The new head of Barclays Wealth for northern Asia, Pakorn Boonyakurkul, is hoping to double assets under management in Asia to more than USD50bn by 2014, Asian Investor reports. He is aiming at high net worth investors with wealth of over USD100m.The team will next month be strengthened by the addition of Januar Tjandra as head of Greater China. Tjandra previously worked at Goldman Sachs.Assets under management at Barclays Wealth total GBP170bn, of which about 10% come from the Asian region.

According to the German BVI association of asset management firms, assets in Riester type unit-linked governement-subsidized retirement savings plans totalled nearly EUR8,07bn as of the end of September, in 2.92 million accounts. That may represent an increase of nearly 10% compared with the end of December 2010 (EUR7.37bn and 2.81 million policies), but the volume in those accounts as of the end of June was higher (EUR2.82bn in 2.88 million policies).Unit-linked policies as of the end of September represented 19.5% of the market for Riester plans, compared with 19.6% nine months earlier. Insurers continue to dominate the Riester field, with nearly 10.64 million policies and 70.9% of the market.

At the end of last month, assets under management by investment funds in Switzerland totalled CHF622.49bn, of which CHF224.6bn were in institutional products, compared with CHF612.08bn as of the end of September (revised figure). This increase of over CHF10bn in assets in October conceals net outflows of nearly CHF2.73bn, compared with CHF4.68bn the previous month, according to the Swiss Funds Association (SFA).Statistics show that commodities funds have earned net subscriptions of CHF667.3m, while high yield funds in US dollars have bseen CHF333.7m in inflows. Euro zone and German equity funds have attracted inflows of EUR222.8m and EUR139.1m, respectively.However, overall, equity and bond funds have seen net redemptions of CHF820.7m and CHF 749.2m. Outflows totalled EUR1.45bn from money market funds.The top three providers remain UBS, with assets of CHF143.8bn, up from CHF142.4bn as of the end of September, and a market share of 23.1%, Credit Suisse, with CHF91.96bn, compared with CHF90.66bn, or 14.77% of the market. Pictet is in third, with CHF44bn, compared with CHF44.95bn one month earlier, and a market share of 7.07%.

Over the past few weeks, Lyxor Asset Management has gradually registered 55 new ETFs with the CNMV, Cinco Días reports. The new funds bring the total number of products registered in Spain by the French manager to 91, of which 37 are listed on the local stock market.The newly-registered ETFs break down into five groups: those which replicate equity indices of developed countries, those which track European and global sectoral bond indices, those which focus on emerging market equity indices, those which replicate government bonds, and short and/or leveraged ETFs based on strategy indices.

After testing them in France, Axa Real Estaet Investment Managers (Axa REIM) has decided to extend its “green leases” to Germany, for leasing of professional properties. The corresponding clauses include simple and reciprocal commitments between the lessor and tenant, such as regular meetings on the subject of sustainable development, exchange of information on energy efficiency, and the establishment of joint sustainable development projects specific to each property, with progress controls.As of the end of June, Axa REIM had EUR40bn in assets under management in its funds for ten insurance companies of the Axa group, and for 120 third-party institutional investors worldwide.

Assets under management by the 500 largest fund managers in the world increased by more than 4% in 2010. They total about USD65trn, which confirms a trend observed in 2009 when assets increased by 16% over the previous year, according to a joint study by Towers Watson and Pensions & Investments (“Pensions & Investments / Towers Watson World 500”).The study also finds that, despite increases in assets in 2009 and 2010, asset levels still remain below their 2007 levels, which were then over USD69trn. Thierry de la Noue, director of the investment department at Towers Watson Paris, stated that “2010 was another good year for most fund managers, and the majority of them were able to turn in solid results. Nonetheless, evolutions in the second half of 2011 are there to remind us how fragile and volatile the markets remain, and how much they also reflect the weakness of underlying economic fundamentals and the changing appetite for risk on the part of institutional investors.”The study finds that in terms of number, bank affiliates continue to dominate the top 20 spots in the rankings, even though the number of independent managers in this group is estimated to have increased. Eleven managers based in the United States rank in the top 20, and these manage 60% of these assets, while eight asset management firms are based in Europe, and only one is Japanese.According to the study, fund managers in emerging markets have more than doubled their proportion of assets under management, which have represented about 4% of total assets in the past ten years. In the same period, assets managed by the top 20 managers more than doubled. They total about USD26trn, and now represent about 40% of total assets.Since 2000, assets managed passively by the largest fund managers have increased by more than 13% per year, compared with 6% for the top 500 fund managers overall, in the same period.

The private equity firm KKR is reportedly close to an agreement to acquire a majority of the assets of Samson Investment, a family-owned gas and oil production firm, for a total of about USD7bn, Bloomberg reports, cited by Agefi. Reuters reports that it has obtained information that KKR has received the support the the Japanese trading form Itochu Corp for its bid.

Effective immediately, Saxo Bank is offering its clients a way to make online trades on 25 different stock markets of equities and ETFs that comply with Islamic law. Clients will receive assistance from the US firm IdealRatings Inc, an agency specialised in the selection of fund managers and financial instruments that meet the requirements of Shariah law.The selection of products is based on commonly accepted and transparent Islamic standards defined by IdealRatings in cooperation with the Shariah Review Bureau, which has locations in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Each month, IdealRatings analyses and selects from over 12,000 equities and ETFs.

In October, the Lyxor hedge fund index has earned 0.75%, while in November (to 14 November), it has posted further gains of 0.26%. Losses are limited to 5.85% for January-October, and 5.61% from the beginning of the year to 14 November.The heaviest losses from the beginning of the year to 14 November have been for special situations (-15.14%) and equity short bias (-14.01%). Only two strategies show gains for this period: distressed security, with gains of 0.82%, and CTA short term, with returns of 5.16%.

The Islamic Interbank Benchmark Rate (IIBR), being offered by Thomson Reuters from 22 November, offers Islamic banks which are committed to respecting Sharia a benchmark index which may replace conventional benchmarks such as the Libor, which they have relied on in the past due to a lack of an equivalent tool, the Börsen-Zeitung reports.Because the IIBR complies with Islamic law, it measures not interest rates but rather gains. The index will be calculated on a daily basis on the basis of data from 16 Islamic banks and Islamic banking departments at conventional banks. It will be published daily at 11:00 AM, Mecca time (GMT +3).

Dan Franklin, who had been senior investment sales manager at Legal & General Investments, has joined Legg Mason Global Asset Management as director of business development for the United Kingdom, Fundweb reports.Franklin will report to Adam Gent, head of UK sales. He will join the sales team in the United Kingdom, and will focus particularly on assisting discretionary clients in the London region.

The UK asset management firm Henderson may reduce its staff as part of an ongoing examination of its acquisition of Gartmore in April this year, Money Marketing reports. Henderson emlpoys about 930 people.

According to the most recent Morningstar survey, 55% of professional investors and 35% of retail investors are reticent about ETFs which replicate indices via swaps. In March, those percentages were 33% and 23% respectively, Handelsblatt reports. The survey sample included 501 retail and 92 professional investors in the United Kingdom. 90% of respondents say they prefer physical replciation ETFs, while only 2% prefer synthetic replication, compared with 74% and 8%, respectively, in March. Lastly, 41% of investors say they are highly concerned by counterparty risks, compared with 29% in March.

Nine British investors out of ten are concerned by synthetic ETFs due to repeated warnings from regulators, according to a Morningstar survey of about 600 investors (“Morningstar UK ETF Survey,” November 2011). Investors are clearly highly sensitive to the low cost of ETFs, but 90% of them prefer physical ETFs due to the issues surrounding synthetic ETFs. Counterparty risks are an issue of concern to 90% of investors in the sample, compared with 82% at the time of the previous survey in September. This increase comes despite efforts on the part of suppliers to increase the level of transparency of products and to ensure better investor protection. The survey also finds that there is a need for more information about ETFs, both from private and professional investors. 65% of retail investors would like to know more about ETFs, compared with 77% last month. A higher number of institutional investors, however, (64%, compared with 47%), would prefer to increase their understanding of the product.

BlackRock has appointed Benoit Sorel as senior head of clients for iShares in France. Sorel will report to David Benmussa, director of clients for iShares in France. The sales team at iShares now includes four professionals dedicated exclusively to French clients. Soreel previously worked at Crédit Agricole CIB in Paris, as an institutional salesperson for structured products in France.

Société Générale Securities Services (SGSS) on 21 November announced that it has been awarded a mandate by the Spanish firm Banco Cooperativo to provide independent valuation services for its structured products.

Dans un article paru dans Option Finance, Christophe Cuvelier, directeur général adjoint, revient sur l’impact de la crise des dettes souveraines sur la gestion financière de la Mutuelle Médicis: Pour un investisseur long terme comme la Mutuelle Médicis et compte tenu du mode de détention utilisé pour la gestion de nos obligations, investir aujourd’hui dans de l’emprunt d’Etat allemand 10 ans rapporte trop peu. En effet, ce taux est inférieur à l’inflation. Face aux contraintes de rendements à servir à nos assurés, cela nécessite une légère prise de risques. Par exemple, actuellement, nous conservons nos positions sur les titres italiens. La crise de la dette en zone euro montre les limites actuelles de Solvabilité II. Cette réglementation devra nécessairement évoluer et tirer les enseignements de cette crise. Mais elle sera toujours en déphasage par rapport à la prochaine crise et les changements de calibrage qui en découleront.

Selon le liquidateur James Gidden, le «trou» apparent dans les fonds de la clientèle de MF Global s’élèverait à 1,2 milliard de dollars, soit le double des estimations fournies par les régulateurs. Il a ajouté que les fonds actuellement sous son contrôle, en l’occurrence 1,6 milliard de dollars, seraient quasiment épuisés d’ici début décembre s’il mène à bien son projet de rembourser 60% des fonds de la clientèle.

La société de capital-investissement serait proche d’un accord visant à racheter une majorité des actifs de Samson Investment, une société familiale de production de pétrole et gaz, pour un montant d’environ sept milliards de dollars, selon Bloomberg qui cite des sources proches. Reuters croit savoir que KKR aurait reçu le soutien de la société de trading japonaise Itochu Corp dans son offre de rachat.

Les Bourses de Tokyo (TSE) et d’Osaka (OSE) sont finalement sorties du bois en dévoilant ce matin un accord de fusion. Les deux marchés pourraient créer en 2013 le troisième opérateur mondial en termes de capitalisation après que le TSE a racheté jusqu’à deux tiers de son concurrent coté dans le cadre d’une offre publique présentant une prime de 14% sur le cours de clôture d’hier.

Le patron de Berkshire Hathaway ne perd rien de son appétit d’acquisitions. En visite au Japon, il a confié à Bloomberg que le fonds d’investissement pourrait aisément et «n’importe où» consacrer dix milliards de dollars à une prochaine opération. Warren Buffett assure n’avoir aucun projet concrètement en vue pour l’instant.

La banque populaire de Chine a fixé la parité du yuan à un niveau plus faible ce matin de 6,3555 contre dollar. La devise baissait de 0,16% à 6,37 à Shanghai, après avoir atteint un plus haut de 6,3354 le 14 novembre. Le yuan reste néanmoins en hausse de 3,5% depuis le début de l’année.

Le pays a accusé un déficit commercial de 273,8 milliards de yens en octobre, contre un excédent de 39,9 milliards anticipé par le consensus

Bank of China va se lancer en 2012 dans le trading, ce qui devrait accélérer la financiarisation d’un marché voué à gérer la volatilité

En annonçant hier des règles de liquidité strictes pour les filiales de ses banques, l'Autriche va accentuer la restriction du crédit dans la région

Standard & Poor's s'apprête à mettre en place sa nouvelle méthode pour le secteur bancaire, qui laisse craindre 20 % de déclassements

La Hongrie demande l’aide du FMI et de l’UE. Mais comme en 2008, c’est toute la région qui est pénalisée par le retrait des banques d’Europe de l’Ouest.

Menacé d'être dégradé en catégorie spéculative, le pays, qui s'était détourné de ses bailleurs de fonds, s'en remet de nouveau à eux

Si la note des Etats-Unis ne devrait pas être affectée par cet échec, les coupes automatiques dans les dépenses bloquent tout programme de relance