Liliane Bettencourt), the International Olympic Committee, HSBC Private Banking Paris, and Aforge Capital Management: the list includes asset management firms, private banks, family holding companies, family offices, associations, and one French public institution, La Tribune notes.

Irving Picard, the court-appointed trustee for the business interests of Bernard Madoff, has filed suit in a New York court against Julius Bär and the Zurich-based private bank Falcon, the news agency Bloomberg reports. It is seeking USD37m from Julius Bär and USD39m from Falcon. Picard says these are the sums placed by various investors in the Bernard Madoff firm Fairfield Sentry, which were then placed in the two Swiss banks.

In early December, at a time when the euro zone debt crisis continues to dominate headlines, investors have confirmed their preference for US funds, amidst timid but positive signs about the evolution of the macroeconomic environment in the United States. In the week to 7 December, funds dedicated to US equities posted their seventh week of net inflows in the past nine weeks, and US high yield bond funds posted net inflows of over USD2bn, according to statistics from EPFR Global. Overall, equity funds have seen net outflows of USD481m, while bond funds have posted net inflows of USD1.4bn. Money market funds have attracted USD36.4bn, for their fifth consecutive week of inflows. Some of these inflows are related to the liquidation of assets in European banks by some major US money market funds. EPFR Global finds that equity funds which emphasize dividends have posted net inflows of over USD35bn since the beginning of the year. Equity funds dedicated to emerging markets have seen net outflows since the beginning of the year of about USD36bn, while equity funds dedicated to developed countries have posted net inflows of USD79.9bn, compared with USD77.1bn in the corresponding period of 2010.

The Asia Leaders fund from Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management (EDRAM), managed by Thomas Gerhardt, the new head of the emerging markets team, and David Gaud, Asian equity manager, is now available for sale in Germany. The product was launched on 26 October (see Newsmanagers of 14 November).As of 31 October, EDRAM had assets of EUR13.1bn, compared with EUR14bn as of the end of 2010.

Global X Funds has announced the launch of an ETF based on Greece, which it says is the first of its kind. The Global X FTSE Greece 20 ETF fund, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, provides investors with exposure to the FTSE/ATHEX 20 Capped index, composed of the 20 largest caps on the Athens stock exchange. Total capitalisation of the Athens Stock Exchange has fallen off a peak of USD200bn by nearly 90%, to USD28bn as of November 2011.

Agefi relays reports by the news agency Reuters that China is planning to create another investment vehicle, which will aim to provide it with higher returns than its traditional investments. The vehicle will be controlled by the central bank, and will manage two funds, one of which will invest in the United States, and the other in Europe, with combined total assets of USD300bn. The new Chinese sovereign fund will have to outperform the CIC. Since its inception four years ago, the CIC fund has earned average annual returns of 6.4%.

“Our forecasting model is currently as bearish as it was at the start of autumn 2008, in spite of the optimism that spread through markets in October,” says Hans-Olov Bornemann, head of the quantitative team at the Swedish bank SEB and manager of SEB Asset Selection, a managed futures fund. “The problem in Europe is that it has been borrowing money for 30 years, and hasn’t been using that money to invest, but to spend. This problem applies to governments as well as to individuals,” says Bornemann in an interview with Newsmanagers. There is no easy fix to combat the perverse effects of this “addiction to consumption,” and whatever the solution is, it will be painful. According to the head of quantitative management at SEB, the only way to get out of the cycle is to confront reality and to attack the debts. The second major problem to sort out is the lack of competitiveness of some countries, such as Italy and Spain. The solution will need to involve considerable budgetary cutbacks and a clearing-out of the balance sheets of financial institutions, which will have an impact on demand and corporate profits, and means that we can look forward to several difficult years. But for Bornemann and his SEB Asset Selection fund, it’s not that important whether the markets are rising or falling when there is a clear underlying trend. His fund seeks to earn returns both long and short, via derivative instruments based on four asset classes (equities, bonds, currencies and commodities). SEB Asset Selection continues to be positioned for a negative equity market development, a positive bond market development, an appreciation of safe haven currencies such as the USD & JPY and a declining commodity market. SEB Asset Selection, launched in October 2006 by the quantitative management team at the Swedish bank, now represents assets of about EUR1.5bn.

The British asset management firm Aberdeen has confirmed to Newsmangers reports in Investment Week that the multi-management funds Aberdeen Multi-Manager Equity Managed Portfolio (GBP56m) and Aberdeen Multi-Manager Multi-Asset Distribution Fund (GBP16m) will be absorbing two and three other funds, respectively.The former fund will take over the assets of the Multi-Manager UK Growth fund (GBP17m), Multi-Manager International Growth (GBP25m), and the Multi-Manager Emerging Markets (GBP12m). The second fund will take over the assets of the Multi-Manager UK Income (GBP21m) and the Multi-Manager Sterling Bond (GBP14m).

Le véhicule d’investissement créé par la banque centrale investira 300 milliards de dollars de réserves de change en Europe et aux États-Unis

De nouvelles contributions des pays européens au Fonds seront destinées à la zone euro en attendant que le MES fonctionne

Même si elles vont dans le bon sens, les réformes annoncées ne provoquent pas de choc de confiance

Bloomberg relève que trois fonds menacés de liquidation au printemps s’apprêtent à céder pour 2,7 milliards d’euros d’actifs de grande qualité

Les acteurs du secteur financier ont diversement réagi à la décision du Premier ministre David Cameron de s’opposer à la modification du traité de l’Union européenne.

La ligne de démarcation entre ce qui s'inscrit dans ce nouveau traité et ce qui se fera dans le cadre du traité actuel n’est pas tracée

Le secteur financier doit encore mesurer les conséquences du veto britannique à la modification du traité de l’Union européenne

Dans un rapport qui devrait être publié dans le courant du mois de décembre, l’ODCE devrait alerter les marchés et les Etats sur les risques de financement en 2012 résultant de l’extrême incertitude qui entoure la zone euro et l’économie mondiale en général, indique le quotidien. «Les évènements de marché semblent refléter des situations dans lesquelles l’instinct animal domine les dynamiques de marché, et propulsent ainsi le taux d’emprunt des Etats avec des conséquences sérieuses pour la pérennité de la dette souveraine» indique Hams Blommestein, responsable de la dette publique à l’OCDE, dans des propos rapportés par le journal.

Le risque que l’indice marque une pause avant de revenir sur l’objectif intermédiaire des 2.500 points est significatif

L’autorité de régulation britannique aurait renforcé ses contrôles sur les prêts dans l’immobilier commercial et incité les banques à améliorer leurs modèles internes d’évaluation des risques, selon le journal qui ne cite pas ses sources. « Nous avons demandé aux banques, « améliorez vos modèles ou revenez à des modèles standards », ce qui reviendrait à réclamer un poids du risque plus important » aurait rapporté l’autorité.

Le quotidien «s’est procuré» la liste des clients en décembre 2008 de la Sicav de droit luxembourgeois «madoffée». «On trouvait ce fonds partout» avance le quotidien. En millions de dollars, l’exposition à Luxalpha est ainsi notamment de 111 millions pour Aforge Capital Management, de 33 millions pour La Mondiale ou de 210 millions pour Ulysse Patrimoine.

Pékin n’a aucune intention d’utiliser une éventuelle participation au fonds de soutien à la zone euro pour exercer un quelconque pouvoir de contrôle sur le Vieux Continent et n’en aurait d’ailleurs pas la capacité, selon des propos du vice ministre des affaires étrangères chinois, Fu Ying, cité par l’agence. La Chine a toujours été un soutien à l’Europe pour surmonter ses crises, ajoute-t-il.

Le milliardaire américain a confié lors de l’émission «60 Minutes» de la chaîne de télévision américaine qu’il avait toute confiance en son fils Howard pour lui succéder en tant que patron de la société d’investissement Berkshire Hathaway. «Il en connaît beaucoup sur les affaires» a assuré l’homme d’affaires de 81 ans.

Vincent Treulet, responsable de la stratégie chez BNPP AM