From 1 December, the ten Bull and bear directional ETFs with leverage of 2 will be replaced by two products with a leverage of 3, with the objective of increasing daily exposure to +/- 300%, up from +/- 200% currently.

Arthur Clouard-Even has been appointed as head of compliance and controlling at Mandarine Gestion. He will also be in charge of creating controlling reports and regulatory reporting. Clouard-Even previously served as head of legal affairs at the French asset management firm. The responsibilities of compliance and controlling had previously been assumed by Rémi Leservoisier, CEO. “At this stage in our development, it is necessary to separate the functions of the CEO and the head of compliance and internal control, on the one hand in order to meet legal requirements, and on the other in order to guarantee to our investors that Mandarine Gestion management policy and deontology will be followed,” Leservoisier explains.

Of a total of USD600m included in a request for proposals (see Newsmanagers of 7 March), the Thai Social Security Office (SSO) has awarded mandates totalling USD200m to three foreign asset management firms, Franklin Templeton (global bonds), MFS Investment Management (global equities), and SEW Capital (global real estate). According to Asian Investor, the SSO has also retained the Thai firm Thanachart Fund Mangement as co-manager and head of forex risk.Mandates for the remaining USD400m will be selected next year. Meanwhile, SSO is seeking a consultant to assist it with this request for proposals.

The Swiss banking group Syz & Co has announced that Reto Gehring and Alexandre Potelle have joined Syz Fund Research, its fund analysis and “long only” manager selection service. The two new staff members join the team of Katia Coudray Cornu, who was appointed head of Syz Fund Research in June 2011. Reto Gehring has been appointed head of research, while Alexandre Potelle is senior analyst.Prior to joining Syz & Co as head of research for Syz Fund Research, Reto Gehring spent ten years working at UBP in Geneva in the multi-manager and manager selection team established by Katia Coudray-Cornu in 2001, where he had held the position of Head of Research since 2009. Alexandre Potelle had also worked for UBP’s multi-manager and manager selection team, since 2006.

On Wednesday, the British court before which John Pottage is fighting a fine of GBP100,000 levelled by the FSA learned that there was another unauthorised trading case at UBS in 2007, at the Africa trading desk in London, the Financial Times reports. The former head of the wealth management division in the UK stated that he had taken all measures to remedy the serious shortfalls in risk management, and to eradicate “sloppy” compliance practices. The FSA accuses Pottage of detecting the faults too late.

The German automotive subcontractor Leoni AG has issued a statement to the markets announcing that on 14 November it was informed by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) that the asset management affiliate of the Bank of Norway had passed the 3% threshold in its capital on 10 November, and now controls 3.04% of voting rights, equivalent to 993,254 shares. NBIM manages the Government Pension Fund – Global, formerly known as the Oil Fund.At share prices as of 16 November (EUR27.74 at close on Xetra), the acquisition is worth EUR27.55m.

The US firm T. Rowe Price on 20 September launched a new sub-fund of its Luxembourg Sicav, the European High Yield Bond Fund. The product, denominated in euros, may also be sold in Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom.The new product, managed by Mike della Vedova, invests as its name indicates in high yield corporate bonds which do not belong to the investment grade category, and which are rated BB and B, while the fund is also allowed to include less well-rated securities in the portfolio. The main investment universe is determined by the currency of issue, rather than by the domicile or location of the headquarters of the business.CharacteristicsName: T. Rowe Price – European High Yield Bond FundISIN code: LU0596127604Management commission: 1.15%

The XTF segment of the Xetra electronic trading platform (Deutsche Börse) on 16 November admitted two new products, both German-registered ETFs from Source, one of which is based on emerging markets equities, and the other on US equities. There are now 891 ETFs listed in Frankfurt.The new products are the MSCI Emerging Markets Source ETF (DE000A1JM6G3) and the S&P 500 Source ETF (DE000A1JM6F5). The former charges 0.45%, while the latter charges 0.20%.

Deutsche Börse has announced that from 15 November, the Irish-registered ETF SPDR Barclays Global 1-3 Year Government Bond ETF (IE00B6YX5F63) from State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has been admitted to trading on the XTF segment of the Xetra electronic trading platform. The Fund charges fees of 0.15%.

Real I.S. has acquired the Lotus A and B office buildings in Rotterdam from the German firm SEB Asset Management, for EUR57m. The two properties, from the open-ended real estate fund SEB ImmoInvest (EUR6.33bn as of the end of September), were sold at a price 2% above their most recent expert valuation. The transaction is a part of a drive to sell 14 properties for EUR910m since it was announced on 3 November that the fund had been frozen.Redemptions from the fund (DE0009802306) have been frozen since May 2010, but SEB AM is planning to reopen the redemption window by the end of this year, though the legal deadline to do so is 5 May 2012.

The US firm Neuberger Berman (USD183bn in assets as of 30 September) has announced that it has raised USD720m for its new private equity fund of funds, NB Crossroads 2010 Fund. The porfolio will invest in premier private equity funds, or will co-invest with these funds.As of 31 October, the fund was invested in 19 funds and 7 co-investments, as well as 15 secondary investments in private equity funds.Since January 2010, Neuberger Berman raised USD1.5bn for its private equity fund of fund platform. Overall, the group has commitments of over USD12bn in private equity, and USD17bn in alternative investments (as of 30 September). The team dedicated to private equity is composed of 175 people based in New York, Dallas, London and Hong Kong.

In Luxembourg, State Street Global Advisors (SSgA) has released the index-based products SSgA US Issuer Scored Corporate Bond Index Fund and SSgA Euro Issuer Scored Corporate Bond Index Fund, which are inspired by the SPDR® Barclays Capital Issuer Scored Corporate Bond Exchange Traded Fund, released in the United States on 7 April, and which replicate Barclays Capital “alternative” Issuer Scored Corporate Bond Indices (ISCI). The indices exclude subordinate debt and debt issued by non-publicly-traded companies.SSgA research contributed to the creation of the indices, for whose use the asset management firm has obtained a two-year exclusive agreement. The methodology involves projecting the financial solidity of issuers by quantitatively changing the weightings for indices of private bonds denominated in US dollars and euros, depending on three factors: returns on assets (RoA), coverage for capital interests (leverage), and the current ratio.The change makes it possible to bet on the most financially solid issuers, while conventional capital-weighted indices give implicit primacy to larger issuers, and thus to companies with higher levels of debt.SSgA may now create portfolios with sectoral characteristics similar to a traditional index, but which would offer lower volatility and higher returns once adjusted for risk.

Lors d’une table ronde organisée par Option Finance, Philippe Desfossés, directeur de l’ERAFP a commenté les récents changements au sein de son allocation d’actifs: Notre allocation d’actifs est celle d’un investisseur de moyen terme. Il faut également souligner que sur les 20 prochaines années, nous allons avoir un cash-flow net positif de 1.5 milliard d’euros, donc nous n’avons pas besoin de vendre le moindre actif pour payer les prestations que nous devons verser. Jusqu’au 1er janvier 2011, nous étions obligés d’investir, du fait de la réglementation, à hauteur de 75% dans des actifs obligataires. Depuis, nous avons obtenu de baisser notre allocation obligataire à 65% et nous avons donc la possibilité d’investir dans les prochaines années jusqu'à 10% de l’actif dans l’immobilier. Historiquement, nous sommes très investis en obligations souveraines, mais nous avons commencé à nous diversifier en obligations d’entreprise. Nous n’avons par contre pas pu bénéficier de la baisse des marchés compte tenu d’une allocation qui reste définie en flux par rapport au cash-flow net positif de l’année. Il est difficile même pour un investisseur de long terme comme le RAFP de surmonter les réticences culturelles qui s’opposent à l’adoption d’une vraie stratégie contrariante. La gouvernance de nos institutions, comme chacun d’entre nous, a du mal à surmonter la pression de l’immédiat. Mes administrateurs souhaitent une gestion active benchmarkée, ce qui est déjà une sorte d’oxymore. Il faut ainsi souligner le rôle réducteur de notre gestion par benchmark. Quand le gestionnaire s'écarte à la hausse, alors là il n’y a pas de problème, mais quand c’est à la baisse, il ne faut pas plus de 6 mois pour que l’on nous demande d’en changer. Face à ce phénomène, nos gérants sont donc tentés de suivre les benchmarks que nous leur donnons. En mars 2009, nous avions 12.5% d’actions dans le portefeuille alors que nous avions la possibilité dans notre allocation stratégique d’en posséder jusqu'à 25%. Alors que c'était le bon moment pour nous renforcer, le conseil d’administration nous poussait à vendre pour suivre les tendances du marché.

Lors d’une table ronde organisée par Option Finance, Etienne Stofer, directeur de la Caisse de Retraite du Personnel Naviguant professionnel de l’aéronautique civil (CRPN) s’est exprimé sur les récents changements au sein de la gestion financière: De début 2009 à début 2010, nous avons en effet choisi d’arbitrer intégralement notre portefeuille obligataire de titres souverains avec une maturité inférieure à six ans, vers des obligations d’entreprises. Les titres d’Etats étaient devenus moins attrayants, par le niveau des taux, les spreads et leur volatilité. notre portefeuille crédit (corporate et financière), qui représente 55% de nos encours obligataires, affiche une duration moyenne de trois ans. Nous nous fixons comme contrainte de ne pas prendre de risque unitaire par émetteur supérieur à 0.4% de nos réserves. Malgré la hausse colossale des spreads ces derniers mois, cette stratégie a été très profitable en 2009 et 2010 et au premier semestre 2011. Jusqu'à présent, nous n’avons pas eu de défaillance, même si nous sommes inquiets actuellement sur une ligne d’une subordonnée bancaire. Concernant les titres souverains de maturité longue, ces derniers mois, nous avons vendu nos titres italiens et espagnols. Et nous n’avions plus de positions sur l’Irlande, la Grèce, ni le Portugal depuis longtemps. Aujourd’hui, nous ne possédons que des emprunts des pays notés AAA, en particulier la France, l’Allemagne, l’Union européenne, l’Autriche et les Pays-Bas. En parallèle, nous avons arrêté nos investissements sur les produits structurés, qui représentaient déjà une part très modeste au sein du portefeuille. Nous avons par contre, maintenu notre poche actions. Début 2011, nous avons pris quelques bénéfices sur notre portefeuille actions, qui était surpondéré en 2010 par rapport à notre allocation stratégique. Notre allocation s'élève aujourd’hui à 30% de la totalité des réserves et à 37,5% sur les seules réserves mobilières, ce qui est en ligne avec l’allocation stratégique. Nous sommes sortis des fonds de fonds alternatifs progressivement entre fin 2008 et fin septembre dernier. Nos instances ont décidé de quitter cette classe d’actifs, même pour les fonds qui n’ont pas démérité sur cette période, à cause de leur manque de transparence. Nous sommes modestement investis sur quelques fonds de long short equity européen, sur lesquels nous avons un niveau de transparence acceptable, c’est à dire dont nous connaissons les positions acheteuses un mois après et vendeuses deux mois après. Le degré de satisfaction que nous avons de nos gérants varie d’une année à l’autre et d’un type d’actif à l’autre. Depuis un certain temps, nous sommes plutôt satisfaits des gérants d’actions européennes mais pas du tout des gérants d’actions américaines.

As of 30 September, total assets in European UCITS-compliant funds were down 2.6% compared with the end of August, at EUR5.414trn, while non-UCITS compliant funds fell by 0.2% to EUR2.046trn, according to the European fund and asset management association (EFAMA). As of the end of 2010, assets under management totalled EUR5.889trn and EUR2.042trn, respectively.UCITS-compliant funds saw a considerable worsening of their net outflows, to EUR48.5bn, compared with EUR20.3bn in August, but net redemptions from long-term funds (excluding money market funds) fell to EUR37bn from EUR53bn the previous month. Since the beginning of the year, UCITS funds show net outflows of EUR38.2bn.Net outflows from UCITS-compliant bond and diversified funds held stable at EUR12.1bn compared with EUR13.4bn, and EUR10.1bn compared with EUR11bn in September, respectively, while for UCITS-compliant equity funds, the decline was to EUR17.4bn from EUR26.3bn. UCITS-compliant money market funds saw net outflows of EUR11.6bn, compared with net subscriptions of EUR32.7bn in August.

ESMA has published on Wednesday its final advice (ESMA/2011/379) on the detailed rules underlying the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). The rules proposed by ESMA will establish a comprehen-sive framework for alternative investment funds, their managers and depositaries. They are also designed to help achieve the AIFMD’s objective of increased transparency and tackling systemic risk, ultimately contributing to a more sound protection of investors. ESMA’s advice follows a 2010 request by the Com-mission, originally sent to ESMA’s predecessor, CESR, asking ESMA to deliver its final advice by 16 No-vember 2011.ESMA was asked to submit its advice to the Commission by 16 November. It is now for the Commission to prepare the implementing measures on the basis of this advice.The report can be consulted at: http://www.esma.europa.eu/popup2.php?id=8059

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) yesterday released an official report on Solvency II. According to Agefi, the new prudential requirements for the insurance sector will come into force only on 1 January 2014. EIOPA hopes that the general principles of the directive, known as level 1, will be passed by the European Parliament in the firt half of 2012, as a part of the Omnibus 2 bill. The Authority will launch a parallel consultation in May 2012 to cover the enforcement of Solvency III, which it expects to complete only in September. 2013 will be dedicated to the transition to the new regime.

UK-based Prudential Plc (GBP349.5bn in assets under management as of the end of June) has announced that in early January, it will adopt the brand name Eastspring Investments for the asset management unit of Prudential Corporation Asia (USD80bn in funds as of 30 September).The future Eastspring, which is active in ten markets in the region, employs about 2,000 people, and management teams on 8 markets, in addition to a central management team based in Singapore.The new brand will replace the Prudential brand in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Tiawan, Japan, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, and Vietnam. It will not be used for joint ventures in China, India or Hong Kong (BOCI-Prudential).Eastspring Investments will continue to be led by Graham Mason, a Prudential veteran who has served in management positions in the group for over 20 years.

The Japanese fund manager Nikko Asset Management announced on Wednesday it plans to list its shares via a 45.5 billion yen (USD591 million) initial public offering on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, according to Reuters.The fund manager will go public on December 15, with an initial offering of 54.15 million shares, with a price of 840 yen per share. The over-allotment options is of 2.98 million shares.Sumitomo Trust and Banking Co, which bought Nikko Asset from Citigroup in 2009 and now owns 91.3%, will sell a part of its shareholdings, says Reuters.Nikko AM had assets under management of USD162.4bn as of 30 June 30 and employs 572 employees, of which 71 fund managers.

A survey by db-x-trackers (Deutsche Bank) of 143 German and Austrian institutional investors finds that 77% of respondents consider ETFs to be sufficiently regulated by the UCITS directive, while 71% feel that ETFs meet the highest transparency requirements for structure and counterparty risk (only 19% think this of conventional funds).Respondents say that the main selection criteria favouring ETFs are security and precision of replication of the index. However, db x-trackers notes, the criteria of “cost,” “transparency” and “liquidity” were mentioned considerably less often. The structure of the ETF was the criterion most often cited.

Agefi reports that the debt crisis may lead to a virtual doubling of assets in Islamic finance, to USD1.8trn by 2016, according to a study by Deutsche Bank. The Islamic bond (sukuk) industry, which measures USD50bn and currently represents 1% of total debt issues, is attracting a growing number of issuers. Market liquidity has awakened the interest of top-calibre actors, such as Goldman Sachs, which has recently created a USD2bn sukuk programme.

The Australian Greg Coffey, who was taken wrongfooted by the volatility provoked by the euro zone crisis, has resigned from his position as manager of the Moore Emerging Markets Fund, which has posted disappointing results (-7% in the past ten months), and has undergone redemptions (its assets have fallen to a few hundred of millions of dollars, from USD1.5bn at the beginning of the year).The Financial Times reports that the fund will now be managed by the US billionaire Louis Bacon, founder of Moore Capital.Coffey, for his part, has taken over management of the GC Moore Macro Fund, which has earned 5% this month, and already has USD750m in assets.

The Italian “Guardia di Finanza” (the national tax and customs police force) has searched the offices of Alberto Micalizi at Milan’s Bocconi university, Bluerating reports. The academic was formerly head of the two Decision Dymamic hedge funds, which failed following the Madoff scandal.

Le forint hongrois a chuté de 17 % contre euro en 3 mois, à 315,67, et le gouvernement a dû servir un taux de 6,71 % à l’adjudication de mardi

Responsabilité des dépositaires et calcul de l'effet de levier sont au cœur de l'avis technique transmis hier à la Commission européenne

Le resserrement du crédit complique aussi l'aboutissement de projets, en particulier les opérations situées hors des quartiers centraux

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Le marché londonien perd de son attractivité au profit de secteurs dans lesquels les perspectives de croissance sont plus élevées

Le 21st Century Business Herald, citant des sources proches du régulateur, indique que la Commission bancaire chinoise a interdit aux banques de distribuer des produits de gestion de fortune dont la maturité est inférieure ou égale à un mois. Avec pour objectif d’atténuer la volatilité.

Le ministre des finances finlandais plaide pour une Europe dans laquelle les six nations notées «AAA» auraient un pouvoir de décision plus important