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31/10/2011

Martin Coward founds a new hedge fund

The co-founder of the hedge fund Ikos (USD3bn), Martin Coward, is preparing to launch a rival hedge fund, which may further increase tensions with the CEO of the fund, Elena Ambrosiadou, his current wife whom he is in the process of divorcing, the Financial Times reports. Like Ikos, the new fund will use extremely complex software, devised by Coward, to trade on markets worldwide.
31/10/2011

SAC plans to open office in Tokyo

The US-based alternative management firm SAC Capital Advisors is planning to open an office in Tokyo in first quarter 2011, the Bloomberg news agency reports, in order to seize opportunities on the Japanese market. In 2011, SEC recruited four portfolio managers in Asia, bringing the total number of Asian experts to 13. In Asia, the firm already has offices in Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing. Assets under management at SAC total about USD13bn. The firm has earned returns of about 7% in the first nine months of the year, compared with losses of 10% for the S&P 500. The SAC portfolio has highly limited net exposure, with total leverage of 3 to 3.5.
31/10/2011

Universal launches a bond fund

Universal-Investment has recently launched a German-registered bond fund on behalf of the Cologne-based wealth management firm Schneider, Walter & Kollegen (SwuK), entitled SwuK Renten Flexibel UI. The product is managed by Peter Schneider, while Winfried Walter selects the credit allocation.The fund, whose portfolio will contain at least 80% investment-grade securities, will be based on a proprietary system developed by Schneider, which allows for the relative attractiveness of a segment and then of each individual share to be determined. The system also takes into consideration the quality of the issue, the volume of the issue, maturity, currency and attractive rate spreads.Currently, the portfolio includes virtually no government bonds, but it does contain bonds from para-government issuers such as KfW and the German Landwirtschaftliche Rentenbank and corporate bonds from several sectors. It also includes Pfandbriefe, inflation-linked bonds and convertible bonds.SwuK was founded in August 2011, and manages about EUR100m in assets.CharacteristicsName: SwuK Renten Flexibel UIISIN codes: DE000A1H72L9 (retail share class)DE000A1H772M7 (institutional share class; minimal subscription EUR0.1m)Front-end fee: maximum 3%Administration, advising and depository commissions: maximum 1.6%
31/10/2011

HSBC launches a bond fund denominated in yuan

HSBC Global Asset Management has launched a bond fund denominated in Chinese renbimbi (yen), Citywire reports. The HSBC GIF RMB Fixed Income fund will be co-managed by Cecilia Chan, a manager based in Hong Kong.
31/10/2011

Ignis AM looks to grow activities

In August this year, Ignis Asset Management, an affiliate of the British insurer Phoenix, announced that it is reducing its stake in its joint venture with the management firm Argonaut from 50% to 40%. In 2010, La Tribune reports, Ignis AM is reported to have reduced its stake in Hexam to 35%, and to have launched a 49%/51% joint venture with Castle Hill Asset Management. Now, La Tribune reports, Ignis would like to make the launch of new products a priority. And the asset management firm is hoping to strengthen its presence in Luxembourg and Italy, where an office has recently been opened. There are currently no plans to open a Paris office.
31/10/2011

Stock market turbulence weighs down performance of Norwegian sovereign fund

The pension fund managed by the Norwegian government in third quarter earned returns of -8.8%, or -NOK284bn. The sovereign debt crisis in Europe has strongly weighed down equities in the past few months. Assets in equities have earned returns of 016.9%, while bonds have gained 3.7%. The market value of the fund has lost NOK56bn, to EUR2.055trn. In the first nine months of the year, the fund has earned 06.6%, or -NOK222bn, with returns of -15.1% for assets in equities, and +6.3% for bonds.
31/10/2011

BBVA Bancomer launches a Chinese equities ETF

The Mexican firm BBVA Bancomer on 27 October admitted the ETF CHINTRAC to trading on the Mexican stock market (BMV). The sixth ETF from Bancomer replicates the BMV China SX20 index of the largest Chinese caps in all sectors, available on the Mexican market, and is listed in the form of an ADR on the NYSE or Nasdaq exchanges. It is a physical replication product. Characteristics Name: CHNTRAC ISIN code: MX1BCH080000 Management commission: 0.50%
31/10/2011

Acropole releases a volatility long/short fund

Brice Perin is manager of the new absolute return, long/short, UCITS IV-compliant FCP fund Acropole Vol Opportunités, which on 26 October received a sales license from the AMF.The asset management firm is confident enough that there will be enough interest in the new product, which offers daily liquidity and decorrelated performance, to have provided EUR20m in seed capital, out of total assets of EUR750m. The volatily objective is comparable to the LFP Long Vol fund, which is also managed by Perin. This will be achieved by exploiting the volatility of indices and equities with a wide variety of liquid instruments such as plain vanilla options, variance swaps, forward start variance swaps, volatility swaps, and options and futures on the VIX.The minimal recommended investment duration for the product is three years.CharacteristicsName: Acropole Vol OpportunitésISIN codes: FR 0011134550 (institutional I share class)FR 0011120922 (A share class for “all subscribers”)Minimal initial subscription: EUR500,000 (I share class)EUR10,000 (A share class)Front-end fee: maximum 4%Management commission: I share class: 0.70%A share class: 1.40%Performance commission: 20% of performance exceeding the capitalised Eonia, with high watermark
31/10/2011

Profits up at SEB Wealth Management

The Wealth Management division of the Scandinavian bank SEB which inludes the private bank and institutional clients, has earned an operating profit up 8% to SEK1.053trn in the first nine months of the year, compared with the corresponding period of last year. The unit has earned net subscriptions of SEK22bn since the beginning of the year in private banking, and of SEK10bn for institutionals. Assets have fallen due to negative market effects, to SEK1.174trn, from SEK1.321trn as of the end of 2010.
31/10/2011

City bonuses at ten-year low

Bonuses handed out to City golden boys in London in 2011 will be down 38%, to GBP4.2bn, according to the Center for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), Les Echos reports. They are thus returning to their levels of 10 years ago, far off their peak of GBP11.6bn in 2007. The CEBR predicts that the total level of bonuses will rise gradually to GBP4.6bn by 2015.
31/10/2011

EFAMA updates fund classifications

The European fund and asset management association (EFAMA) on 28 October published an update to its European Fund Classification (EFC) system.The primary objective for the classification is to offer all participants a transparent classification structure. In the short term, the objective is to classify all investment funds availabe for sale in the various European jurisdictions. In the longer term, the effort will aim to offer complete coverage of UCITS-compliant products.The EFC working group has announced that it has now set the guiding categorical principles which will be sub-divided into sectoral categories. By the methodology chosen, the equities, bonds, diversified and money market fund universes are divided according to eight criteria: country/region, sector, market capitalisation size, currency, quality of credit, interest rate, exposure to emerging markets, and asset allocation.EFAMA is planning to release a report presenting the principles and categories in first quarter 2012.
31/10/2011

Coutts abandons RBS brand name

The Coutts private bank announced a relaunch this Tuesday. In order to revitalise its image, the bank is dropping the name Royal Bank of Scotland, which it had used outside the United Kingdom (Switzerland, Middle East, Singapore, Hong Kong and India) since 2008, the Financial Times says. It will now operate as a single brand throughout the world: Coutts. The goal is to modernise the institution, founded in 1692, and to give a more dynamic image of its investment management.
31/10/2011

GLG looks to market-making

GLG is interested in a type of market floor activity known as market maker, its CEO, Pierre Lagrange, who is also a member of the executive board at Man Group, has said in an interview with Les Echos. “In general, it doesn’t lose money, it is highly disciplined, methodical, and it works on low margins. It’s the expertise in short-term flow management that interests us,” explains Lagrange.
31/10/2011

Henderson GI hires Mourinho for an ad campaign

Henderson Global Investors has teamed up with José Mourinho, the Real Madrid trainer, in a new advertising campaign which will run in the UK and countries across Continental Europe and Asia from 31 October 2011. The campaign will feature the “special one” in outdoor, online, national and trade press and below-the-line promotions.
31/10/2011

AMF issues warning over Securcorp

The French financial regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), and the Overseas Issuing Institute (Institut d'émission d’outre-mer, or IEOM) on 28 October issued a statement drawing the attention of the public to the activities of the company SECURCORP LIMITED, headquartered in Australia.The firm offers investors in New Caledonia financial products, often via advertisements in the local press, which promise returns of as much as 9.25% per year. The product is claimed to be exposed to risk related to the Australian real estate market.Although it would seem that the firm is registered with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission in the “Securities Dealers” category, the AMF and IEOM state that Securcorp is not authorised to provide investment services, and is not licensed to provide banking or financial activities in the domestic territories of France, or in its overseas territories. In addition, none of the products which the firm offers has any form of license for sale in French territory.As a result, the AMF and IEOM recommend that investors not respond to investment solicitations from this firm, and not to relay its communications to third parties in any form.
31/10/2011

French financial management doesn't have enough of a profile abroad!

Pierre Bollon, executive officer of the French management association (AFG), claims the association needs to provide French management with the position it deserves in Europe, and to this end, the AFG has recently been active in London, and is not planning to stop there. A recent recruitment in Paris of someone dedicated to international markets, a forthcoming website, and other development in France and other countries provide illustrations of the association's strategy to promote French management.
31/10/2011

French watchdog accuses Tocqueville Finance of price manipulation

The French financial market regulator, the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF), has accused the asset management firm Tocqueville Finance, and its deputy CEO, Marc Tournier, of manipulating the price of the auto rental firm ADA in 2009, Les Echos reports. The trades in question took place on 26 June 2009, when Tocqueville Finance, at the instruction of Tournier, massively bought up ADA shares, provoking a 41.25% increase in its share price, according to the findings of a study by the market regulator’s sanctions committee.Tocqueville Finance and Tournier reject the accusations and claim that the publicly-traded capital in the firm at the time of the transactions was stable. A representative of the AMF college has called for a fine of EUR150,000, and a reprimand, against Tournier, and is seeking a fine of EUR100,000 against Tocqueville Finance.
31/10/2011

Record subscriptions for China and emerging markets ETFs

In October, USD796bn were invested worldwide in ETFs focused on China, the highest level since 2008, Fondsprofessionell reports, citing Bloomberg Businessweek. Fondsprofesionell explains that the popularity of the products is due to the fact that the markets consider China underpriced, and due to expectations on the part of operators that the Beijing government will liberalise its monetary policy. TrimTabs reports that net inflows to ETFs specialised in emerging markets have totalled USD1.5bn in October, the highest level in the past six months. Since March 2009, the lowest point in the downturn, an average of USD1.4bn has been invested in emerging markets ETFs each month.
31/10/2011

Steep slide in profits at ATP

The Danish pension fund ATP has reported profits for the first months of the year of DKK5.3bn, compared with DKK18.9bn in the corresponding period of 2010. In a highly difficult environment, the pension fund has earned returns of 4.2%. Equities in the portfolio finished the period with negative teturns of 4.6%. However, interest rate strategies earned returns of 7.5%, credit 3.8%, inflation 4.6%, and commodities 0.9%. Assets under management as of the end of September totalled DKK554bn, compared with DKK516bn one year earlier.
31/10/2011

Les taux longs italiens touchent 6 %

Les investisseurs risquent de ne pas avoir la patience d’attendre l’application des mesures d’austérité et la mise en route du nouvel EFSF.
31/10/2011

Warner Music renonce à EMI

Le quotidien croit savoir que le favori à la reprise d’actifs de l’éditeur musical britannique, Warner Music Group, détenu par le milliardaire Len Blavatnik, a renoncé à prendre part aux enchères. Le prétendant semblait bien parti pour empocher la vente par Citigroup de plusieurs labels dont Capitol et Virgin pour 1,5 milliard de dollars.
31/10/2011

La taxe Tobin peut se faire sans le Royaume-Uni

Dans un entretien accordé au journal, le ministre des finances allemand, Wolfgang Schaeuble, indique que l’Europe devrait prendre l’initiative de l’instauration d’une taxe sur les transactions financières, même si elle ne bénéficie pas du soutien du soutien du Royaume-Uni, opposé au projet. «Si nous n’arrivons pas à un accord avec les 27, alors nous devrions envisager de l’introduire à 17 en premier lieu» précise-t-il.

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